Major UK furniture company closes with 297 jobs lost

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.

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.

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