HIGH street retailer HMV has announced it will close stores in Bexleyheath and Orpington after the firm went into administration last month.

The shops in Bexleyheath’s Broadway Shopping Centre and at the Nugent Shopping Park in Cray Avenue are expected to close within the next one or two months.

Administrator Deloitte announced this morning that 66 stores will close across the country, in a move set to cost nearly 1,000 jobs.

Nick Edwards, part of the team at Deloitte, said the shops had been identified as part of an ongoing review of the company's financial position and the group still hoped to secure a future for the restructured business.

He said: "This step has been taken in order to enhance the prospects of securing the business' future as a going concern.

"We continue to receive strong support from staff and are extremely grateful to them for their commitment during an understandably difficult period."

The group, which currently has 220 UK stores, called in the administrators in January, but hopes of a rescue deal have been raised after restructuring firm Hilco - the group behind HMV Canada - bought the company's debt.