Two of the south's Zavvi stores threatened with closure have been saved.

Administrators for the music, DVD and games retailer Zavvi said more than 200 jobs across the country were secured after a deal with HMV - but the news came after hundreds of the firm's employees lost their jobs in further store closures.

The stores at Salisbury and Castlepoint, in Bournemouth, are two of those sold.

Ernst & Young (E&Y) last night confirmed a deal with Zavvi's high street rival, which will see HMV buy 14 of the firm's remaining UK and Ireland stores.

Administrators earlier closed another 18 UK stores with the loss of 353 jobs, including the chain's flagship Piccadilly store, where 110 people are employed.

Joint administrator Tom Jack said the sale of the nine UK stores and five Irish shops would preserve 269 jobs.

''This is a great result for the employees and customers of the stores concerned,'' he said.

''Two-hundred and sixty-nine employees will transfer across to HMV immediately and over the course of the next two weeks these Zavvi stores will be rebranded as HMV.''

He said Zavvi's remaining 63 UK stores and five Irish outlets would continue to trade as administrators endeavour to sell the business.

Mr Jack added: ''We are continuing detailed discussions with a number of interested parties and are optimistic this could lead to the sale of further stores and retention of staff at a number of locations throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland.''

Last week, E&Y closed 22 stores with the loss of 178 jobs.

The other stores due to close yesterday were at Basingstoke, Belfast Castlecourt, Cambridge, Cheshire Oaks, Crawley, Londonderry, Edinburgh Gyle, Gateshead, Glasgow Argyle Street, Grimsby, Hull, Newry, Newtownabbey, Romford, Stevenage, Watford and Woking.

E&Y said the 353 workers affected by yesterday's job cuts would receive support from the Insolvency Service's Redundancy Payment Office and Jobcentre Plus.

The stores to be sold to HMV are Castlepoint in Bournemouth, Crewe, Glasgow Fort and Glasgow Silverburn shopping centres, Peterborough, Drake Circus in Plymouth, Salisbury, Southend and Stockton-on-Tees.

Administrators said the deal was to take effect from 11pm last night, but added the purchase of the Irish stores was subject to court and regulatory approval.

HMV said the stores were primarily in locations where it did not currently have an outlet.

The company expects the cost of the acquisition to be around £2 million, including a purchase price of £700,000 and the fit-out and rebranding of the outlets.

Zavvi - the former Virgin Megastore chain - fell into administration on Christmas Eve after it was crippled by the collapse of Woolworths' Entertainment UK wholesaling division.

EUK was the company's main supplier and its demise left Zavvi unable to take customer orders.

Zavvi's remaining outlets have slashed the price of their products in a bid to reduce stock levels.