Jobs to go at shoe factory

Thirty jobs are to go at the factory

Clarks Shoes are to make 30 staff redundant at one of the last shoe factories in the West.

The company once employed thousands of people in the Somerset area, but its workforce has declined rapidly in recent years.

On Wednesday, the firm announced 30 of the 140 staff at its factory in Dowlish Ford, near Ilminster, would lose their jobs.

Clarks Shoes began life as a sheepskin tanning company in Street, Somerset, in 1825, branching out into footwear with the launch of a range of slippers in 1830.

Despite a turnover of £937m last year, the company says lower labour costs overseas have made the long-term future of shoe making in the UK uncertain.