A DEPARTMENT store in Burnley town centre is facing an uncertain future after its owners announced it was on the verge of going into administration.

TJ Hughes, which has 57 stores nationwide, gave official notice that it intends to appoint an administrator over the next 10 days, yesterday.

Its Curzon Street premises is one of the town’s major shops, and council bosses hope that it could be saved.

Steve Rumbelow, chief executive at Burnley Council, said: “Everybody understands that trading conditions are still very difficult for retailers.

“A number of retailers have been in difficulty recently and this is just the latest one, and businesses have got to try and work through the difficult periods of they can.

“The Burnley store seems to trade quite well from my understanding. What usually happens is the best trading store quite often have a future, and hopefully that will be the case here.”

TJ Hughes was bought out by its management team in March following reports that it had been hit by the withdrawal of credit insurance for its suppliers following a difficult period of trading.

The homewares sector has suffered heavy sales declines in recent weeks as nervous consumers put off purchases of big-ticket items such as fridges and TVs.

It has also been hit by January’s rise in VAT to 20 per cent from 17.5 per cent and the decline in the housing market, which is discouraging people from investing in improving their properties.

The company has suffered poor trading in recent weeks and failed to raise £30 million to help it survive until the autumn, according to reports.

John Gorle, national officer of shopworkers' union Usdaw, said nationally 4,000 jobs were under threat.

He said: "This will be devastating news for our members but sadly it won't have come as a complete shock to most of them, as they have been at the sharp end of the company's recent and urgent attempts to reduce costs.

"The company has assured Usdaw that they will continue to pay staff as normal and that there are no immediate plans for any store closures or redundancies.”