THE Safeway supermarket in Breightmet has been put up for sale but a lack of potential buyers has raised questions over its future.

The store's new owner Morrisons bought the Safeway chain in a £3 billion deal during the summer, confirmed that the Breightmet site, off Bury Road, is one of 52 stores on its "disposal list".

The sale must be completed by the end of the year, but a source at the supermarket said that Morrisons senior management, who visited the store earlier in the month, had revealed there had been "no interest" from potential buyers for the site.

The Breightmet site is one of ten remaining stores which Morrisons must sell, in order to satisfy the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) criteria for the company's takeover of Safeway.

The news comes as rumours circulated among staff that the store was earmarked for closure in November. Morrisons has made it clear that this is not the case.

Another Safeway store, in Harwood, is being retained by Morrisons and will become fully integrated into the chain.

Earlier this month, ten Safeway stores worth £87.6 million were sold to Tesco. This follows the sale of 14 stores to Waitrose, 14 to Sainsbury's, three to Asda and one to West Midlands Co-op. A spokesman for Morrisons said: "The Breightmet store is one of 52 that we were required to divest, following our takeover of Safeway. These divestments are subject to the approval of the OFT. The store is for sale and we will consider all options."

He added: "There is nothing further to report on this particular store and we can confirm it will not be closing in November, as has been suggested. Any news about the store's future would be conveyed to staff as soon as there is anything to say."

A spokesman for the Office of Fair Trading said that Morrisons would have a number of options if no buyer was found for the store. "The company could renegotiate the terms of the sale, with a view to keeping unsold stores open or the store could be sold to a non-food retailer," he said.

"Alternatively, the store could be placed in the hands of trustees, who would handle the sale process, with the store remaining open in the meantime."

The spokesman added that all of these options would be subject to approval by the OFT, after discussions had taken place between them and Morrisons.