by Trevor Sturgess

Just days before the start of the new school term a long-established schoolwear retailer with two Kent shops and 60 staff across the south has gone into administration.

J B Ward and Company is the latest high street casualty of the downturn, following the likes of Woolworth, Adams Childrenswear, Whittard of Chelsea and MFI.

Its eight stores, including Pudding Lane, Maidstone and High Street, Ashford, are continuing to trade at what it normally their busiest time of the year, but their longer-term future remains uncertain.

Others outlets are in Bexhill, Hastings, Lewes, Seaford, Rayleigh and Southend. Some 60 people are affected, including up to a dozen in Kent.

Directors appointed Paul Appleton and Asher Miller of London-based David Rubin and Partners as administrators. They blamed “the current economic climate and slow retail trading conditions” for the situation.

The pair visited the Kent stores on Monday, August 24, to tell staff the grim news but added that they hoped to sell individual shops or groups of shops as going concerns.

The run-up to the new school year is usually a busy time for schoolwear retailers, although in recent times they have faced tough competition from supermarkets.

Some parents have voiced concern about monopoly or near monopoly deals that give certain shops sole rights to sell schoolwear and allegedly push up prices.

The Local Government Association recently urged schools to allow parents to shop around for their children’s school uniforms and not be forced to “pay through the nose” for uniform from monopoly suppliers.