A JOBS axe loomed over workers at a major York shop today as receivers revealed bad news for the Allders store at Clifton Moor.

A "Closing Down Sale' has begun at the store, which employs 42 people, after Kroll, the administrator of the retail chain, revealed it had received no offers for the store.

However, there was better news for 42 staff at the prestigious Coppergate store, which is among 35 nationwide which has attracted takeover interest.

A spokesman for Kroll said today that confidentiality agreements forbade the administrators from saying exactly who was bidding to be the new masters of the Coppergate store.

He also confirmed that it was not too late to consider any bids to take over the Clifton Moor stare either individually or as part of a group of branches.

He said: "If anyone comes forward and says 'we are interested' then we will negotiate."

"Ten stores have to date generated limited interest and as a result "Closing Down Sales" commenced yesterday at the store.

"We are not making any redundancies at the store at this time and have updated the store managers of today's new to ensure that they and their staff are kept informed of development."

But there are reports that among the high profile bidders are Philip Green, owner of BHS and Rob Templeman, chief executive of Debenhams.

Bidders have agreed to take over existing staff if successful. No redundancies have yet been made among any of the chain's 5,200 staff.

But whatever the outcome, it is not yet clear how Kroll or successful bidders will deal with an alleged deficit in the company's pension scheme of about £15 million.

Minerva, the property group which took over 60 per cent shares in the group refuses to accept liability for the pensions deficit. It put Allders, with £150 million in debt, into administration when it was unable to find a buyer.

In a statement Kroll said: "We have today completed our assessment of the 36 separate bids for the group. While we had hoped to secure a going concern sale for the entire business this has not been possible.

"However, we are now progressing discussions with buyers who are interested in 35 of the 45 stores.

"We have already begun detailed negotiations with these bidders and our intention is to complete sales as quickly as possible. We expect that staff at these stores will transfer to the purchasers and believe that, in the present circumstances, this strategy will provide the optimum outcome for both creditors and employees."

There is also hopeful news for the 24 staff at Allders on the St James Retail Park, in Knaresborough, which is among those stores for which bids have been made.

Updated: 10:11 Monday, February 07, 2005