THE hunt is on again to find tenants for Blackburn's Pavilions after plans for a coffee shop and photo gallery collapsed.

Council bosses have revealed they have re-marketed two of the three units in the Grade II-listed Georgian Pavilions, renovated at a cost of £1.3million over the past two years.

The withdrawal has prompted concern from traders and opposition councillors, who said it was vital for the town that the Pavilions were filled.

In March, plans to turn at least one of the units into a coffee shop and gallery were unveiled by a couple introduced to Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott when he came to Blackburn to tour the buildings.

But their scheme has now been withdrawn, leaving just one of the units let - to local hairdresser Alan Rene, currently based on the first floor of nearby Lord Square.

It isn't the first time potential tenants have dropped out. In 2001, before the council took control of the scheme from Blackburn Cathedral, celebrity chef Nigel Haworth from Northcote Manor, Langho, agreed to open a brassiere in the Pavilions.

A planning application for Mr Rene's proposed use is currently being processed by Blackburn with Darwen Council, but the authority's executive director for regeneration, Graham Burgess, said: "The plan for the coffee shop has fallen through, while another unit is still empty.

"We have re-marketed and sent out an offer of confirmation to one interested party."

He refused to reveal the reason for the withdrawal but added: "We'd rather wait and get the right tenant rather than just fill it for the sake of it."

Work began on the Pavilions early last year - and it had been hoped they would be fully occupied by now.

The three white buildings have been turned into one by linking them together with glass structures.

Ray Goldstone, president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade, said: "It is important those things get filled because they are a link for getting more people passing down that way.

"That was the whole point of pedestrianising Church Street, but now there is nothing to go on there for."

Conservative leader on Blackburn with Darwen Council, Colin Rigby, said: "It's cost more than £1million and I think if you look for a return over 10 years for that, they need £3,000 a week back off it.

"Whoever goes in there needs to have money behind them, when you add fitting it out and paying business rates. It doesn't even have toilets fitted. It's just a shell.

"I'd like to see it being successful but I can't see it, commercially."