39 staff face redundancy as administrators are appointed at Northumberland furniture stores

In September, Dickinsons Furnishers Ltd announced that it was shutting its premises on Fenkle Street, Alnwick, as well as high-street outlets in Hexham and Carlisle.But, despite a statement on the company's website saying it had been placed into the hands of administrators RSM, no official announcement had been made.

However, yesterday (Wednesday), Steve Ross and Allan Kelly, of RSM Restructuring Advisory LLP, were appointed joint administrators to Dickinsons Furnishers Limited.

Dickinsons, which can trace its roots back to 1878, was a premium furniture retailer operating from shops in Hexham, Alnwick and Carlisle (Cumbria). The head office and warehousing were also based in Hexham.

The company had been wound down and ceased to trade during December 2017. It employed 39 people in total.

Steve Ross, partner at RSM and joint administrator, said: "The company has seen a significant downturn in trade on the back of well-publicised reductions in consumer spending throughout 2017. It held a number of sales in the lead up to our appointment and, unfortunately, there was no opportunity to continue to trade. The business has therefore been closed.

"Regrettably, all staff are in the process of being made redundant and we are working with them regarding their claims to the Redundancy Payments Service. Creditors and other interested parties will be contacted in due course.

‘We fully appreciate that this will cause significant concern for those customers who have placed and/or paid for orders and are reconciling stock held to orders; we would advise those customers to contact RSM in the first instance."