SELECT, the womenswear retailer, has entered administration placing 1,800 jobs at risk.

They have a store in the Water Gardens.

The high street fashion chain, which has 169 stores, is continuing to trade in-store and online for now as attempts to find a buyer gather pace.

It is understood expressions of interest had already been sought in advance of the collapse.

It was just under a year ago that the firm – owned by Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahiroglu – secured a so-called Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to slash its rent bill.

Select has not been immune from the wider crisis facing the fashion sector with exposure to the high street.

Higher costs from things like business rates, rent bills and minimum pay rules have combined with a plunge in consumer confidence to ramp up pressure on many big names.