A buyer is being sought for West Yorkshire garden centre Whiteleys, which was placed into the hands of administrator Begbies Traynor last week.
It is the second time that Whiteleys, which has traded for more than 25 years and brings in an estimated turnover of over £2m, has had to call in administrators. In 2010 the centre was taken over by a group of private investors after previous owners Woldelve Ltd fell into financial difficulty. This time around administrators said overall financial pressures were to blame for the business' struggle, rather than its day-to-day operations.

Its assets include its freehold site and significant levels of stock, from plants and garden furniture to a pets and aquatics department and cafe. The business will continue to trade over the Christmas season with no current plans to make any of its 45 full and part-time staff redundant.

Julian Pitts, Bob Maxwell and Andrew Dick were appointed joint administrators on November 21. Mr Pitts said: "We are continuing to trade the business and the garden centre will be running as usual while a buyer is sought. We want to reassure customers that the garden centre will be open as normal during the busy Christmas period and its full schedule of festive events will go ahead as planned.

"This is a long established business with a loyal customer base and represents an excellent investment opportunity. We expect it to generate a high level of interest which we anticipate will result in securing a future for one of the area's most popular garden centres."