Foxtons Branch in East Dulwich will be M&S... (Lounged)

[Engles]

Great news everyone - Foxtons are in administration. They are planning to close 15 branches - one of which is their coffee shop emporium on Lordship Lane. M&S simply food are moving in...

[Horsebox]

Where did you hear this? Link to source available, please?

[SteveT]

The demise of the "****aquarium" is a great loss to the community as we all know,

but we shall grit our teeth, and maintain the WW2 fighting spirit, and soldier on undaunted.

I wonder how long M&S will survive?

Anyhoo it can only be described as a victory for ED.

[Huguenot]

Welcome to the fourm Engels! Or may we call you Friedrich? Bah, Engles - my mistake :(

I highly recommend a search on M&S in ED on the forum - there is plenty of evidence that 70% of first time posters are drawn to the forum on the strength of an M&S rumour!

This one has the ring of truth about it though - wherein do you source your cunning insights? ;-)

[Bumpkin]

My understanding is that M&S have halted all new property developments this year while they work on getting normal sales back on track, so this is prob wistful thinking...

[ratty]

I guess that means redundancies. A reason to rejoice? Perhaps not!

[philip-walker]

Hi all,

I work for M&S in particular with the early stages of new stores/refurbs etc, and I can assure you there are no current plans to open an M&S in ED, which is a shame!

[Josh]

not just foxtons. I hear that every estate agent on Lordsip Lane is going to be turned into a small M&S boutique-supermarket.

[beatnic]

An M&S simply food opposite Somerfields?

I think there was a clue in there somewhere.

[philip-walker]

In fact there are no plans for any new M&S stores anywhere for the time being!

[Applespider]

I'd rather have a Waitrose than a Simply Food. :-$ Just don't get the appeal of most M&S stodge - their jubilee strawberries and their sweet potato/lentil salad (both of which are only available in the summer) are the best things in it. And I really object to paying 10p an item more in a Simply Food as a 'convenience' charge. Small 'convenience' shops used to charge more because they didn't have the economies of scale that supermarkets had. Now most of them are run by the giants but still charge more. :X

[Eileen]

does anyone know who owns the Foxton's building?

[HonaloochieB]

We don't need an M&S food shop in ED, I have access to the one in Brixton.

And as long as I'm all right...

[HonaloochieB]

Oh wait though, at weekends it's not so convenient for me to go to Brixton.

So alright so, go ahead.

[jctg]

Rumour-mongering at its finest. So, I take it the announcement about Foxtons' entrance into administration will be made first thing Monday morning then?

[scottcruickshank]

I heard it is going to be a McDonalds, the Golden Arches will be hung on Monday

[Engles]

Public announcement unlikely monday but next couple of weeks I would think. Though it's public knowledge anyway... http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/construction_and_property/article4596904.ece

[Engles]

Foxton's building on Lordship Lane is owned by the council. By the way I thought Lordship lane was meant to be independents anyway, not chains. Anyone know the latest on this? Why was Foxton's allowed to open there in the first place?

[jctg]

That news article dates from August. And Foxtons being placed into administration will be kept secret for a couple of weeks? Wishful thinking all round I think.

[seanmlow]

Foxtons are in so much debt they will indeed be closing offices. They offered the company back to the original founder for ?1, but he turned them down due to their heavy debt.

However, I feel for the staff - it is a tough time and not nice for anyone to lose their job.

[BJL]

Engles Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> By the way I thought Lordship lane was

> meant to be independents anyway, not chains.

> Why was Foxton's allowed to open there in the first place?

Perhaps you should visit LL, Engles. You'll see betting shops, off-licences, estate agents (not just Foxton's), supermarkets, cafes, chemists, clothes shops and undertakers - all chains...

[macroban]

The Chain - Fleetwood Mac

[Thanks for the explanation, Honaloochie Boogie]

[bob]

May be a small ASDA.

Bob S

[HonaloochieB]

macroban Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The Chain - Fleetwood Mac

>

>

You're as welcome as the flowers of May, Mac.

I just put a hat on so I could doff it to you.

[Siduhe]

It's possible that a judge could have made an out of hours administration order or that the directors went down the out of court admin route over the weekend, but I am fairly clear that Foxtons wasn't in administration as of Friday. As soon as an admin order is made, there are various notification requirements to the Court, creditors and interested parties - without going into details, I and my colleagues would have been made aware of it.

Oh, and once in admin, the company doesn't have a say about what steps it may or may not take in respect of the business like closing down branches - those decisions are taken by the adminstrators, who wouldn't have made any decisions at this early stage before taking an audit of the business - the initial audit would normally take about 5-10 days depending on the size of the job and how good the records are.

Great first post though...

Edited to say, it's entirely possible that the company may have called in restructuring advisors to consider options internally - perhaps to come up with a plan to restructure the business without going into an insolvency process like administration. That would be very normal, but not quite the same things as an administrator being appointed.