A retail giant with stores across the UK collapsed into administration with 1,300 jobs lost owing almost £20 million.
Administrators have revealed a series of last-ditch attempts to save the historic high street firm and added that creditors now face losing £3m.
The April closure of the last 154 Claire’s Accessories UK and Ireland stores led to 1,300 redundancies. It came after Philip Dakin, Benjamin Wiles and Janet Burt of Kroll were appointed administrators of the company by the directors in January.
That move did not affect the company’s 356 concessions and its head office.
The company collapsed into administration. (Image: Newsquest)
The administrators’ report outlines the steps taken to try to save the fashion and accessories retail estate.
The brand originated in the United States, when it was headquartered in Chicago, and dated back to 1961. Claire’s expanded into the UK in 1995, when it acquired Bow Bangles, a British chain with 71 stores.
The US-based entity, Claire’s Holdings LLC, commenced proceedings in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware in 2025.
In August 2025, Claire’s Accessories UK entered administration with Christopher Pole and William Wright of Interpath being appointed as administrators.
Most of the business and assets to Modella Capital for a total consideration of £3.6m.
The administrators said that, in an effort to improve the viability of the company’s business, the directors “implemented a number of revenue generation and cost reduction measures including attempts to negotiate rent reductions with landlords, exiting where possible and seeking new concession partners”.
The administrators said: “Notwithstanding the above financial and operational turnaround measures, ultimately the cashflow and profitability of the company had been significantly impacted by the inability to secure negotiated rent reductions with the bulk of the company’s landlords, resulting in the trading positions of those sites needing to be re-assessed.”
Imminent termination
They also said that one of the company’s major concession partners had signalled an “imminent termination of the concession agreement” which resulted in a significant reduction in projected cash flow.
It was also hit by poor trading performance in the last quarter of 2025 and “weak consumer confidence following budgetary measures impacting business rates, employee costs and taxes”.
They said events leading to the administration included “lower than anticipated trading performance, largely attributable to a combination of macroeconomic factors and changing market trends with low-cost and overseas online retailers gaining market share in the jewellery and accessories sector”.
The story of the decimation of a major high street presence is a familiar one. The administrators speak of increased inflationary headwinds and a general increase in overhead costs that pushed stores into a loss-making position.
Key factors
Key factors around business rates, rising employee costs and taxes cannot be ignored. Attempts were made time and again to keep operators like LK Bennett, Russell & Bromley and Glasgow-founded Quiz afloat.
In this case, a secured creditor is listed as being owed £5.5m, preferential creditors £2.3m and unsecured creditors £10.5m.
At that stage, the administrators had received total claims from unsecured creditors totalling £2.9m.
The administrators said: “Based on the current information available to the administrators it is anticipated that there will be insufficient realisations to enable a distribution to the unsecured creditors of the company other than by virtue of the prescribed part.
“This is dependent on the quantum of consideration achieved in any sale of the company’s business and assets, if any, and the realisations achieved from other assets.”
