The Heatherslaw Bakery Company, the wholesale finished goods company, is to close after 22 years of trading and is to go into liquidation.

The Northumberland-based business will cease trading today (21 March), resulting in the loss of 23 jobs.

The Heatherslaw Bakery produces a range of handmade cakes, fingers and slices, tarts flapjacks and biscuits.

Colin Smurthwaite, owner said the business had traded well during its 22 years, selling Heatherslaw Bakery products across the UK, as well as exporting to France and Belgium.

Credit crunch

Smurthwaite said: “Before the credit crunch came we found that people were very happy to go to garden centres and pay for nice products. We used to have quite a decent profit margin on them, but sales of those products have been in decline for the last five years. We took on a lot more business, operating with lower profit margins but that has not been enough to replace the decline of those high-end products.”

Originally based next to Heatherslaw Corn Mill, the company moved the majority of the firm to the East Ord Industrial Estate, less than a mile away, a few years ago.