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On 20 January 2020, KPMG was appointed as the administrator for Beales Department store. The process comes as no other solution for a sale or refinancing provided the business with a rescue option, threatening around 1,300 jobs.

Beales plc was listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) before in 2015 by Andrew Perloff , a property investor known in the media as a high-profile UKIP donor. The department store has 23 outlets throughout the UK, with a flagship store in Bournemouth. Although the company is still trading, Beales’ website has gone offline.

Once a national success, Beales, which was established in 1883, reported losses of £3.1 million last year, up from £1.3 million in 2018 owing to high rents and competition from online retailers. Having been unable to secure a cut in rent or a buyer for its business, the company may become yet another victim of the downtrend in the retail sector, which performed particularly badly in 2019 (see also: Slashed prices and increased online sales leave retailers out in the cold).

The high street has seen a number of British household names struggle over the past two years, including House of Fraser (which was acquired by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International), Debenhams (which Mike Ashley ), Bonmarche ( in July 2019), BHS Home Stores, Maplin Electronics and Mothercare.