When Keighley loom makers George Hattersley and Sons Ltd closed down their foundry at North Brook Works in 1980, with a loss of two dozen jobs, managing director Edward Small appropriately called it "a sad end to an era." They had been producing castings for textile machinery for more than a century, but the declining textile industry had drastically reduced demand.
1980 was a bad year for local businesses, and also saw the demise of the Airedale Varnish Company Ltd, Keighley Ventilation Ltd, the Silsden tannery of William Laycock and Sons, and William Hartley's Greenroyd Mill at Sutton. Acrylic yarn spinners John P Heaton and the NSF at Ingrow announced redundancies.
This group of Hattersley's workers was supplied by Mr Frank Yardley, of Queens Road, Ingrow.
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