Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones buys Jessops brand

Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones has acquired the brand of collapsed photography retailer Jessops.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, administrators to Jessops, said that Jones was one of a “number of buyers” to have purchased the Jessops brand and other assets, including the remaining stock and intellectual property.

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However, the entrepreneur has not bought any of the camera chain’s stores and plans to run the business entirely online.  

PwC partner Rob Hunt said: “We can confirm that we have sold the brand and certain other assets to a number of buyers, including entrepreneur Peter Jones CBE.”

PwC was appointed as administrator on 9 January 2013 and shortly afterwards closed all 187 Jessops stores with the loss of 1,370 jobs.

Jessops collapsed into administration after struggling for years against online competitors and the shift to using smartphones to take photographs. It narrowly avoided administration in 2009 after its bank HSBC took a stake in the business in a debt-for-equity swap. 

PwC did not say how much Jones had paid for the Jessops brand.