North Somerset job cuts looming as firm struggles

Jobs are under threat at two clothes stores in North Somerset after a firm went into administration for the second time.

Ethel Austin has outlets in Somerset Square, Nailsea, and at the former Woolworths site in High Street, Weston-super-Mare.

It also has shops in East Street, Bedminster, and at the ex-Woolies site in Fishponds Road, Fishponds. About 60 jobs could be affected.

Based in Liverpool, with a network of nearly 300 stores employing 2,500 staff – and its sister homewares chain Au Naturale – the company appointed MCR as administrator after the business failed to turn around following its rescue from collapse in May 2008.

Each of the affected stores employs around 15 staff, and all four stores have Au Naturale product sections within them.

All of the company's stores are still trading as normal, although the administrator said it could not rule out store closures and redundancies as it goes through the embattled retailer's books.

Ethel Austin, based only 10 miles from where the business was founded by Ethel Austin and her husband George Austin in their Liverpool council house in 1934, was bought out of administration in 2008 by Elaine McPherson, the previous chief executive and joint owner of MK One.

She pledged to return Ethel Austin to its "former glory" with an overhaul of the stores and clothing range.

The move helped protect 2,500 jobs at the time, although more than 450 jobs and 33 stores were earlier axed by administrators.

But the group has come under pressure from rival budget chains such as Primark and Matalan, while the financial crisis affected its financing plans.

MCR said the recent funding woes were compounded by adverse weather at the height of the key January sales period.

Geoff Bouchier, partner at MCR, said: "There is no doubt in our mind that the onset of the global economic crisis has hit the retail sector particularly hard."

John Gorle, from the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW), said: "This announcement is terrible news for the loyal and hardworking staff, who now face a period of uncertainty surrounding their future."

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