Bradford-based shoe retailer Barratt Priceless is understood to be struggling for survival less than two years after being bought out of administration for the second time by its boss.

Its failure could threaten 1,000 jobs, including 150 at the company’s Apperley Bridge head office.

Unconfirmed reports suggest that BPL chief Michael Ziff, whose family have operated the former Stylo business since 1935, is seeking £3 million in loans to help fund stock in the run-up to the vital Christmas season Without the cash Barratts faces being under-stocked at a crucial time.

Mr Ziff is said to have approached asset-based lenders and turnaround investors for the money. In 2011 Mr Ziff rescued the business for the second time in three years after buying 90 shops out of administration in a move which saved 1,200 jobs – an experience he described as “shattering”.

The buy-back of the business included the closure of 50 outlets and the loss of a further 680 jobs after Mr Ziff’s Barratts Trading agreed the deal with the business’s existing management team.

Mr Ziff warned that rebuilding the business would be tough as the retail outlook remained grim and planned an increased focus on building up BPL’s online operations.

No-one at the company could be contacted by the Telegraph & Argus for a comment yesterday.

Stylo, which owned the Barratts and Priceless Shoes brands, previously put the chain into administration and closed 220 out of 380 stores. Mr Ziff, who was Stylo chairman, bought 160 stores from administrators in March, 2009.

BPL’s 6.8 acre site next to the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Apperley Bridge was bought by Leeds-based Town Centre Securities, run by Michael Ziff’s brother Edward, which has published plans to develop up to 80 homes there.

The latest apparent slump in fortunes coincides with a new report from insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor which reveals a spike in distress levels among the Yorkshire’s service industries in the third quarter of 2013.

It’s latest Red Flag Alert reveals that, while overall business distress continued to fall, the region’s financial health deteriorated compared to the previous three months. Small and medium firms continued to struggle with increased financial problems due mainly to higher borrowing costs and late payment by customers.

The total number of Yorkshire companies displaying ‘critical’ problems rose by five per cent in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter, lagging behind much of the UK that saw an average fall of two per cent.