THE Great Yarmouth branch of children's wear shop Adams closed on Monday - one of three in Norfolk.A small notice on the door informed customers the company had gone into administration.

THE Great Yarmouth branch of children's wear shop Adams closed on Monday - one of three in Norfolk.

A small notice on the door informed customers the company had gone into administration. Signs advertising a 70pc sale remained in the windows.

Stores in King's Lynn and Thetford, as well as Ipswich and Peterborough, were among 111 that closed nationally and about 850 staff were made redundant.

The remaining 160 Adams stores will remain open and administrators PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC), who were appointed to the firm on New Year's Eve, said they were hopeful they could sell parts of the business.

Rob Hunt, joint administrator and partner at PwC, said: “In light of the current downturn being experienced on the high street, it is with regret that it has been necessary to effect the closure of 111 stores throughout the UK as of today.

“Unfortunately, this will inevitably lead to a number of job losses and 850 people across the company will be made redundant with immediate effect. My team and I will be doing all we can to help these employees at this difficult time.”

Adams was founded in Birmingham in 1933 by Amy Adams and celebrated its 75th anniversary last year.

The group was bought out of administration in February 2007 and it had begun to show signs of improvement but a sharp deterioration in trading and competition from supermarket chains had reportedly hit the group's ability to service its debts.