Copyright birminghammail
Major UK homeware retailer Fired Earth has entered administration with the loss of 133 jobs. Dane O’Hara and Neil Bennett from Leonard Curtis were appointed joint administrators on 31 October after the company had filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators. Fired Earth operated 20 showrooms across the UK and supplied a further 22 independent stockists. Staff affected by the redundancies are being supported by EVOLVE, advisers on employee claims under the Employment Rights Act. Dane O’Hara said: “Fired Earth has been loss-making for some time. In the last three years, the company has been supported by its shareholder via substantial working capital loans while efforts were made to return the business to profitability. READ MORE Older drivers face new roadside test in England and could have licence revoked "Unfortunately, the company continued to incur trading losses, and its investor was not prepared to provide further funding in the absence of a viable turnaround strategy.” Locations include the South West (Bath, Bristol, Darts Farm in Exeter, Cheltenham, Truro), the East Midlands (Nottingham), the North West (Chester, Knutsford) and North Yorkshire (Harrogate). The West Midlands is served through a stockist at Solihull Tiles in Lapworth, Solihull. Fired Earth's collapse reflects broader challenges facing British retail, with industry forecasts suggesting up to 17,000 shop closurescould occur during 2025. The Centre for Retail Research forecasts 17,350 store closures over the next 12 months, marking a sharp increase from the 13,479 shuttered in 2023. "Whilst the results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting – with worse set to come in 2025," warned Joshua Bamfield of the Centre for Retail Research. The British Retail Consortium (or BRC) has warned that changes to employer National Insurance contributions in Labour Party Chancellor Rachel Reeves's Autumn Budget will cost retailers £2.3billion this year.
