Crime & Safety
Oxfordshire primary school closed after burst water pipe
St Blaise CofE Primary School in Milton Hill is closed today (Monday, April 27) as it has no water supply due to a burst water main.
Thames Water was called at around 8am and a tanker arrived on site at around 8.30am.
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There are no children on the site and the school will alert parents if they can bring their children in after lunch.
Thames Water has been contacted for a comment.
Oxfordshire County Council‘s school closure website states St Blaise CofE is expected to reopen on Tuesday.
Council guidance on school closures states: “Schools have contact arrangements for when they need to close the school at short notice. Contacts may include bespoke parent mailing systems, text, social media, and the school website.”
Crime & Safety
Oxford – Emergency services called Port Meadow incident
An anonymous witness reportedly claimed it involved a critical incident with a suspected stabbing.
Thames Valley Police confirmed these details were unfounded, and said there was no crime identified.
South Central Ambulance service attended and treated someone at the scene in Port Meadow at around 8pm on Sunday, April 26.
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To report a crime in an emergency, call 999. This includes if there is an immediate danger to life, someone is using violence or is threatening to be violent, a crime is happening currently or the suspect is still at the scene.
If you have witnessed or been the victim of e that isn’t an emergency, report it to the police
Crime & Safety
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.
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.
Crime & Safety
Councillor questions practicality of Witney High Street plan
Thomas Ashby has questioned the practicality of narrowing the carriageway as part of Oxfordshire County Council’s scheme, which is now over budget.
In a Facebook post, Councillor Ashby said: “At the end of the day, this scheme is now over budget by millions.
“I do have grave concerns about how narrow they are making the carriageway, and how practical that is going to be for buses, but we will have to wait and see.”
The final plans will be shared at a public event at Witney’s Corn Exchange on April 29, from 2pm to 7pm.
Work is set to begin in May and is expected to finish in October.
Information is available at letstalk.oxfordshire.gov.uk/witney-high-street.
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