THE company called in to try to rescue Crown Wallcoverings in Darwen have revealed they have already received expressions of interest for the failing business.

Ernst & Young were brought in on Thursday night as administrative receivers after the company ran out of cash to continue trading.

Around 400 people work at the company's Belgrave Mills and they have been assured they will be paid - in the short term at least.

The receivers said there were no immediate plans for redundancy, but could not rule out any job losses.

The news comes as Darwen businesses expressed their fears that they could face a "disastrous" decline in trade if jobs at the company were to be scrapped.

Ann Done, manager of the Millstone Pubs less than 100m away from the factory entrance, said: "Our lunch time trade would be drastically reduced if jobs were to go there.

"We have at least two big parties coming in from the factory every week and we always get lunch bookings. Night time trade would not suffer the same because we have people from all over Darwen coming in."

An anonymous worker with 15 years service at the mill said Darwen would become a 'ghost town' without the company.

He said: "We are all upset about it. They held everything back from us and then all of a sudden 'bang.' If it shuts, Darwen will be a ghost town."

Adam Ibrahim, manager of Ibrahim's newsagents opposite the factory, said: "We get around 20 people coming here every day for newspapers and snacks. If jobs were to be lost it would be a disaster for us."

John Turner who works at Private Hire taxis on Bolton Road said: "We get a number of calls every day for people wanting to go places from Crown. I should think that every single business will be affected one way or another."

Michelle Kitchin, of Sun Leisure Tanning Studio on Bridge Street, said: "We probably see around fifty people from the factory and they are regulars so I know a lot of them by name.

"They come in for a quick tanning session during lunch or after work so I hope they don't lose their jobs. For their sake and the sake of businesses in Darwen."

Simon Allport from Ernst & Young said: "Our initial priority has been to stabilise the business so, we have been meeting with employees and suppliers to achieve this.

"We will be continuing to trade the company while we carry out a review of the business, and are currently investigating expressions of interest from a number of parties with a view to securing the survival of the business with a sale as a going concern."