Courts Plc

Courts was a retailer of furniture from the United Kingdom and also had stores in the Caribbean and in Asia. It was founded in 1850. Until the late 1990s Courts had also sold electrical goods. It was known for an advertising campaign in the 1980s and 1990s that featured Bruce Forsyth dressed as a judge. After this it advertised with a singer singing the "Courts you can" song. Courts had 350 stores worldwide with 100 in the United Kingdom which were mostly located in retail parks with some on high streets.

Administration

On Monday, 29 November, 2004 shares in Courts plc were suspended at 13.5p and the company went into administration with debts of £280 million. The reasons for this were because of a fall in UK sales and Courts had been hit by the damage caused by Hurricane Ivan to its Caribbean arm. The administration caused controversy because the sudden store closures had seen a number of outlets almost besieged and in some cases damaged by angry customers and left thousands of customers out-of-pocket and without the furniture they had ordered. Today all branches of Courts in the United Kingdom have been sold off or closed down but there continues to be a presence in the Caribbean and Asia.

External links

* [http://www.courts.co.uk/ Former Courts consumer website now used for administration notices]
* [http://www.courts.com.bb/ Courts Barbados website]
* [http://www.courts.com.jm/ Courts Jamaica website]
* [http://www.courts.co.tt/ Courts Trinidad & Tobago website]
* [http://www.courts.com.my/ Courts Malaysia website]
* [http://www.courts.com.sg/ Courts Singapore website]
* [http://www.courts.com.fj/ Courts Fiji website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4052439.stm BBC News article on Courts going into administration]