Westbridge Furniture, based in Flintshire in North Wales, is a furniture designer and manufacturer that supplies retailers with sofas and other upholstery.

Its website adds: “We are proud supply partners to the biggest and best high street retailers including Marks & Spencer, John Lewis Partnership, Next home, key retail park groups and also over 200 of the best independent retailers.”

The company was incorporated in 2025, after the business and assets of Westbridge Furniture Designs Limited were acquired by The Belfield Group Limited.

Following the acquisition, Westbridge suffered “operational disruption”, which had a greater impact on the business than originally anticipated.

This, combined with the loss of a key customer and weak trading, placed significant pressure on cash flow.

Major UK furniture company closes down

Westbridge Furniture fell into administration last month, with Chris Pole and Will Wright from Interpath appointed joint administrators on March 23.

Interpath has now revealed that Westbridge Furniture has ceased trading (as of April 2) after receiving no “viable offers” for the business.

As a result, the majority of the company’s 297 remaining staff, at its base in Holywell, Flintshire, have been made redundant.

The administrators will continue to provide support to those impacted, including supporting them with claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.

A small number of staff have been retained to assist the joint administrators in their duties.  

Managing director at Interpath and joint administrator of Westbridge Furniture Limited, Chris Pole, said: “The team at Westbridge has shown exceptional professionalism in maintaining production while we explored options.

“Regrettably, as no viable offers for the business were received, it was no longer possible to continue trading and we have had to take the difficult decision to close the business.

“We recognise this has been a challenging period for staff, and I’d like to express my sincere thanks for their commitment.”

Since the closure earlier this month, the joint administrators have agreed a sale of the exclusive intellectual property and design rights to the full Westbridge independent product catalogue to sofa and upholstery manufacturer, Whitemeadow.

The buyer intends to engage with stockists of Westbridge products to ensure continuity where possible.

Mr Pole added: “The agreement to sell the IP and design rights to Whitemeadow preserves Westbridge’s range for retailers.

“We wish the Whitemeadow team all the best as it embarks on a development programme to reintroduce those designs to the market.”

Other major UK companies that have closed stores or entered administration in 2026

It has been a rough start to 2026 for the UK high street, with a wide range of businesses entering administration or closing down.

Major high street retailers have been forced to close stores, including:

Several other retailers have fallen into administration, including:

Major fashion retailer LK Bennett also entered administration back in January and has now closed all its remaining stores.

Meanwhile, four UK travel companies have closed in 2026:

EcoJet Airlines, billed as “the world’s first Electric Airline”, also entered liquidation after just three years, resulting in the cancellation of all planned flights.

What has a nose, wings and runs off of hydrogen? Ecojet 😎 pic.twitter.com/y8QGiBdFe2

— ecotricity (@ecotricity) July 17, 2023

UK delivery company Yodel is set to be phased out over the coming months after being acquired by InPost.

It’s also been reported that Morrisons is looking to sell some of its in-store pharmacies as it continues to cut costs.

It’s not been all bad news for the UK high street, with several major brands announcing new store openings for 2026, including Aldi, M&S, and Superdrug.

Have you ever bought furniture from Westbridge? Let us know in the poll above or in the comments below.

The hit ITV gameshow returned for a 36th series on Sunday (April 26), with Jeremy Clarkson once again taking on the role as host.

The former Top Gear and The Grand Tour presenter has described the new series as “exceptionally exciting”, and after the first episode, we can see why.

Quiz enthusiast becomes seventh winner on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Only six other UK contestants have ever won the £1 million prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Retired IT analyst Roman Dubowski became the seventh, winning the £1 million jackpot on Sunday night’s episode.

Mr Dubowski, a quiz enthusiast who lives just outside Stockport, said the victory felt “unreal” and revealed he celebrated the life-changing win with “a cup of tea.”

Mr Dubowski said: “It felt unreal. It didn’t feel like the real world, almost, this isn’t where I expected to be.

“It didn’t sink in until later. I did sort of go home quietly, to be honest, I didn’t get drunk – I had to have a cup of tea.

“I think it was just sitting in a quiet room and letting it all sink in, and thinking about what happened in the previous 24 hours.”

After the show, the first person he told was his sister, who was “absolutely thrilled.”

