There are fears for the future of the remaining Mothercare stores and the jobs of 2,500 staff after it was reported that the struggling retailer have called in KPMG to look at the firm.

It has been widely reported that the babywear and maternity clothing specialists are looking at plans that could see further closures at its already dwindling store estate.

The Mothercare Group closed 55 stores nationally last year, a move that resulted in the loss of 800 jobs, although the only remaining store in the county avoided the cut.

Mothercare has just one Gloucestershire store - on Gloucester's St Oswalds Retail Park - and a wider UK portfolio of 78 other stores.

It is widely believed that the Mothercare Group have been trying to sell the UK arm of its business, in order to bring it in line with the rest of the global group.

Outside of the UK stores are run on a franchise basis, with a current estate of more than 1,300 shops.

Founded in the 1970s the company was once a behemoth of the High Street, at one time taking over established names such as Habitat, Early Learning Centre and British Home Stores.

It sold BHS to Phillip Green in 2000 and acquired ELC in 2007, eventually moving their stores to within Mothercare premises to reduce costs.

The group also dabbled in social networking, launching and running a network called gurgle.

In their 2019 financial results, Mothercare reported UK store sales fell by 23.2 per cent, leading to a worldwide sales drop of 9.4 per cent.