It is being claimed that the former owners of Clerys turned down a €20 million bid for the department store that would have kept it open.

Former Clerys chairman Eoin McGettigan headed up the offer for the iconic store.

But he has told The Sunday Business Post that the bid was rejected by the former owners, Gordon Brothers.

"We had no interest in closing it, because we wanted to run retail," he told the paper. "The private equity [backers] were interested because it was asset-backed."

He says he "never got past go", and only a 'property player' would work given price expectations for the iconic O'Connell street store - with McGettigan saying any bids over €20m would have forced the closure of the retail presence.

Clerys was sold to Natrium group for a reported €29 million.

The new owners have controversially closed the store with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

The Business Post reports that the new owners are considering a hotel at the site, with ground floor retail units.

In a statement earlier this week, Natrium said it wants to support 1,000 jobs through the planning and refurbishment of the building over a two-year period.

It adds that "a predominantly retail-led development encompassing other commercial uses, subject to the planning process, will generate a minimum of 1,700 new sustainable long-term jobs in Dublin City Centre."

Around 30 staff, some of whom worked at the department store for 40 years, held a demonstration outside the offices of Natrium at Harcourt Terrace on Friday.

Some 130 staff and over 300 concession workers were affected by Clerys sudden closure last week.