A BLEAK Christmas is in store for 20 workers who are facing redundancy at a Kidderminster bakery which is closing its doors after more than 100 years.

West End Bakery in Crescent Road, will shut on December 9 after 38 years at its present site, and a combination of full and part-time staff will lose their jobs.

Director Jeremy Colborn said the bakery had "lost its battle against the big supermarkets" and he had been forced to make a "deeply saddening" decision.

He said: "Competition with the supermarkets meant we had to continually drive down the price of the goods we sell.

"While we were still a profitable business we could no longer generate the extra eight to 10 per cent we needed to keep the bakery in the required condition, for example in hygiene standards."

Fifty-four-year-old Mr Colborn added: "It's a very bad time for the bakery to close but we didn't want to let customers down during the Christmas period.

"Some of the staff are very upset, including one lady who is past the retirement age and has worked here since 1963.

"The bakery has always relied on its own resources and has never borrowed money, but to maintain a reasonable level of business we would need to find another £70,000 in the next 12 months alone."

The bakery has been at its present site since 1962 since Mr Colborn's family bought the firm.

West End Bakery was previously located in Cross Street, Blackwell Street and Stourbridge Road under its previous owners, Collins & Son, since 1898.