Entrepreneur Harold Tillman fights to save department store

Laura Chesters
Laura Chesters is digital, consumer and luxury goods reporter at The London Evening Standard, i, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday.
Wednesday 13 June 2012
Harold Tillman is in crisis talks to save the final piece of his retail empire.
Allders of Croydon, the department store in south London that Mr Tillman bought in 2005, is in crisis talks with its landlord to stave off administration.
It has requested a rent-free period and appealed to the local council for a business rates free period to give it breathing space.
Weak sales and a large rent bill have left the 300,000 sq ft store in dire straits.
In February, Mr Tillman restructured his ownership by reducing his stake to 35 per cent while retail restructuring expert Hilco took a 35 per cent stake and Royal Bank of Scotland's West Register took a 30 per cent equity slice.
But the restructuring may not be enough to save the historic store, which dates back to 1862.
Andrew MacKenzie, whom Mr Tillman appointed as Allders' chief executive, had been attempting to turn the business around by bringing in more concessions, but it is thought its rent bill each month is too large compared to its sales.
The situation in Croydon is the latest woe for Mr Tillman. His Jaeger retail business was sold to Better Capital in April for just above its level of debts, and Aquascutum was placed into administration later that month. But Mr Tillman retains a small stake in Jaeger.
Mr Tillman, who is the chairman of the British Fashion Council, bought Allders of Croydon out of administration in 2005, when it was part of a national chain of department stores.
The site of the store in Croydon is owned by Jupiter Properties, the joint venture between Delancey and Area Property Partners, who took control of the 500,000 sq ft building as part of its £202m purchase of the debt-laden property company Minerva in August last year.
The Allders site is of interest to the property developers Hammerson and Westfield who are in a battle to redevelop the centre of Croydon. Delancey hired a property agent to look at options of selling the site.
It is not the first time Mr Tillman has hit difficulties in retail. He was involved in the collapse of the Honorbilt fashion group in 1990, and was disqualified as a company director for three years.
- 1 Massive stage collapse before Radiohead concert kills one
- 2 News in pictures
- 3 Leveson threatened to quit after public attack by Gove
- 4 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 5 Osborne: The people’s damning verdict
- 6 Ed Miliband: 'Cameron is the last gasp of the old guard'
- 7 Savers start a 'jog' on Europe's banks as Greece votes
- 8 For whom the bell tolls: £20m 'Memo' project takes shape on Dorset's Jurassic coast
- 9 Still standing: George Galloway reveals why his staunchly Leftist outlook is still invariably right
- 10 Aung San Suu Kyi: A lesson in the value of kindness
- 1 Massive stage collapse before Radiohead concert kills one
- 2 Patrick Cockburn: Greece's day of reckoning dawns in a climate of anger and uncertainty
- 3 The Blagger's Guide To: The best (and worst) fathers
- 4 We just click: How Lego keeps building on its success
- 5 Revealed: Harry Potter is the Antichrist!
- 6 The Leveson Inquiry: We're in this together!
- 7 Osborne: The people’s damning verdict
- 8 David Flatman: Over and out
- 9 Frank Zimmerman and me: The truth about the troll who tormented Louise Mensch
- 10 Aung San Suu Kyi: A lesson in the value of kindness

Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.

Win a sumptuous three-night stay in Austria
Get away from it all in the fresh mountain air at the four-star Hotel Edelweiss & Gurgl.

Win a five-star foodie weekend to Liège
Spend two nights in gourmet heaven at a top hotel in the capital of French-speaking Belgium.

A home to be proud of with Halifax
Download the Halifax's brilliant, free new Home Finder app, and take all the pain out of finding your dream home

Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.

Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page

Still standing: George Galloway

Daniel Radcliffe as drug-taking Beatnik poet

Objets czar: David Usborne’s collection of myriad objects

World's richest woman: Gina Rinehart

Comments