Nearly 300 workers have lost their jobs at a Welsh furniture firm following its collapse into administration. Westbridge, a respected furniture designer and manufacturer, supplied sofas and upholstered items to high street and premium independent retailers.
The company employed just under 300 people at its facility in Holywell, Flintshire. Chris Pole and Will Wright from Interpath were appointed joint administrators to Westbridge Furniture Limited and Belfield Leisure Limited, based in Derbyshire, last month.
They had kept the businesses running while evaluating market interest and preserving jobs and sites. However, the joint administrators have now confirmed that 297 staff have been made redundant.
In a statement, they said: "Chris Pole and Will Wright from Interpath were appointed joint administrators following operational disruption, weak trading and the loss of a key customer. Since their last update, the joint administrators had maintained operations at Westbridge Furniture while completing outstanding work in progress and assessing interest in the business."
"Without any viable offers for the business, production ceased on April 2 and the business progressed with a wind-up process. It is with regret that the majority of the business' 297 remaining staff have since been made redundant."
The administrators will continue to provide support to those impacted, including assisting with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service. A small number of staff have been retained to assist the joint administrators.
Chris Pole, managing director at Interpath and joint administrator of Westbridge Furniture Limited, said: "The team at Westbridge has shown exceptional professionalism in maintaining production while we explored options. Regrettably, as no viable offers for the business were received, it was no longer possible to continue trading and we have had to take the difficult decision to close the business. We recognise this has been a challenging period for staff and I'd like to express my sincere thanks for their commitment."
The joint administrators have since agreed the sale of the exclusive intellectual property and design rights to the full Westbridge independent product catalogue to sofa and upholstery manufacturer, Whitemeadow. The buyer intends to engage with stockists of Westbridge products to ensure continuity where possible.
Chris Pole added: "The agreement to sell the IP and design rights to Whitemeadow preserves Westbridge's range for retailers. We wish the Whitemeadow team all the best as it embarks on a development programme to reintroduce those designs to the market."
The joint administrators are continuing to operate and assess possibilities for Belfield Leisure Limited, which also forms part of The Belfield Group.
