A historic chain of bakeries founded in the West Midlands in 1870 has suddenly closed down resulting in more than 100 jobs being axed.
Firkins, which was launched in Carter's Green in West Bromwich, is set to go into liquidation after years of struggle which has seen it fall into and out of administration three times in the past decade.
In May 2011, it closed its production bakery in Black Lake, West Bromwich, with 40 redundancies but its string of shops continued to trade.
The group ran a string of shops throughout the West Midlands, including Birmingham, West Bromwich, Solihull and others.
A statement from Northampton-based BRI Business Recovery and Isolvency said: "Following difficult trading periods on the high street, Newbridge Bakery (Retail) Ltd & Newbridge Bakery (Birmingham Retail) Ltd have announced their shops trading as Firkins and Woolaston Bakery have closed and will cease to trade.
"Unfortunately, despite efforts to improve shop profitability and, because of the lack of new sales, the directors have taken steps to place the company into a creditors voluntary liquidation which will result in the loss of 104 full and part-time jobs.
"Newbridge Bakery (Retail) Ltd and Newbridge Bakery (Birmingham Retail) Ltd were transferred into new ownership back in April 2014 and were a local supplier in Birmingham of bakery and confectionery goods."
