Owner Gordon Brothers files notice of intent to begin process after rejecting management-backed rescue bid

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The shop workers’ union Usdaw has urged Poundland’s owners to reconsider a decision to prepare the budget chain for administration, putting up to 12,000 jobs at risk.

Gordon Brothers filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators to Poundland at the high court on Thursday, with the advisory firm AlixPartners lined up to run the process.

Catherine’s Originals denies Mondelēz claims in London high court of ‘passing off’ and trademark infringement

The owner of Toblerone is taking legal action against a tiny British vegan chocolate brand which it claims has been copying the Swiss chocolate bar’s famous chunky shape.

Mondelēz has filed papers at the high court in London accusing Catherine’s Original’s of “passing off” and trademark infringement with its O’bar – a length of chocolate divided into segments each with a rounded semi-oval hump.

Retailers also report jump in purchases of wind-up radios and torches to deal with extreme weather and cyber-attacks

Sales of tinned foods, bottled water, wind-up radios and torches have surged after the UK government advised households to prepare for emergencies.

Retailers have reported a jump in sales of items linked to preparation for emergencies such as extreme weather or cyber-attacks. The Be Ready campaign was launched last week with the aim of persuading households to lay in supplies to last 72 hours.

A stretch of London’s Oxford Street is to be vehicle-free as part of £150m government-backed scheme

Much of Britain’s most famous shopping street will be closed to traffic from Monday as the long-awaited pedestrianisation of London’s Oxford Street begins.

About half of the 1.2 mile street will initially be vehicle-free, after decades of planning and dispute over how to best use the street, an important transport thoroughfare and the home for flagship stores for big shopping chains.

Exclusive: British Chambers of Commerce president calls for overhaul of business rates and greater powers for local leaders

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Andy Burnham has been urged by one of his most senior former advisers to tax internet sales more heavily than in-store purchases to help “level the playing field” for struggling high streets.

As the prime minister and his chancellor, John Healey, prepare for their first budget next week, Andy Haldane joined calls for action to stop more shops closing across the UK.

Experts say breadth of data accessed could help attackers devise “highly convincing” phishing scams

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Asos hackers gained access to millions of customers’ recent search histories as well as names, addresses and phone numbers, the online fashion retailer has revealed.

Terms typed in by customers such as “glamorous wide fit” and “Asos petite” were in the data accessed in the cyber-attack, which emerged on Tuesday after app users received a notification titled “Asos hacked” with a link to the Telegram messaging service.

Service to be tested in Spain and Portugal this year, with a UK rollout if successful, as pre-loved markets boom

Ikea is to test an online version of its buy-back service where the retailer offers vouchers for unwanted secondhand furniture.

The service will be tested in Spain and Portugal before the end of December and will be launched in the UK if it proves successful. Ikea already offers buy-back in stores, including in the UK. The online version will extend it to a much wider audience, with Ikea predicting pre-owned goods are likely to grab 16% of the UK homewares market by next year

Push message claims fashion company’s data has been ‘fully compromised’, but website and app remain online

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Asos is investigating after users of its mobile app received a notification claiming hackers had “fully compromised” the online fashion retailer’s data.

The value of Asos’s shares on the London Stock Exchange dived almost 10% after thousands of customers received a notification titled “Asos hacked” with a link that sent them to the Telegram messaging service.

US cannabis and drinks firm Tilray, which took over in March, says it will improve beers, pubs and working conditions

BrewDog’s new owner has urged drinkers to give the ailing brand “a second chance” as it invests more than £50m in improving the company’s beers, pubs and working conditions.

The US cannabis and drinks company Tilray bought BrewDog for £33m in March this year, after the company collapsed into administration after five years of losses and a series of controversies relating to the treatment of workers under the founder James Watt.

First robot-assisted outlet opens in Liverpool to take on Shein and supermarkets in clothing, shoes and homewares

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The owner of Zara is taking on Primark, Shein and the supermarkets with the launch of its cut-price chain Lefties in Britain, backed by an army of robots.

The Spanish fashion brand opened its first UK store in Liverpool on Thursday, a few weeks after quietly launching its UK website.

