[4] Appearing on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs programme, she described her shops as provoking a 'Marmite reaction': "People either love it and want a little bit of it very much, or want to stab us.

[8] In 2014, TA Associates sold a stake to Baring Private Equity Asia for an undisclosed amount, reported to value the group around £250m.

[9] Under Baring Private Equity Asia's ownership the business struggled, reporting a reduction in Earnings from £11.7m in 2014 to a loss of £17.6m in the year ended March 2019.

[10] After launching a sale process in early 2020 that was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, administrators Alvarez & Marsal were appointed and sold the business and assets of the company through a "pre-pack" administration sale[11] back to Baring Private Equity Asia in a transaction that valued the assets of the group at £17.8m whilst shedding liabilities of the group including the majority of leases on UK shops, This resulted in the closure of 60 UK stores on 21 April, with the loss of over 900 jobs.

Under the arrangement, the company planned to continue trading online and via its wholesale and franchise businesses including overseas outlets.