STUNNED workers at a Colne wallpaper firm were left reeling today at news the factory is to close with the loss of up to 80 jobs.

Staff at Fine Color Wallcoverings were given the shock announcement during a mass meeting with management.

The firm's owner, Fine Decor, plans to consolidate all its production at its headquarters in Holmes Chapel, near Crewe.

Jobs are unlikely to go at Colne until next June at the earliest when each of the three production lines will be shut down over several weeks and transferred to a new factory at Holmes Chapel.

Bosses at Fine Decor say staff at Colne will be given the chance to move with the machinery and work at its headquarters.

But today staff Fine Color, which is based in Greenhill Mill, Skipton Road, reacted angrily to the news.

One worker, who asked not to be named, said: "It's all doom and gloom here at the moment. No-one's going to want to commute to Holmes Chapel every day.

"You can't sell a garden shed round here, let alone a house, so no-one will be able to move down there.

"There's not a lot of jobs round here to go to. Things are looking pretty bad." David Timmins, Fine Decor's finance director, said: "There will be a phased closure of the Colne plant over a 15-month period.

"A substantial number of the employees will be invited to apply for jobs at Holmes Chapel. There will be some people that can't move for family reasons and there will be those who consider it too far to commute.

"We've suffered a year of an incredible rise in raw material costs and lack-lustre demand in this country which has cut profitability."

Fine Decor also announced yesterday that its directors are recommending a £21.5 million takeover bid by Canadian firm International Wallcoverings.

But Mr Timmins stressed the decision to close the Colne factory down was not connected with the takeover deal.

The Colne firm was known as Phoenix International Wallcoverings until 1990 when it was taken over by its current owner.

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