A fashion store in Watford town centre will shut its doors permanently today (December 1).

The Joules shop inside atria Watford shopping centre is among 19 that will close despite Next stepping in to pull the brand out of administration.

Joules only opened in Watford in October 2020 – when it moved into a lower ground floor unit.

Read more: Atria Watford confirms December and Christmas opening hours

Retail giant Next said it plans to continue to run around 100 of Joules’ 124 stores and will transfer over around 1,450 members of shop and head office staff.

The deal will see Next own a 74% stake in the business, with Joules' founder Tom Joule owning the remaining 26% share.

But the administration resulted in 320 redundancies, while a further 79 employees who had resigned and were working their notice were forced to immediately leave.

Joules drafted in administrators from Interpath Advisory last month after failing to secure emergency funding following a surge in costs and slowdown in demand.

The insolvency specialists will close 19 of Joules’ stores on Thursday, including Watford's, after they were not bought as part of the deal.

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