JJB shops in Burnley and Accrington were closed down yesterday after the sports retailer went into administration.

Administrators KPMG said they had managed to save around 550 jobs after selling 20 stores to Sports Direct, but the remaining 133 were to close with 2,200 job losses.

The store in St James’s Street, Burnley, was among the closures, with 28 people being made redundant in East Lancs.

Richard Fleming, UK head of restructuring at KPMG, said: “Successive attempts to restructure the business, both financially and operationally, have not been enough to prevent the company falling into administration.

“Unfortunately a buyer could only be found for 20 stores on a going concern basis.”