A major sports shop has closed with the loss of 17 jobs after the retailer went into administration.

Stevenage’s JJB Sports store at The Forum shut on Monday as the heavily-indebted company called in administrators. It is one of 133 stores across the UK to close.

Richard Fleming, UK head of restructuring at KPMG, said successive attempts to restructure the business, both financially and operationally, had not been enough to prevent the company falling into administration.

“All staff made redundant as a result of store closures have had their arrears of wages and holiday entitlements paid in full. Our team of employment specialists will be supporting staff on completing redundancy forms and putting them in touch with job seeker services. We will now be reviewing what options are available for the remainder of the business, such as selling leasehold interests.”