Investment in climate-resilient irrigation enables this year’s haul to rise 6% on 2025’s already bigger-than-usual yield

British farmers have faced a sweltering summer tested by heatwaves, wildfires and water shortages – but a bumper berry harvest could prove a rare bright spot.

With two-thirds of the harvest now picked, this year’s haul is 6% up on last year’s already unusually large crop, according to British Berry Growers (BBG). Volumes of blackberries, blueberries and raspberries picked have been particularly strong, the trade body said.

Danish toymaker also scores success with KPop Demon Hunters, Star Wars and botanicals products

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Lego sales have risen by more than a fifth as tie-ups with the football World Cup, Formula One and the hit film KPop Demon Hunters as well as its flower-based and Star Wars kits drive demand.

The Danish toymaker said its revenues had increased by 21% to 41.9bn Danish kroner (£4.8bn) in the first six months of 2026, driven by strong growth in the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific regions. Sales by its clients to consumers rose by 22%.

Pre-tax earnings slump at chef’s food and media group after one-off costs including for a new cookery school

Jamie and Jools Oliver have paid themselves a £1.5m dividend – more than 40% down on last year – after profits at their cookery and media empire almost halved.

Sales at Jamie Oliver Holdings remained broadly steady at £28.4m in 2025, £160,000 less than in the previous year, as a strong performance at the group’s own restaurants, franchise business, cookery schools and TV productions offset a decline in royalties, licensing and endorsements.

Fashion site also broke rules on labelling by using terms ‘leather’ or ‘suede’ for synthetic products

The British online fashion seller Boohoo has been fined €2.3m (£2m) by France’s consumer watchdog ⁠for deceptive ⁠practices ​such as offering fake discounts.

The Manchester-based firm, whose parent company renamed itself Debenhams Group last year, was found to have exaggerated the discounts it was offering, giving shoppers a false impression ⁠of the savings they were making, ​according to the directorate-general for competition, ‌consumer affairs and ‌fraud control.

Dwindling donations and stiff competition from secondhand sellers online prompt review but ‘no plans for closures yet’

Oxfam is reviewing the operations of its three warehouses in Batley, Bicester and Milton Keynes and says it “cannot give guarantees” on the future of its high street shops in a “difficult economic climate”.

The charity said it had no plans to close warehouses or shops but insiders fear that Batley, which houses Oxfam’s main textile recycling centre, will shut as part of a cost-cutting drive because the West Yorkshire site’s lease is up for renewal.

Platform set to launch later this year will enable loyalty card members to sell preloved Billy bookcases and Poäng chairs

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Ikea is taking on eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Vinted with its own secondhand selling site in the UK.

The new platform, which will enable shoppers signed up to the Swedish company’s membership scheme to connect directly to one another to buy and sell pre-owned Ikea items locally, is due to launch in the next few months.

There are parched fields, overheating sheep and potentially the worst cereal harvest since detailed records began – but it’s a good year for cider apples

As parts of the UK swelter through a fifth successive climate crisis-driven heatwave and nearly three-quarters of England remains in drought, how are six homegrown products faring?

Visits down 3.8% after 6.2% fall in June, with many choosing to buy online instead, research for retail body finds

Shoppers stayed away from UK high streets during last month’s heatwave temperatures, with many choosing to buy online instead as the mercury in some areas rose into the mid-30Cs.

Trips to high streets were down by 3.8% year on year in July after a 6.2% fall in June, according to research from the monitoring firm Sensormatic for the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

Farmers warn impact of high temperatures, drought and wildfires on range of foodstuffs means costs will increase

Farmers across Europe are warning of a slump in food production and rising prices as crops from maize to salads suffer as a result of extreme heat, drought and wildfires.

Olive groves have also been hit as the climate crisis drives temperatures across the continent to fresh record highs, meaning the cost of olive oil – already at elevated levels – is expected to start rising again.

Growers in dismay after scorching weather and lack of rain affect yields, sending wholesale prices rocketing

Pubs, restaurants and supermarkets are having to buy lettuce and broccoli from Spain at what should be the height of UK growing season, as drought and extreme heat hit crops.

The wholesale price of tomatoes is up by more than 60%, iceberg lettuce by 90% and potatoes by more than 40% as a number of farmers struggle to grow in consistently high temperatures. Even those with irrigation systems and reservoirs on their farms say water is running low.