A town centre shop was forced to close after hundreds of ‘frenzied’ bargain hunters cleared the shelves.

TOFS (The Original Factory Shop) Clearance on Broadway in Accrington launched the ‘exceptionally aggressive deal’ on Monday with shoppers able to snap up any three items in the store for £5 - including boots normally worth £50.

Simon Meyes, a store manager, likened the atmosphere to ‘Black Friday’ and said the shelves were ‘hammered’ after just two days.

Simon told the Observer: “People are putting 60 items through the till and it’s costing them £100.

“Obviously when that happens it creates almost a frenzy, It’s almost like Black Friday to some people.

“We have launched it for a reason because we have got new stock coming. Our remit is to get rid of the stock that we’ve had for the last six months and we have done an exceptionally aggressive deal.”

Sign placed on the shop window on Wednesday, September 20, saying it was closed due to 'unexpected demand'.

TOFS were forced to close the store on Wednesday for new deliveries and to re-stock the shelves and are aiming to re-open by 9am on Thursday.

Simon said: “We don’t want to literally open with empty shelves.

"It still won’t be 100pc [on Thursday] but we will have some different stock to what people were getting on Monday and Tuesday. We anticipate we will be very busy again because we always are.

“We will definitely be open [on Thursday] but it might be a slightly later start and the deal is still on.

TOFS opened in May this year and took over the unit vacated by the Marks and Spencer store which closed its doors in March last year after more than 50 years of trading.