A former BHS worker has recalled how she once stood up to Sir Philip Green when he visited the branch in Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre and told her, "I own you".

Chris Page, 68, who worked at the store for nine years, was speaking as the store prepared to close next month following the firm’s collapse.

She said: "I was working in the Christmas shop. I was getting to work at 7am and putting things out for people to try, as we opened at 7.30am for shoppers to browse.

“A group came in and a man started to open some of the boxes.

“I went up to him and said ‘over there are the ones to try’. He looked at me and said, ‘Do you know who I am? I own BHS, pay your wages, and own you’.”

“I said, ‘No you don’t, slavery was over a long time ago’.

“He called the manager over and I just walked away.”

The grandmother-of-seven, who lived in Wigmore at the time, said she didn’t realise he was the owner who had recently acquired the business.

“No one is going to talk to me like that,” she said. “There was a bit of an argy-bargy, should I stay or should I go. The manager said if I apologised I could keep my job, but I didn’t and was put on a month’s trial – I didn’t hear anything else after that.”

Sir Philip bought BHS for £200 million in March 2000, but last year the company was sold to city investors, Retail Acquisitions, for £1 by the Arcadia Group.

He has come under harsh criticism by MPs after a report by the Work and Pension’s committee found that Sir Philip had extracted large sums of money from BHS leaving the business on “life support”.

"No one is going to talk to me like that" - Chris Page

The report described him as “the unacceptable face of capitalism” and also found he did not give enough priority to the BHS pension scheme, that now has a £571m pension fund deficit, which MPs say he has a duty to resolve.

Mrs Page added that she thinks Sir Philip should not be allowed to keep his knighthood.

“It’s unfair that if he pays out money for the pensions, he’s allowed to keep his title,” she said.

“They should strip him of it and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. He just didn’t care about the people in BHS. It just makes me angry.” Mrs Page, who now lives in Broadstairs, left the store in 2002. Luckily, she took her pension as a lump sum.

Sir Philip has defended his ownership and described the committees’ report “biased and unfair”.

The Hempstead Valley BHS store will be among the final branches to close on Saturday August 20, it was revealed.

Already the shelves were almost bare this week with the last of its stock as well as shoe racks and display mannequins being sold off, prompting a rush of bargain-hunters.

One customer said: “They’re selling everything off. It’s like a boot fair in there.”

Dave Gill, national officer for the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) said the closure announcement was the final hammer blow to BHS staff, 11,000 of whom will lose their jobs.

Mr Gill said: “Following the news that all remaining BHS stores will be closed by August 20, Usdaw calls on the administrators to redouble their efforts in finding a buyer for the remaining stores and to secure as many jobs as possible.

“We also call on Sir Philip Green to honour the two promises he made to BHS staff as soon as possible after the company went into administration.

“Firstly, to offer employment within the Arcadia Group to the blameless, dedicated and loyal staff who suddenly find themselves unemployed.

“Secondly, to ‘sort’ the pension scheme and we await details of what he proposes.”