Administrators shut down the Oxford brand at the Westgate centre in April, one of 33 that shut down nationwide.

Best known for its premium leather footwear and handbags, Russell & Bromley fell into administration earlier this year with debts of £59.3 million and losses reaching £20 million over the past two years.

The historic retailer, founded in Sussex in 1880, operated stores nationwide but its financial pressures proved insurmountable, according to administrators Will Wright and Chris Pole of Interpath Advisory, who were appointed in January.

READ MORE: UK-wide warning as invasive plant species grips country

A spokesman for Interpath Advisory said: “Following the announcement regarding the sale of the Russell & Bromley brand and certain assets to Next plc, the joint administrators can confirm that a phased closure programme for the remaining Russell & Bromley stores is now complete.

“All stores that did not transfer to Next as part of that transaction closed.

“Regrettably, these closures mean that the majority of employees working in the non-transferring stores have been made redundant.

“The administrators and their teams are engaging closely with all affected staff and will be providing support throughout the process, including assisting individuals in submitting claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”

At the time of administration, Russell & Bromley owed £59.3 million.

A total deficiency of £35.7 million is estimated, with assets totalling £8 million available for preferential creditors and £5.6 million for unsecured creditors.

The company also owed £3.2 million to HMRC.

Administrators described the final years of the business as deeply challenging.

The administrators said: “The group was relatively highly loss-making, with these losses due to a combination of falling sales, increasing operational costs and a relatively high fixed cost base.

“Further to this, the wider UK market has been difficult for retail businesses with challenging trading conditions characterised by high inflation and suppressed consumer demand.”

In an effort to fund continued trading, Russell & Bromley had sold off several freehold properties.

However, even these measures could not stem the mounting losses.

The company had drawn £2.1 million on a trade finance facility before entering administration.

NatWest exercised its set-off rights immediately upon appointment of the administrators, using the company’s remaining cash to clear its outstanding debt with the bank.

Most of the company’s 36 stores did not survive.

Only three stores—two in London and one in Kent—were included in a pre-pack deal with Next, which acquired the brand name and select assets.

The closure resulted in 400 job losses.

Interpath anticipates that a dividend may eventually be paid to unsecured creditors but has not yet determined the potential value.

The administrators said: “Based on current estimates, we anticipate that unsecured creditors may receive a dividend.

“We have yet to determine the amount of this, but we will do so when we have completed the realisation of assets and the payment of associated costs.”

People have been fighting for its future after it was forced shut in London Road because the building which it was in was going to be demolished.

Formerly inside the Co-Op, the Post Office closed on December 31 last year to make way for research and office space.

But now the Post Office has confirmed it will reopen at number 12 Windmill Road on September 15 at 1pm.

READ MORE: Recycling centre loophole closed stopping illegal trader activity

“We are keen to restore service to this community as soon as possible, so we have decided to go ahead with our plans,” Co-Op spokeswoman Sheila Tapster said.

The opening hours will be Monday to Saturday, 9am to 5.30pm, providing over 51 hours of service per week.

A similar wide range of products and services will still be available.

Ms Tapster added: “The new branch will be located approximately 280 metres from the previous location.

“St Leonards Road Car Park pay & display is available 120 meters away on St Leonards Road.

“The new premises will have a wide door and a ramp at the entrance. Internally, there will be a hearing loop and space for a wheelchair.

“This re-opening of the branch in a new location is a commercial decision for Post Office and we are not seeking feedback on this aspect of the change.

“However, we would welcome suggestions and feedback about access into and inside the new premises.

“The opportunity to give feedback will close on 12 August. Customers can share their views during the consultation online at postofficeviews.co.uk with the branch code 397137.

“Submissions can also be made via email to comments@postoffice.co.uk, by post to Freepost YOUR COMMENTS, or by telephone 03452 66 01 15 or Textphone 03457 22 33 55.”

Park Place Technologies has launched The Savvy CIO, a podcast for IT leaders hosted by former Chief Information Officer Bradd Busick.

