Liquidators have begun a winding down process at BHS Southport

Liquidators have begun a winding down process at BHS Southport.

The Chapel Street store will remain open for just a matter of weeks after the business fell into liquidation last Thursday following a protracted battle to find a new owner.

Fifty members of staff at the Southport store will now lose their jobs.

The first reports on the potential closure of the Chapel Street store date back to February. As fears grew for its future, administrators entertained a number of bids from business groups to take over the ailing chain – however none of them came to fruition and it was announced that BHS would suffer the same fate as Woolworths.

Since the news broke MPs have hit out at the former owner of BHS Sir Philip Green, for its demise.

The billionaire was accused during a House of Commons debate on Monday of being an ‘unscrupulous chancer’ and of overseeing ‘wealth extraction rather than wealth creation.’ There have also been calls for Green to be stripped of his knighthood

The tycoon owned BHS for 15 years until he sold it for £1 to Retail Acquisitions, a collection of accountants and lawyers led by thrice-bankrupt Dominic Chappell. MPs will question Green and Chappell within the next 10 days about their roles in the scandal.

Business minister Anna Soubry told The House of Commons that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has now intervened in a bid to help staff left unemployed after the high street chain collapsed. Ms Soubry said: “The Department of Work and Pensions has written to major retailers asking them to consider what opportunities they may be able to offer the workers and local areas affected as the situation becomes clearer this week.

“DWP will also be monitoring the impact of redundancies locally on a continuing basis and will provide additional targeted support to any areas particularity badly affected.”

The Chapel Street building is owned by private landlords and is expected to be put up for lease once BHS moves out of the site.

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