ICONIC Liverpool retailer Ethel Austin has left the city – and secured an investor as it embarks on a new beginning under the Life & Style brand.

The business was set up in 1934 in the Anfield terraced home of eponymous owner Ethel Austin.

But, in February, current owner Elaine McPherson put the Knowsley- based business into administration for the second time in as many years, blaming poor sales and lack of banking facilities as the cause.

The firm collapsed with debts of more than £43m, and almost 2,300 staff in hundreds of stores around the country lost their jobs as administrator MCR tried to find a buyer.

Eventually, Ms McPherson bought 91 of the best-performing Ethel Austin and sister brand Au Naturale stores under plans to ditch the historic name and start afresh.

In April, LDP Business revealed plans by the new group to relocate to Altrincham, which Ms McPherson declined to comment on.

A former worker has now revealed that the move took place last Friday as the handful of remaining administrative, warehouse and distribution jobs in Knowsley disappeared.

He said: “There was nothing to mark the end of the business, which was typical of her.”

Suresh Ruia, managing director of Manchester-based textile company Beamfeature, is now understood to have acquired a major stake in Life & Styles involving a “significant injection of funds” which will bankroll a new expansion drive.

Ms McPherson is understood to be targeting a portfolio of 200 Life & Style stores in the next two years.