The first season focuses on the pressures facing senior technology executives as they manage ageing infrastructure, fixed budgets and rising demand tied to artificial intelligence.

Sponsored by Park Place, the series features conversations with IT executives and industry analysts from organisations including IBM, Coca-Cola Bottlers, Datum, Omdia, Solved and IDC. The opening season runs to 10 episodes.

Its editorial focus reflects a familiar tension in large organisations. Chief Information Officers are under pressure to keep existing systems running while deciding where to invest in modernisation, automation and data-intensive projects.

Topics include AI readiness, the practical challenges of liquid cooling in data centres, and the difficulty of getting more value from static IT budgets. Together, they point to an industry debate that has shifted from broad digital transformation language to questions of infrastructure limits, energy use and procurement discipline.

Busick, who currently serves as Principal, AI, Data & Technology Enablement at Frazier Healthcare Partners, brings a background in healthcare and operational technology. He previously served as Chief Information Officer at MultiCare Health System and was recognised as Washington State Healthcare CIO of the Year and National Healthcare CIO of the Year at the ORBIE Awards.

The launch adds to a broader stream of vendor-backed media aimed at senior technology buyers. Many suppliers and services groups now use podcasts and interview formats to reach Chief Information Officers and Chief Technology Officers making decisions on infrastructure life cycles, cloud spending, AI deployment and internal productivity.

Industry pressure

The programme is built around a hardening set of priorities in enterprise IT. Boards want returns from previous technology spending, finance teams want tighter discipline, and operating divisions increasingly expect AI tools and more responsive systems without matching budget increases.

That leaves technology leaders balancing competing demands. In many organisations, they must maintain ageing hardware and support contracts even as they are asked to shift funds towards data, automation and machine learning projects.

Infrastructure decisions have also become more visible at executive level because of the strain created by AI workloads. Questions about processing capacity, cooling, energy consumption and data architecture now sit alongside traditional concerns such as resilience, uptime and software support.

Busick framed the role in stark terms.

“In the old days, the CIO used to keep the lights on. Now the CIO decides which lights are worth keeping,” said Bradd Busick, Principal, AI, Data & Technology Enablement at Frazier Healthcare Partners.

He added: “This podcast features some of the top thought leaders in the world, where we don’t just talk about technology, we talk about leverage, speed and where the organisation is ‘lying to itself’ about its IT capabilities.”

Content strategy

For Park Place, the podcast offers a way to attach its brand to recurring discussions about infrastructure management and IT economics. The company operates in IT infrastructure services and reports annual revenue of USD $1.2 billion and 3,300 employees.

It says it serves more than 25,000 organisations across 180 countries, including half of the Fortune 500. Its business spans hardware maintenance, software technical support, hardware procurement and related infrastructure management services.

Park Place’s marketing leadership said the series was designed to address the less polished side of technology change programmes, where cost constraints and operational bottlenecks often slow executive plans.

“We realised many of the conversations being had focused entirely on the aspirational side of modernisation and did not actively address the ever-increasing hurdles CIOs face,” said Larry DeAngelis, Vice President of Marketing at Park Place Technologies.

He added: “We are hosting intelligent conversations to equip CIOs and CTOs with actionable insights to move their businesses forward.”

Shifting audience

The target audience extends beyond Chief Information Officers. The first season’s themes suggest the programme is aimed at a broader group of senior technology and operations leaders, including Chief Technology Officers, infrastructure heads and digital transformation executives.

That reflects a change in how enterprise technology purchasing decisions are made. Budget authority and strategic influence are often spread across finance, operations, security and product teams, making it harder for a single executive to shape technology direction alone.

The inclusion of analysts from firms such as IDC and Omdia also suggests an effort to combine practitioner experience with market interpretation. In vendor-backed editorial products, that mix can broaden relevance by linking frontline operational problems with wider industry patterns.

For listeners, the appeal may rest less on the existence of another business podcast and more on whether it can offer blunt assessments of the trade-offs senior IT leaders already face each day: whether to extend the life of existing assets, where to spend scarce budget, and how to avoid overstating readiness for AI projects before the underlying infrastructure is in place.