Romford's Body Shop branch is set to remain open despite the firm hiring administrators and announcing plans to shut other stores.

The joint administrators for the British cosmetics retailer confirmed today (February 29) that 116 of its UK stores, including the one on South Street, will remain open.

This comes after the company appointed administrators after an "extended period of financial challenges" and a "difficult trading environment," announced on February 13.

Tony Wright, joint administrator with Geoff Rowley and Alastair Massey, said: "In taking swift action to right-size The Body Shop UK store portfolio, we have stabilised the business.

"We remain fully focused on exploring all options to take the business forward," Mr Wright added.

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Body Shop runs more than 200 shops across the UK and had appointed insolvency experts from FRP Advisory to oversee the process.

In-store and online trade will continue during the administration process, Mr Wright confirmed.

Across the board, 489 staff will be made redundant over the next four to six weeks as other Body Shop stores are closed.

Additional reporting by PA.