HISTORIC Hampshire furniture maker Haskers collapsed under a £1.4m debt mountain, it has emerged.

Fierce competition and high rents meant the business found itself unable to compete with national rivals, meaning shops in Titchfield Common Retail Park, near Fareham, and another in Portsmouth had to close.

Bosses Ron and Terry Hasker, the third generation of the Hasker family to run the business, were described as "shocked" and "devastated" at the scale of the losses and are among 23 staff losing their jobs.

The 500 creditors of the business are now being sent details of the financial black hole which consumed the 60-year-old family firm.

Losses include £550,000 due to the parent company, which is also in administration, and £59,000 owed to the directors. Customers who had paid deposits are owed £130,000 - although those who paid by credit card are likely to be able to recover their losses.

Other creditors include £140,000 owed to the 23 staff for redundancy pay and notice, although administrators Portland Business Recovery believe most of this will be covered by a Government fund.

Suppliers were owed a total of £430,000, but this will be reduced by the return of stock.

Carl Faulds, Portland managing director, said: "This is a sad case of a long-standing locally-owned business not being able to compete against the national chain stores.

"The directors are devastated at having seen the family business fail and are shocked by the level of the final estimate of losses.

"One of the problems with this type of business is that it is like a runaway train, you can see that losses are mounting up, but it is difficult to react and change direction quickly; when you do eventually hit the buffers, the consequences as we have seen are dramatic. The next stage in the administration will be to consider the conduct of the company's management and, if appropriate, submit a report to the DTI."

Started as Blackfriars Bazaar in 1946, the shop switched from hardware to cash in on the rising popularity of carpets and later furniture. At their peak sales reached £3.7m but slumped to £2.4m in the run-up to its collapse.