The retailer is based in Greater Manchester and has 84 stores, most of them in the Midlands, northern England and Scotland, and 1,555 staff.  It was founded by Andy Scott, a former Macclesfield Town footballer, in 1994, and focuses on branded fashion items aimed at the youth market.

It was previously owned by JD Sports which sold the company to investment firm Hilco Capital in November last year. In the year to 1 February 2014 Bank made a loss of £8.1m.

Bill Dawson, Deloitte partner and joint administrator, said: ‘Bank has struggled in a highly competitive segment of the retail industry and has been loss-making for a number of years. A review of the business has determined that a solvent turnaround would not be possible.’

No redundancies have been made at this time, Deloitte said, with all stores continuing to operate as normal. The firm said the company has already been approached by several parties who have expressed an interest in the business.

Dawson said: ‘The administrators are trading as a going concern with a view to progressing these options and seeking further interested parties for some or all of the business. All stores are open as normal, staff have been paid and additional sale discounts will be implemented later this week.’

Bank’s move into administration is the first significant high street collapse of 2015, with many commentators warning that this year could prove challenging for the retail sector.

Just before Christmas, Begbies Traynor warned of a sharp increase in struggling UK retailers, with a 54% hike in the number reporting ‘significant’ financial distress in the final quarter of the year compared to the same period a year previously (24,251 in 2014; 15,792 in 2013).

The firm singled out clothing retailers as one of the worst hit groups, experiencing increases in ‘significant’ distress of 123% (Q4 2014: 1,482 vs. Q4 2013: 666 businesses). Begbies Traynor said its research suggested the move by large online retailers to holding ‘Black Friday’ sales in the run-up to Christmas had added to their problems. 
 
Julie Palmer, Begbies Traynor partner, said: ‘In a bid to compete, the rest of the UK retail industry has been forced to slash prices and profit margins, but unfortunately sales volumes have failed to keep pace as Christmas shoppers across the UK have been particularly thrifty this year, taking advantage of the significant discounts on offer.

'With rates of inflation at a 12 year low, recent significant oil price drops, real incomes improving and confidence growing, consumers’ discretionary spending power should be set to rally.

'However, the extra spending power hasn’t translated into improved conditions in the retail sector, indicating a “new normal” where consumers will only part with their hard earned cash for significant discounts.'