Britain's biggest greeting cards company will this month offer 100 new vacancies to job hunters across the district.

And Hallmark expects to relocate hundreds of workers to the Bradford area from its premises in Henley and Bath which will close.

The company says it wants to recruit the cream of artistic and commercial talent for a wide range of jobs to be offered in the district. The new jobs would be on top of those taken up by workers from the South.

Sandy Needham, director of Bradford Chamber of Commerce which has been working with the company on recruitment, said the jobs were welcome and the relocation was the biggest she could remember. She added: "We hope people will come to look at Bradford. They should be encouraged to come and live here because of the quality of life and the many new developments taking place."

The news was also welcomed by leading councillors, organisations and traders.

The company is spending millions of pounds on a state-of-the-art complex in the former W N Sharpe building in Bingley Road, Cottingley. It already has manufacturing and distribution points employing about 2,000 people across the Bradford district, in Brighouse, and in Altham, Lancashire, and says Bradford is the logical place to expand.

Hallmark chief executive Ian Stuart said they wanted to recruit about 100 local people.

"We want people from a wide range of disciplines such as business planning, finance and administration support. We also want to recruit the cream of artistic and commercial talent from the region to drive forward the creative side of our business.

The company says that combining four major business units in one location will lead to greater effectiveness and competitiveness.

Mr Stuart added: "We are delighted with the quality of the people we already employ in Yorkshire. The new head office is an integral part of our strategy to increase customer focus and improve our speed of markets to the UK."

The new headquarters will open in the autumn.

Val Summerscales, secretary of Bradford Chamber of Trade, said the spin-off from relocation would be immense to many businesses including shops and estate agents.