The future of Bradford-based shoe retailer Stylo plc has been thrown into doubt by the rejection of a rescue package for its Barratts and PriceLess store chains by creditors.

About 5,400 jobs are now at risk in stores around the UK.

Stylo also employs more than 300 staff at its Apperley Bridge group headquarters.

Following the vote by creditors against a deal to enable Barratts and PriceLess stores to keep trading under current ownership, the loss-making Stylo group is likely to be put into administration and could begin a programme of shop closures unless a buyer can be found.

There are two PriceLess stores in Bradford and one in Keighley, with other outlets at Dewsbury, Leeds and Huddersfield. Barratts has stores in Leeds and Huddersfield.

Creditors and landlords rejected a plan to put the 400-strong store chains into a Company Voluntary Arrangement aimed at retrieving them from administration.

This would have enabled Barratts and PriceLess to continue trading under Stylo’s ownership on condition that landlords accepted lower, revenue-linked rents.

It is understood some landlords voted against the CVA because it would have set a precedent for retailers to dispose of their worst performing outlets leaving landlords with hundreds of empty shops.

In a statement, Stylo said: “The board is disappointed to report that the creditors and landlords did not approve the CVA proposals.”

Daniel Butters, a partner of accountants Deloitte in Leeds and joint administrator of Barratts and PriceLess, said: “We will now seek to achieve a sale as a going concern to preserve as many jobs as possible. We are in focused talks with interested parties in an effort to deliver a swift solution.”

Michael Ziff, Stylo’s chairman and chief executive, had earlier warned that rejection of the CVA would threaten most of the stores’ 5,400 jobs.

A family-run business consolidated from three separate companies in 1935, Stylo was floated on the stock market more than 70 years ago under the name ‘Stylo Boot Company (Northern) Limited’.

Since then Stylo managed to retain its positioning at the forefront of British shoe retailing. W Barratt and Company was acquired in 1964 and the PriceLess chain selling budget footwear was started in 2001.