Jones Bootmaker sold to private equity firm Endless LLP

More than 20 staff have been made redundant at Jones Bootmaker.

The company, which had stores in Durham City and Newcastle, has been bought by private equity firm Endless LLP.

Jones’ officials previously filed a notice to appoint administrators after tough high street trading conditions compounded rising costs brought on by the introduction of the national living wage and the pound’s plunge since the Brexit vote.

Steve Absolom, joint administrator at KPMG, which was appointed last week, said Jones’ Durham and Newcastle bases were part of 25 “underperforming” stores across the country, which will close immediately and mean 262 job losses.

He said: “While it is always pleasing to preserve a significant number of jobs, a number of redundancies are to be made at the closed stores.

“Our priority is to ensure all employees who have been affected receive the guidance they need to claim monies owed from the Redundancy Payments Office.”

Mr Absolom added Endless will continue running 72 stores, which will safeguard around 840 posts.

Jones was previously bought by Alteri for £12m in a deal that included shoe retailer Brantano, which last week also fell into administration.