£460,000 of debt written off by Harborough council after Joules fell into administration

Officials at Harborough District Council have decided to write off more than £460,000 owed to it by Market Harborough fashion brand Joules.

The company went into administration in November last year, and was nearly £114 million in the red when it collapsed.

The following month it was announced the business had been saved, with fellow Leicestershire company and high street giant Next buying it out of administration for £34 million. Joules’ founder, Tom Joule, now owns 26 per cent of the company, and Next the other 74 per cent.

The near half-a-million pounds owed to the council comprises unpaid council tax and business rates, which are charged by local authorities to non-domestic properties such as shops, offices, pubs and factories. Members of the council’s cabinet approved the write-off at a meeting this week after, officers at the authority conceded there was no prospect of recovering the money.

A report on the matter stated: “All reasonable steps to recover the debt have been taken, and therefore where writeoff is recommended it is the only course of action that is left available.”

No financial effects will come of the decision, the council said, because the debt would be “met from the authority’s bad debt provision”.

The joint venture between Next and Joules keept 100 Joules stores open, but 133 jobs were lost as 19 stores were immediately shut. Enderby-based Next also purchased Joules’ headquarters in Rockingham Road, Market Harborough, for £7 million.