THE Plymouth and Ivybridge branches of Peacocks have been saved after the budget fashion chain was sold out of administration.

No jobs will go at either store, administrators from accountants KPMG said.

The two stores, Plymouth's is in the Armada Centre, are among 388 saved, along with 6,000 jobs, as part of a deal with Edinburgh Woollen Mill.

But KPMG said it had been forced to close 224 stores with immediate effect, leading to 3,100 redundancies.

A KPMG spokeswoman said the stores in Plymouth and Ivybridge would retain the Peacocks branding, and added: "They will conduct business as usual as Peacocks. They are clearly doing well."

The enormous Peacocks Group went into administration last month, including its Bonmarche fashion stores.

But 390 Bonmarche outlets were quickly bought for an undisclosed sum by private equity group Sun European Partners.

They included the Plymouth branch, in New George Street, which was saved with the retention of 11 workers.

Peacocks new owner, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, has 380 stores, including in Armada Way.

Chris Laverty, joint administrator at KPMG, said: "The deal ensures the continued trading of a well-known name on the high street.

"While it is unfortunate that redundancies have been necessary, we are pleased that we have been able to preserve the majority of the business and jobs."

Peacocks collapsed under a debt mountain last month in the biggest retail failure since Woolworths, placing 7,500 jobs in jeopardy.

Edinburgh, which beat off Indian textile and clothing giant S Kumars Nationwide, said it would attempt to save some of the stores and jobs being lost. However, chief executive Philip Day added: "As you can imagine, there will be a considerable amount of work to undertake over the next few months to stabilise the situation, turn this business around, get the supply chain moving again and excite the customers with great products."

Edinburgh last year bought 33 of Jane Norman's 94 stores out of administration, including in Plymouth's Drake Circus mall, saving 400 jobs.