Shopping centre giant Intu collapsed into administration in a pivotal moment for UK retail. Never before has such a large landlord failed. 

Intu was saddled with unsustainable levels of debt and, while the lack of rental income over the past two quarters when many of the stores in its centres were forced to close has exacerbated its situation, the writing had been on the wall for some time. 

The landlord, which owns malls such as Trafford Centre, Metrocentre and Lakeside, made a £2bn loss last year, up from a £1.17bn loss the year before. It has fallen victim to a fundamental rethink of retail property as both rents and footfall decline.