THE CATERING firm which secured a multi-million pound deal to run the cafe at Clitheroe Castle eight months ago has gone into voluntary liquidation.

Gold and Brown called in the administrators on Wednesday night after a ‘horrific downturn’ in sales this year.

Now, Ribble Valley Council has stepped in to run the Caffétessen at the castle and museum and safeguard a dozen jobs until March.

The caterer won the £3m contract to run the cafe for five years in March this year as part of the major restoration and refurbishment of the site.

The Harrogate-based company had only been trading for five months when it landed the Clitheroe Castle deal.

Michael Ranson, leader of Ribble Valley Borough Council, defended the decision to award the contract to the young company.

He said: “We put the contract out for tender and at the time we went with the best deal. A good company which produced excellent food. It is just one of those things that, in this day and age, businesses come and go.

“The castle is a fantastic tourist site and visitors numbers have been tremendous this year. I understand that Gold and Brown had experienced difficulties in their other ventures and it had nothing to do with visitor numbers at the castle.”

Now, the council has stepped in and manage the cafe until the end of the financial year in March 2010, safeguarding three permanent positions and several casual jobs. A decision will then be made whether the council should re-tender the cafe, or continue to run it.

John Heap, director of community services said: “Our priority is that the excellent customer service was not interrupted as the cafe is an integral part of the castle and museum complex.”

Directors at administrators BWC Business Solutions confirmed that Gold and Brown Limited, which provides cafes at a number of tourist attractions, had gone into voluntary liquidation.

Gary Blackburn, of BWC Business Solutions added: “During June and July this year the company had a horrific downturn in the number of people coming through the doors of the cafes that they were managing.

“They sustained heavy losses and have no longer got the working capital to continue to trade or pay their debts.”