WORKERS at Darwen's Crown Wallcoverings received the news they have been dreading today -- Belgrave Mills will close by the end of the year.

All manufacturing jobs will be moved to the company's Morecambe site with 100 production and admin jobs expected to be axed in Darwen.

Unions and workers said they were devastated by the move, although there will be an opportunity for some local people to apply for 46 new jobs at Morecambe.

The announcement was made today by the CWV Group, owned by multi-millionaire businessman Trevor Hemmings, which bought the company from receivers Ernst and Young earlier this month.

It comes three months after the receivers made 177 workers redundant at the mill, where the first machine-printed wallpaper in the world came off presses in the 1800s.

Print union leaders had met with the new management team and were hoping there would be good news for the remaining 92 shopfloor workers.

In 1999 the CWV Group took over Coloroll at Nelson but closed the factory with the loss of 300 jobs when it moved production to Hyde.

A site on the boundary of Darwen and Blackburn, yet to be announced, has been identified as a new combined head office, employing approximately 110 staff, and a number of office jobs at the CWV Hyde factory in Cheshire will relocate to the new site.

A spokesman for CWV said: "We made a significant initial investment at the time of acquisition and the move announced today will create a secure platform for the future growth of the enlarged business. We look forward to the future with confidence."

Tony Burke, deputy general secretary for the GPMU Union, said: "We have been notified that they intend to close the mill with maybe some jobs created in administration but the news is devastating.

"The remaining workforce have been hanging on for a long time and have been very concerned about their future.

"Now we have to concentrate on helping our members where we can in finding other employment and looking for whatever assistance there is going to be.

"A meeting will take place today with our local full term officials."

Coun Andy Kay, Blackburn with Darwen Council's portfolio holder for regeneration, said: "Following the initial announcement of redundancies the council met the receivers, together with Janet Anderson MP and representatives of the trade unions, to try to identify options to secure the future of the remaining jobs.

"Obviously, while the proposed new head office in the borough is welcomed, we regret the loss of these key manufacturing jobs in Darwen.

"We are working with our employment partners to ensure that the workers affected by this latest announcement are given every support."

Mrs Anderson said: "This is a very sad day for Darwen but we have to accept that Belgrave Mills is an old fashioned site which is no longer economically viable in a very competitive market for wallcoverings. But I am very pleased that the CWV Group has agreed to make it as easy as possible for workers in Darwen to work on the Morecambe site by providing them with transport."

Sunnyhurst ward councillor Dave Smith said: "I don't think it was wholly unexpected but it is a further blow to the town's economy."

The council intends to meet with the owners to discuss what can be done with the site.

Tracy Jones, of Somerset Avenue, whose husband Nigel was made redundant on July, said: "I am gobsmacked.This is a terrible thing.

"Lads used to go to Crown and thought they had a job for life. Everyone had their fingers crossed it would start up again."

Crown Wallcoverings has produced wallpaper at Belgrave Mills since 1839 and is the spiritual home of the UK's wallpaper industry.