Jobs axed at Wenban-Smith

In a statement issued on Monday by the directors of Wenban-Smith Ltd, it was revealed its joinery manufacturing business on the Garcia Trading Estate in Canterbury Road would be closing on Friday, July 30 with the loss of 25 jobs.

This closure will only affect the joinery business, with the parent company in Newland Road, the sawmill in Dominion Way and branches outside of the area carrying on as usual.

The statement read: "Recently, many joinery works have been forced to close as it has become more and more difficult to compete with mass production techniques and competitive imports of finished products from abroad.

"We, like the others, have suffered with this competition and have found ourselves unable to produce quality purpose made joinery at a price our customers are prepared to pay. "