Toys R Us is to shut all 100 of its UK stores after administrators failed to find a buyer for the collapsed retailer, resulting in the loss of 3,000 jobs.

The chain is one of the nation's biggest toy retailers, employing more than 3,000 across 100 stores in the UK.

The retail sector has had a dismal start to 2018, with the collapse of Toys R Us and Maplin and a host of firms undergoing painful restructurings, including New Look and eateries run by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, as well as Byron and Prezzo.

High street chains across the board have been hit hard by falling consumer spending, soaring Brexit-fuelled inflation and competition from online rivals.

Stores will continue to trade until further notice and much of the stock will be subject to clearance discounts and other special promotions.

The group has outlets in Solihull, Merry Hill in Dudley, Oldbury and Coventry while the company announced last year it would be shutting its Birmingham and Tamworth stores this spring.

Toys 'R' Us is set to close in Tamworth
Toys 'R' Us is set to close in Tamworth

The toy chain appointed Moorfields Advisory to oversee an administration at the end of February after the firm failed to find a last-minute rescuer.

Moorfields said it would begin an "orderly wind-down" of stores and it is now understood that the insolvency specialist is poised to close the first batch as it runs down stock, with hundreds of jobs set to be lost.

It is thought Moorfields will begin with the closure of at least 26 loss-making stores earmarked late last year, when Toys R Us pushed through a restructuring before its demise.

Toys R Us is one of the nation's biggest toy retailers, employing more than 3,000 across 100 stores in the UK.

Moorfields said at the time of the chain's collapse that it is making "every effort" to secure a buyer for all or part of the business, but sources indicated that this was unlikely in what is proving to be a dire time for high street retailers.