Planning to buy a new house, Mr Dubowski also hopes to travel with his winnings, naming New Zealand and South America among possible destinations.

He said he will share some of the money with his niece and nephew.

Would you have answered the £1 million question correctly?

The crucial £1 million question was: “Used since 1876, which trademarked logo is described in the James Joyce novel Ulysses and depicted in works by Manet and Picasso?”

The options were Bass Ale, The Famous Grouse, Coca-Cola, and Stella Artois.

Mr Dubowski chose to use his 50/50 lifeline before choosing Bass Ale.

He said he felt confident immediately: “When it came up… I thought, I think I know this straight away.”

He recalled seeing the Manet painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergère at The Courtauld Gallery in London, and “distinctly” remembered the red triangle, the symbol of Bass beer.

Despite confidently winning the £1 million, earlier questions nearly saw Mr Dubowski leave empty-handed.

One question asked what is mixed with vinegar, mustard, and oil to make a basic mayonnaise: plain flour, salted butter, egg yolk, or double cream.

Cooking is one of Mr Dubowski’s weak points, so he was forced to use the ‘ask the audience’ lifeline, with 93 per cent correctly choosing egg yolk.

Mr Dubowski “always” wanted to appear on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

A long-time fan of the show, Mr Dubowski said he had “always” wanted to appear on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

He first applied during Chris Tarrant’s time as host but received no reply.

Another application after lockdown was also unsuccessful.

He said: “Then in October last year, I suddenly saw an advertisement, or something online saying they’re recruiting for new competitors again.

“I thought oh, might as well try again, got nothing to lose, and just from that sort of casual opening, it ended up with the top prize.

“So I’m just happy I did it really.”

For other quizzers considering applying, Mr Dubowski recommended the book A To Z of Everything by Trevor Montague.

Previous winners on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

Before Mr Dubowski, only six other UK contestants have won the £1 million prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?:

• Donald Fear (2020)
• Judith Keppel (2000)
• David Edwards (2001)
• Robert Brydges (2001)
• Pat Gibson (2004)
• Ingram Wilcox (2006)

Would you have got Sunday’s £1 million question right on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Let us know in the poll above or in the comments below.

Professor Daniel McGowan, head of education and research in the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Oxford University Hospitals (OUH), will lead the Oxford part of the EU-funded COMPASS project, a five-year collaboration involving more than 60 partners across 25 countries.

Backed by the EU’s Innovative Health Initiative and supported by GE HealthCare, the consortium is exploring how PET scans, commonly used to monitor cancer, could also be adapted to assess heart health.

Professor McGowan, who is also based at the University of Oxford’s Department of Oncology, said: “The aim is that when a person has a PET scan to check on their cancer, we could effectively give them a free heart check at the same time.

“With this additional information, we can stratify patients into those who need to see a cardiologist fairly urgently, those who we’d like to monitor, and those whose hearts are healthy.”

The COMPASS project is focused on improving early detection of heart problems in cancer patients and survivors using advanced medical imaging and digital technology.

Some forms of chemotherapy are known to increase the risk of heart damage, and with cancer survival rates improving, long-term cardiovascular monitoring is becoming increasingly important.

Professor McGowan said that by using PET scans to screen for heart issues, many patients could avoid undergoing separate echocardiograms or other cardiac imaging.

He said this would reduce the time and stress often associated with additional testing.

A PET (positron emission tomography) scan uses a small amount of radioactive tracer to highlight areas of high metabolic activity, helping doctors monitor cancer progression or treatment response.

The technology could also reveal early signs of heart damage, potentially transforming follow-up care for cancer patients.

The Oxford team’s involvement builds on existing research, including work with research scientist Zoe Wilson, who is completing her doctorate at the university’s Department of Oncology, and collaborations with colleagues in Cardiff.

The more than €50 million COMPASS programme includes access to data from hospitals across Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal.

This broad dataset is expected to support the development of AI and machine learning tools to identify patients most at risk of heart problems.

Professor McGowan said: “This dedicated funding will enable us to expand and accelerate our efforts in this field, which should speed up the translation of our research work into clinical care, and ultimately get the benefit to patients quicker.”

Approximately €399,000 (£347,000) of the funding will be allocated to OUH, supporting its work within the international project.