Bed and mattress retailer The Sleep Haven was only profitable across two of its four stores ahead of its collapse.
Mark Ranson and Adrian Dante, both of Opus Restructuring LLP, were appointed as joint administrators of The Sleep Haven Limited on 7 August 2025.
In the build up to the appointment, the company, which traded from four stores in Warrington, Broadstone, Oswaldtwistle and Castleford, had accrued losses of £134,000 by 31 May 2025, with only two of its stores profitable at store level.
“Management believed that further significant input was required in order for the company to break even together with the expansion of more stores,” the report said. “Further investment would be required to fund the required expansion.”
However, the business suffered a major blow after its Operations Director John Whitehead sadly passed away. He was fundamental in the running of the business and was full time on a “modest salary”, the report states.
The other two directors were on a part time basis without drawing a salary. The loss of Mr Whitehead required the company to consider recruiting a replacement Operations Director.
With the anticipated cost of a new Operations Director being significantly higher than the current salary being paid to Mr Whitehead, management believed the company was no longer viable without an injection of capital.
With no capital injection forthcoming, management sought advice from Opus Restructuring on its options.
Following the appointment of administrators, Opus began implementing the agreed strategy in order to maximise realisations of the company’s remaining assets.
Following a successful period of trading, the Castleford store was closed on 22 August 2025 and the remaining stock was transferred to the Warrington store in the days that followed and the administrators vacated the premises.
As stock levels reduced at the Broadstone and Oswaldtwistle stores, the administrators closed those stores on 31 August 2025. Again, the remaining stock was transferred to the Warrington store with both premises then vacated.
Following a final marketing campaign to realise the remaining stock from the Warrington store, the final store was closed on 7 September 2025. The remaining stock and office equipment has been transferred to BPI to be sold via auction, while all 13 staff have been made redundant.
Furthermore, upon appointment, a protocol was put in place with the company’s management team to put aside customer deposits and safeguard them. “Prior to that date, the company used a single bank account, and regrettably, funds were used for trading purposes,” the report stated.
“£61,233.95 has been recovered in relation to customer deposits secured from 23 July 2025. The company has fulfilled orders totalling £43,497.69 (inclusive of VAT), and the funds have been released to sales accordingly.
“Unfortunately, the company has been unable to fulfil orders totalling £17,736.26 (inclusive of VAT). The Administrators have undertaken a reconciliation to establish which customers are entitled to have their deposits returned.”
As for creditors, preferential creditor, the HMRC, is owed £22,000, while unsecured creditors are owed £427,000, with 141 consumers owed a combined figure of £78,000. A director’s loan of £27,000 is also owed, along with £6,500 to employees and £31,000 to Barclays Bank. It is expected that creditors will suffer a shortfall of £421,000.
The Sleep Haven was established in June 2023. Upon appointment of administrators, Mark Ranson of Opus said: “It’s a tragedy that a business created with such optimism and which had become well-established so quickly has failed to survive its start-up phase.”
