Albion Gallery is planning to retrench after closing its London space on the Thames next month, but it will leave at least a portion of itself in bankruptcy court.

Potential creditors of Michael Hue-Williams Fine Art Ltd., one of what Albion says are four separate companies comprising its operations, are receiving notices that the company has been put into administration. That means it will be run by a bankruptcy specialist for the benefit of its creditors.

A spokesman for the company appointed as administrator, Geoffrey Martin & Co., said it would try to sell Albion as a going concern, rather than disposing of the assets piecemeal.

The spokesman, who asked not to be named, said the company’s director — who is Michael Hue-Williams — had sought administration because the company had insufficient cashflow to pay its creditors. How much was owed is unclear, he added, because “the books are not in good order.”

He added that his company could realize more money by selling the gallery as an operating business than by liquidating its assets.

At the Albion Gallery in London itself, the story was different. A spokeswoman there, who also asked not to be further identified, said the company in administration was one of a quartet of trading entities and that its sole purpose was to lease the gallery’s space in Battersea.

The Albion spokeswoman said the company had a 15-year lease on the space, with periodic rent reviews. The landlord, she continued, was trying to raise the rent, which given the state of the global economy, seemed not the best approach. The only way Albion could get out of the lease, she added, was for Michael Hue Williams Fine Art to be put into administration.

Hue-Williams himself did not immediately return a phone call seeking clarification.

Albion, the spokeswoman said, was planning to return to London’s West End, whence it came five years ago. Its New York branch, she added, was closed and had been run by a separate corporate entity.