Laura Ashley collapse brought down the Long Eaton furniture group

Laura Ashley’s collapse led to the downfall of Long Eaton-based JDP Furniture Group, it emerged.

JDP Furniture was a holding company for the Celebrity Motion Furniture, Welbeck House, Wade Upholstery, JDP Frames, Ikon by Celebrity, Cintique, Celebrity and Arlo & Jacob brands.

Some 290 jobs were lost at the company last month after the call from FRP Advisory directors in early April.

As soon as the appointment was made, a marketing process was launched to find a buyer for JDP Frames and Welbeck House. However, no acceptable offers were received to keep the companies in business. As a result, the joint directors have now closed the companies permanently and laid off 281 employees (JDP Frames: 76; Welbeck House: 205).

It has since emerged that when Laura Ashley was put into administration in March, she owed Welbeck House £ 1.7million. This loss, combined with a drop in sales and the onset of the cornonavirus pandemic, caused the company to collapse.

At the end of May, the co-directors of H&F Upholstery, which operates as Arlo & Jacob, sold the company to a vehicle controlled by furniture retailer Mark Smith.

The 31 employees of H&F Upholstery were transferred by TUPE to the buyer, along with seven other employees of the JDP Furniture group who had been retained by the joint directors to support their work.