Book People will close by Easter with no buyer found for the company that had employed 400 workers

The Book People will end operations by Easter with no buyer found for the business that had employed 400 workers before going into administration.

Administrators said they had started the managed wind down of the North Wales and Surrey based business after failing to secure a buyer.

It had employed 393 staff in the UK with 229 workers at a large delivery warehouse on Parc Menai in Bangor and others at the head office in Godalming, Surrey.

Last month it announced 155 workers were being laid off while dozens of contractors also went - leaving 60 workers at the site in North Wales and further staff in the south east of England.

Now administrators Toby Underwood and Zelf Hussain of PwC have confirmed that they have not been able to secure a sale.

This will now see a managed wind down start with a full closure expected by Easter.

A spokesman for PwC said: “Since the appointment, the administrators have actively been engaging in negotiations with interested parties to achieve the sale of the business.

“Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the company and the administrators, it has not been possible to secure a sale.

The Book People in Bangor (Arwyn Roberts, Reach PLC)

“As a result, in the absence of any further interest, the administrators will now be implementing a managed wind down process and will continue trading the business to realise value for stock through e-commerce.

“There is currently no fixed final date for trading, but we anticipate this may continue through to Easter.

“Whilst this unfortunately means that further redundancies are inevitable at some point in the future, no redundancies were made today.”

The Book People Limited will continue to trade through the e-commerce channel with the retained staff and the intention is to fulfil and deliver all customer orders received and accepted, whilst any remaining interest is explored.

Toby Underwood, restructuring partner for PwC, said: “This is a very hard time for everybody associated with this much-loved and long established brand, especially in light of the strong initial interest we received from potential acquirers for the trading business.

“Unfortunately, despite best efforts, it has not been possible to secure a sale.

“Our focus will be on supporting employees over the coming months and on achieving best value for creditors with minimal disruption during the trading period.”