TAUNTON looks set to lose another big name fashion name.

Monsoon Accessorize has announced the expected closure of its outlets in Fore Street along with another 36 across the UK and Ireland.

The bombshell comes after Next recently announced it would close its Fore Street store in May this year.

While a deal has been thrashed out to save most of the Monsoon Accessorize stores, others including Taunton are earmarked for closure with 545 jobs at risk.

The company had come up with a turnaround plan to before it was forced to shut in March by the Covid-19 lockdown and is believed to have been making a profit.

It is believed the retailer said it would close stores where landlords refused to give it a rent holiday.

Monsoon founder Peter Simon has saved some stores after buying the business out of administration, but it is reportedly re-opening fewer stores.

Mr Simon's Adena Brands has pledged to inject £15million into the business, taking on 450 Monsoon Accessorize jobs.

Joint administrator Tony Wright said: "We had to move quickly and decisively to secure the future of Monsoon and Accessorize, as many jobs as possible and the presence of these two iconic brands on the UK high street.

"After assessing a range of options this deal achieves those goals with least disruption to the business in an already challenging retail environment.

"We are now committed to working with Adena Brands as they enter talks with landlords to agree future terms across their store portfolio and look to transfer more jobs to the buyer.

"We'll also be working with the Redundancy Payments Service to support all affected employees through this difficult time."