THE future of 453 Rochdale jobs is in peril after Woolworths became the latest victim of the credit crunch.

The high street chain called in adminstrators after failing to secure a financial lifeline.

Adminstrators will now continue trading until after Christmas in the hope that buyers can be found and jobs can be saved.

Staff have been told they will be paid in full this week.

But that has still left the 400 staff at the company’s Royle Barn Road depot in Castleton and the 53 at the Yorkshire Street store fearing for their futures after Christmas.

John Gorle, national officer of the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, said: "This is devastating news for our members.

"We will be seeking urgent talks with the administrators to ensure our members’ future is at the top of their agenda and to understand the proposals for the business in the short to medium term."

He added: "The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the future of the stores will be of great concern to employees, so we will do everything we can to help communicate the situation to the staff as the situation unfolds.

"Many of the staff have served the company for many years and are extremely dedicated and loyal and we will be doing everything we can to help them through this difficult time."

Mohammed Sharif, Rochdale Council cabinet member for regeneration, said he is hoping to hold a meeting with employees to discuss how he and his team can help.

He said: "This is bad news and it shows how hard the credit crunch is affecting the country.

"We will do all we can to help the workforce here in Rochdale.

"I want to arrange a meeting with employees as soon as possible."

Neville Kahn, Nick Dargan and Dan Butters have been appointed joint administrators to Woolworths shops division and Entertainment UK Ltd, the wholesale division, who are also the UK’s leading distributor of entertainment products.

Mr Butters said that they have received ‘expressions of interest’ from a number of parties for both the retail and wholesale businesses.

And he said they are ‘working hard to ensure that any sale of the business, in whole or part, will preserve jobs.’

Acting council leader Councillor Irene Davidson said: "Rochdale Council will do its utmost to help.

"Woolworths is one of the most popular stores in Rochdale town centre and it could be a sad loss to us."

Rochdale MP Paul Rowen said: "Woolworths is a major employer in Rochdale.

"I hope that there is talk of restructuring the company with another company buying it or it will be a severe blow to employment in Rochdale.

"I will be getting in touch with the Department for Work and Pensions reactive team to try and help people.

"Woolworths has been in the town centre for donkeys’ years and it is one of our longest standing retailers."

Heywood and Middleton MP Jim Dobbin, whose constituency takes in Castleton, said his office will be available to advise members of the workforce in his constituency. He has urged people to telephone 361135.

He said: "The announcement has come as a shock to the workers. Woolworths has, over recent years, suffered the successes of bigger supermarkets.

"They have had a strangehold over that customer area.

"And the credit crunch has been a deciding factor."

The Rochdale Town Centre Manager says it is now even more important to support town centre traders and shop local.

Debbie O’Brien said: "It is extremely disheartening news to hear about the administrators being called into such a well established store such as Woolworths.

"These are obviously very unsettling times for businesses throughout the country and Rochdale is no exception."

Rochdale’s prospective Labour parliamentary candidate Simon Danczuk has urged the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson, to do what he can to save jobs and protect the company’s pension fund members.

He said: "Rochdale is haemorrhaging manufacturing jobs and the retail sector is now seriously under threat."