MORE than 50 workers have lost their jobs after a high street retailer was sold.

Staff at warehouses in Bowburn, near Durham City, and Seaham, east Durham, have seen their posts disappear after Style Group Brands was offloaded to a subsidiary of Calvetron Style Holdings.

A spokeswoman for administrator KPMG last night confirmed to The Northern Echo that 29 workers have been affected at Bowburn, with a further 25 hit at Seaham.

The losses are part of 272 redundancies across head office and European operations.

Style Group traded under the Jacques Vert, Precis Petite, Eastex and Dash brands, and had outlets across the region.

According to the terms of the deal, Calvetron’s subsidiary has taken on all the assets of Style Group, with trading expected to continue across its concessions based in the UK, Ireland, Canada and the Middle East, preserving 1,272 jobs across Britain.

Will Wright, partner at KPMG and joint administrator, said: “The deal rescues one of the UK’s leading concession retailers and will see the continued trading of four high street brands, preserving a large number of jobs.

“It is a positive outcome given the challenging economic pressures faced by retailers across the UK.”

“(However), while a significant number of jobs have been preserved, sadly redundancies will be made.

“Over the coming days, our priority is to ensure all employees who have been affected by redundancy receive the information and guidance they need in order to claim their entitlement from the Redundancy Payments Office.”

Mr Wright also confirmed the sale will mean the immediate closure of 17 Jacques Vert stores across the UK and seven Belgian concessions, adding jobs have gone at Style Group’s London head office.

Jacques Vert started in the 1970s when London tailors Alan Green and Jack Cynamon set up business together, with the brand growing quickly thereafter.