Ayr and Irvine jobs are set to be cut after an online fashion retailer has bought up several high street brands but refused to take on stores or staff.

Online fashion company Boohoo has purchased three brands from the now-collapsed retail empire of Phillip Green.

They have snapped up Burton, Dorothy Perkins, and Wallis from the failed Arcadia retail group, which went into administration last year.

The deal is for the brands and stock only, the stores, of which there are 213 UK-wide and the 2,450-strong workforce are not included.

The administrators managing the sale, Deloittes have said that the the brands' stores would remain closed and that the workforce will receive notice of the termination of their employment from today.

Last month, Boohoo bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m.

And last week the Arcadia group's other leading brands were bought by Boohoo's rivals, Asos, who purchased the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, and HIIT brands.

READ MORE: Ayr high street stores could close as Asos snaps up Topshop and Topman

Commenting on the deal, the Boohoo chief executive, John Lyttle, said: “Acquiring these well known brands in British fashion out of administration ensures their heritage is sustained, while our investment aims to transform them into brands that are fit for the current market environment.

“We have a successful track record of integrating British heritage fashion brands on to our proven multibrand platform, and we are looking forward to bringing these brands on board.”