Gossard Limited appointed administrators on May 14, 2026, and has officially ceased trading.

Founded in 1901, the company introduced the Wonderbra to the UK in the 1960s and became synonymous with innovative lingerie throughout the decades.

The Wonderbra gained iconic status in the 1990s, but Gossard was equally known for its wider range of underwear and bralettes, which built the brand’s reputation for style and comfort.

A spokesman for the company said: “Please be advised that Gossard Limited has officially ceased trading and entered liquidation effective May 14, 2026.

What happens when a company goes into Liquidation?

“The appointment relates solely to the UK entity trading as Gossard.

“Gossard’s European operations and affiliated entities outside the UK continue to operate as normal and are not subject to these liquidation proceedings.

“We would like to thank our customers, partners, and employees for their support over the years.”

Insolvency professionals Andrew J Cordon and James O Everist of CFS Restructuring LLP have been appointed as administrators.

Documents filed at Companies House reveal the company owed significant sums to suppliers and HMRC at the time of its collapse.

The brand’s European divisions remain unaffected and are continuing to trade.

High street fashion chain enters liquidation with ‘closing down’ sales

A fashion chain has gone into liquidation with signs appearing in shop windows announcing everything must go.

Leading Labels, which stocked brands including Calvin Klein and Ben Sherman, is expected to close all 15 of its remaining stores following the appointment of a liquidator.

Jeremy Bleazard of XL Business Solutions Limited was named as liquidator on May 26, with an official notice published on June 1 in The Gazette.

Stores have displayed closing down sale notices for several weeks, including at the Ipswich branch in April.

The company’s website is now offline, calls to its customer service line go unanswered, and emails bounce back.

A notice posted at the Bolton store in April read: “This store is closed due to unforeseen circumstances. Sorry for any inconvenience.”

A spokesperson for The Market Place, where the Bolton shop was based, said there had been “there’s been some internal difficulties with them”.

The official notice in The Gazette stated: “Notice is hereby given that the following resolutions were passed on May 26, 2026, as a special resolution and an ordinary resolution respectively.

“That the Company be wound up voluntarily and that Jeremy Bleazard of XL Business Solutions Limited be appointed as Liquidator for the purposes of such voluntary winding up.”

Leading Labels positioned itself as one of the UK’s largest multi-brand retailers.

The company had overdue accounts listed on Companies House, which now confirms that it is in liquidation.

The closure of Leading Labels comes less than two weeks after reports that another fashion retailer, Quiz, would shut all of its 37 remaining UK stores.

On Saturday, June 13, the centre, based on Princes Street, will mark its milestone with an opening ceremony and an array of cultural activities.

The event begins at 3.30pm with workshops featuring dragon dancing, crochet, Chinese calligraphy, and traditional paper-cutting, as well as light refreshments.

From 4pm, the traditional eye-dotting of the lion will take place, followed by a lion dance, ribbon-cutting, and a group photo.

The centre, which has been a cornerstone for the Chinese community in Oxfordshire, was founded to provide trilingual advice, assistance, and cultural activities.

Its services have been vital in helping thousands of non-English-speaking residents gain access to public resources, improve life skills, and integrate into society, thereby reducing social isolation.

The OCCAC is also well-known for organising the annual Lunar New Year celebration at the Oxford Town Hall, an event that fosters cross-cultural exchanges and adds a multicultural flavour to the city.

The centre collaborates with local organisations such as Fusion Arts and Restore to encourage community service participation and promote social harmony.

The OCCAC is inviting the public to join the celebrations and learn more about its services and contributions to the community.

For more information about the event and the centre’s services, visit www.occac.org.uk or call 01865 204188.

The centre is a registered charity, and its premises are located at the East Oxford Community Centre.

The work follows a winter which saw what the council describes as an “unprecedented” rise in pothole reports both nationally and in Oxfordshire, putting extra pressure on its 4,500km road network.

While it accepts reactive repairs are still essential, especially where defects pose an immediate danger, the council says its focus is shifting towards longer‑term, more cost‑effective maintenance.

The current programme includes an £8m surface dressing scheme expected to improve around 1m sqm of carriageway, with further projects planned later in the summer.

The council says it is using specialist repair teams, dragon patcher spray‑injection machines and bobcat patching equipment to tackle damaged sections and prepare roads for these treatments.

Potholes reported to the council around Bicester (Image: FixMyStreet)

Alongside that, work has already started on the council’s inlay resurfacing programme, which will run until October and see 33 roads repaired, covering more than 85,000sqm of carriageway.

This deeper resurfacing removes worn‑out layers of tarmac before laying a new surface, offering a more durable fix than patching individual potholes.

READ MORE: Oxfordshire potholes backlog runs into the thousands

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander (Image: Yui Mok/PA)

National funding pressures add another layer of scrutiny as English councils risk losing up to a third of their funding to fix potholes if they fail to demonstrate they are working effectively, under the Department for Transport’s April announcement.

Some £525 million of the £1.6 billion funding for local roads maintenance in the 2026/27 financial year will be held back unless authorities can prove they are spending the money appropriately.

READ MORE: Potholes cost Oxford taxi firm more than £240,000 a year

The renewed focus on Oxfordshire’s roads comes as Oxford firm 001 Taxis told the Oxford Mail it is spending more than £240,000 a year on wear‑and‑tear repairs blamed on potholes, saying the state of the roads is leaving its business “struggling”.

Since January, the county council has increased the number of pothole repair crews from seven to up to 25 in an attempt to cut the backlog.

It says it aims to repair potholes within two hours, 24 hours or 28 days depending on size, location and risk, but some 28‑day jobs have slipped because of the surge in reports.

In 2025/26, the council says it spent £69m on highways maintenance and repaired 37,000 potholes and carriageway defects, with the budget set to rise to £73m in 2026/27.

Over the same period, it received 4,095 claims for pothole‑related damage and settled about 25 per cent of them, paying out more than £275,000 in compensation.

The council says those figures relate to when claims were logged or settled, not necessarily when incidents took place.