Staff at a Bradford print firm were in shock today after bosses announced one of its sites in the city is to close.

Polestar Watmoughs, which operates at a number of locations across the region, has put up a 'for sale' sign outside its building in New Street in Idle.

The 98 workers have been offered jobs at a new site in Middleton Grove, Leeds, alongside its current 40-strong workforce.

Chris Pavlosky, chief operating officer of Polestar Watmoughs, based in Milton Keynes, said they wanted to consolidate operations on one site.

"The New Street site needs a lot of reinvestment," he said. "It has very old buildings and old equipment and the Middleton Grove site is a new building near the motorway which is very well laid out and much more efficient, which will make us more competitive in the market place."

"The Idle site is in a residential area and it is not really very appropriate for manufacturing and 24-hour deliveries," he added.

Mr Pavlosky said it was an "obvious" decision to make because it would protect jobs as staff were offered posts at the Leeds site.

He said an agreement had been reached with the staff and the GPMU union over the move.

The firm's other base in High Street, Idle, will continue to operate.

One worker, who wished to remain anonymous, said he had been to a meeting on Monday when they were told the New Street base was to be sold off.

"They are set to start taking machines out this Friday and we've been told the factories will be shut by July," he said.

"Anyone who doesn't want to move to Leeds can take redundancy. They've offered us an extra £19 per week for the move, but told us we will have to do an extra two shifts per week.

"The extra money will only just cover the cost of petrol, so I think a lot of people will take redundancy."

No-one at GPMU was available for comment.