A troubled national retailer has confirmed that its Carlisle store is to close.

But menswear retailer Greenwoods will be keeping its outlet in Workington town centre open.

The chain has been in administration for some time with staff at the two stores grappling with the prospect of redundancy.

The shop in English Street, Carlisle, has has "Store closing" posters in its windows for a number of weeks.

Confirmation of the city outlet's closure came as the sale of the business was confirmed. It is not known how many staff were employed there.

Greenwoods Menswear Limited has been sold to Versatile International Trading Limited.

Nationally, the sale will see 40 retail stores, a central warehouse and head office functions transfer to the buyer and protect 181 jobs, including those at Murray Road in Workington.

The remaining 22 stores will close immediately, resulting in 88 redundancies nationwide.

Adrian Berry, of administrators Deloitte, said: "This sale represents the best outcome for the business, which has been trading in administration for over six weeks.

"A significant proportion of the employees now have their jobs protected and we would like to thank all of them for their support during this difficult period.”

Greenwoods had its headquarters in Bradford and employed about 318 people. It had an annual turnover of £20m.

The outfit hire part of the businesses had not been operating for a number of weeks.

The clothing Greenwoods hired out was owned and supplied by a third party called ACS Clothing.

ACS is no longer supplying Greenwoods. ACS says it is working with customers directly regarding the completion of any unfulfilled Greenwoods' orders.

Greenwoods was founded in 1860 as a hatter's shop in Bradford.

In other business news, Interserve - which is contracted to run facilities services at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary - has clinched a BBC contract extension worth £140m, marking its second major deal since being forced to issue a profit warning last week.

The outsourcing and construction group will continue providing services to the BBC until 2023, extending an account that was first awarded in 2014.

Interserve shares were up 1.3 per cent or 1p at 77.5p following the announcement, which comes just days after the company said it had won a £227m Government contract to provide similar services for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

But the contracts have been overshadowed by last week's profit warning and news that Interserve could breach its banking covenants, which sent shares plunging more than 30 per cent last Thursday.