Land of Leather is the latest retailer forced to call in the administrators.
The company, which also took its website offline following the announcement this afternoon, said it had made every effort to cut costs but that market conditions remained tough and January sales had been 'very disappointing'.

Towards the end of 2008 the chain, which employs about 850 people, said it was in trouble but it was trying to sell to investors and complete various other cost cutting measures.

However, a sale floundered when shareholders felt potential suitors undervalued the struggling firm and administrators were called in today.

The chain has 109 stores in the UK and the Republic of Ireland and Lee Manning and Nick Edwards of Deloitte are joint administrators.