ABOUT 11,000 workers, including 550 in the North-East and North Yorkshire are expected to lose their jobs after administrators failed to find a buyer for BHS.

The retailer is to be wound down, and will disappear from the high street.

Administrator Duff & Phelps announced today that all BHS's 163 shops will be closed and sold off to other retailers.

Eight thousand permanent jobs are likely to be lost and another 3,000 not directly employed by BHS are also at risk.

The company employs more than 550 people at 11 stores across the North-East and North Yorkshire, including Newcastle, Metrocentre, South Shields, Sunderland, Durham, Hartlepool, Darlington, Middlesbrough, Knaresborough and two in York.

Hopes had been raised that last-ditch bids from former Mothercare boss Greg Tufnell and Mike Ashley's Sports Direct could rescue the stricken retailer, but they ultimately fell short.

Duff & Phelps said: "Although multiple offers were received, none were able to complete a deal due to the working capital required to secure the future of the company."

The administrator added that BHS will be in "close-down sale mode" over the coming weeks as it proceeds an "orderly wind-down" of the business.

Billionaire Topshop owner Sir Philip Green, who owned the chain for 15 years and sold it for £1 last year to former bankrupt Dominic Chappell, said he was "saddened and disappointed" by the company's demise, and added that he had hoped to see BHS sold as a going concern.

MPs are set to quiz both men in the coming weeks over their roles in the retailer's collapse.

The pair have been roundly criticised: Sir Philip for paying a £400 million dividend to his family from the business and over his management of the pension scheme, and Mr Chappell for sucking management fees out of BHS before its collapse.

Philip Duffy, managing director of Duff & Phelps, said: "The British high street is changing and, in these turbulent times for retailers, BHS has fallen as another victim of the seismic shifts we are seeing."

Restructuring firm Hilco will now be tasked with helping liquidate BHS's store estate and remaining stock.

BHS fell into administration in April, leaving behind a £571 million pensions black hole.

In Darlington, shoppers expressed their sadness and shock at the closure of the high street staple.

Sue Ryder and Margaret Vine of Newton Aycliffe praised the store for the quality of its homewares such as bedding and lighting but questioned whether a failure to modernise had led to BHS becoming less relevant in today’s competitive market.

Mrs Ryder said: “Just about a-month-ago I bought lovely towels and bathroom stuff from there, and I always look at the clothes.

“My mother-in-law loves it and they do some lovely children’s clothes and dresses.

“It’s very sad.”

She added: “It must be awful for the staff.”

The news comes just days after administrators to Austin Reed said 120 stores would close after also failing to find a buyer for the business, resulting in the loss of approximately 1,000 jobs.

Richard Lim, chief executive of Retail Economics, described BHS's collapse as a "devastating blow to the UK high street".