The ailing fashion retailer has drafted in advisers FRP to handle the administration process, which puts approximately 2,900 jobs at risk.

Boss Helen Connolly said that the business had examined other options to stay afloat, including refinancing or a possible company voluntary arrangement (CVA) but decided that these options wouldn’t “fundamentally change the core challenges facing the business”.

She said: “It is with deep regret and sadness that we have appointed administrators. Over the last 18 months, trading in our stores and market conditions on the high street have significantly worsened. This has overwhelmed the business and its financial position.

”The high street is going through a period of historic difficulty and we have been unable to weather the economic headwinds impacting the whole of the retail sector.”