The department store chain Allders has gone into administration.

The news came late on Wednesday that the 45-store chain had been placed into adminstration after failing to secure a buyer.

The company will trade as normal while the administrators, Kroll's Corporate Advisory and Restructuring Group, review a number of options.

They say they are hopeful they can find a buyer for the chain and have had interest from a number of third parties.

Property group Minerva - fronted by Scarlett Retail, the owning company in which Minerva owns a 60 per cent stake - put the ailing department store chain up for sale last month.

But tough trading conditions, particularly during the usually lucrative Christmas and new year sales period placed Allders under the spotlight once again.

And concerns were raised about a potential £16million deficit in its pension fund.

No firm bids have been made for the group, though it was rumoured that current chief executive Terry Green and commercial director Phil Cox were interested in a management buyout.

They failed to receive sufficient backing for the buyout to materialise.

The news could lead to job losses at Allders' headquarters in Croydon, and at its flagship store in North End, Croydon.

Customers who have paid deposits for goods should contact the store where they made the payment.

If the product on deposit is available, it will be provided to customers once the remaining amount outstanding is paid.

If the goods are not in stock, the administrators are keen to ensure customers are not left out of pocket and intend to allow them to use the value of the deposit to reduce the payment on other products in store.

Andrew Pepper, one of the three Kroll administrators appointed to oversee the process, said: "Allders is a long established business with a good geographic spread of stores across the whole of England in both prime high street retail and out-of-town retail locations.

"Several parties have already expressed interest in the business and we will be contacting them immediately and this level of interest so early makes us hopeful that a going concern sale can be achieved.

"We appreciate that this is a worrying time for employees and their families and we will keep them informed of developments."

The Croydon Guardian reported that Allders could go into administration this week, although this was dismissed at the time by the company.