Hardy Amies to shut new Cabot Circus store

A luxury clothes shop which opened its doors at Bristol's new Cabot Circus shopping centre just a week ago is set to close within days.

Hardy Amies, the upmarket tailor which once made dresses for the Queen, was yesterday appointing administrators to seek a new owner after running into financial difficulties.

It opened a new store – its sixth in the UK – in Quakers Friars last week, which employs six staff. Its ranges for men include ties at £55 each, and jeans which cost £145 a pair.

The company had to suspend trading in its shares a week ago, on the day after its Cabot Circus store opened. In a statement, the company said it had since been approached by various parties interested in helping solve its funding difficulties but had been "unable to finalise an offer that would secure the future of the company."

It has now confirmed it is going into administration and is expected to close its shops and begin selling off its assets in the next week.

The firm was set up by English dressmaker Sir Edwin Hardy Amies in London in 1946.

Clients have included the actresses Vivien Leigh and Dame Helen Mirren, and British rock band The Zutons. Sir Edwin became famous in 1952 as the man who dressed Princess Elizabeth, as she then was. Three years later he was granted a Royal Warrant.

The brand took on other high-profile clients such as the 1966 England World Cup team and the 1972 British Olympic squad.

Sir Edwin shook up his traditional image when he created the futuristic costumes for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, in 1968.

He retired in May 2001, selling to publicly-quoted company Luxury Brands Group and died in 2003.