OSWESTRY'S branch of the high street fashion chain Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM), will close as the company fights for its future.

EWM, which also owns Peacocks and Jaeger, is close to collapse, with 24,000 jobs in the balance, according to documents filed with the High Court.

Shoppers in Oswestry have been with giant closing down sale signs in the window of the popular store, in Willow Street, with a date not yet set for its closure.

The company had lodged a notice of intention to appoint administrators to look for potential buyers to shore up the struggling business.

Bosses wrote to staff on Friday morning, warning them that the national and local lockdowns had hit sales very heavily.

The company added that it has been hit hard by allegations, which it denies, that the retailer and several rivals failed to pay some Bangladeshi suppliers during lockdown in an attempt to cut costs for clothes they were unlikely to sell.

The move by EWM, owned by businessman Philip Day, will see insolvency specialists at FRP spend 10 days carrying out an urgent review ahead of further action.

EWM chief executive Steve Simpson said: “Like every retailer, we have found the past seven months extremely difficult.

“This situation has grown worse in recent weeks as we have had to deal with a series of false rumours about our payments and trading which have impacted our credit insurance.

“Traditionally, EWM has always traded with strong cash reserves and a conservative balance sheet, but these stories, the reduction in credit insurance, against the backdrop of the lockdown and now this second wave of Covid-19, and all the local lockdowns, have made normal trading impossible."