49 East Lancashire jobs are at risk as Poundworld became the latest retail casualty on the British high street as it called in administrators.

The retailer, which has stores in Blackburn, Accrington and Burnley is poised to appoint Deloitte to handle an administration after last-ditch rescue talks with R Capital broke down over the weekend.

Poundworld, which is owned by TPG Capital, has around 335 stores, employing 5,100 people. Its possible collapse comes after both Toys R Us and Maplin fell into administration earlier this year.

It is understood that TPG and Poundworld's management rejected offers to buy the business out of a pre-pack administration, and were hoping to sell it as a solvent business.

Other parties named as possible buyers were turnaround specialist Alteri Investors and Poundworld's founder Chris Edwards.

But a deal could not be struck.

Poundworld's losses widened in 2016-17 to £17.1 million, from £5.4 million of losses the year before.

A spokesman for the firm said: "Poundworld will continue to trade while a buyer for all or part of the business is sought.  There are no redundancies or store closures at this time.

"Like many high street retailers, Poundworld has suffered from high product cost inflation, decreasing footfall, weaker consumer confidence and an increasingly competitive discount retail market."

Clare Boardman, joint administrator, comments: “The retail trading environment in the UK remains extremely challenging and Poundworld has been seeking to address this through a restructure of its business. Unfortunately, this has not been possible.

"We still believe a buyer can be found for the business or at least part of it and we are keeping staff appraised of developments as they happen.  We thank all employees for their support at this difficult time.”