A Bingley engineering firm is to close with the loss of around 250 jobs in a multimillion pound take-over deal.

And today workers condemned the move as "ripping the heart out of the town."

Anderton International's base in the Britannia Works, Ferncliffe Road will shut down and the site will be sold off.

TransTechnology Corporation, the American parent company of Anderton International, announced the move after agreeing to acquire all outstanding shares in rival engineering firm Ellison Holdings PLC, Glusburn for an undisclosed sum.

The entire workforce at Anderton's will be made redundant and invited to apply for one of around 150 new positions at the Glusburn site.

Workers say they are devastated by the news. One employee, who did not want to be named, said: "There has been a lot of speculation about a possible take-over deal, but I don't think anyone expected this many job losses."

Another said: "They're taking away the heart of the community. We've been told we can apply for another job at Ellisons, but it will be interesting to see how many people want to travel to Glusburn."

Both companies produce circlips, lock washers and snap rings and have been rivals in the engineering industry for more than 40 years.

They employ around 250 workers each, and although the take-over has been instigated by TransTechnology all the job losses will come from Anderton's.

The first piece of machinery will be removed in August, and the relocation should be complete by January.

Allen Higginson, Yorkshire regional officer of the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union, which has members at Anderton's, said: "This is devastating news. There may be new jobs on offer, but there will still be more than 100 permanent redundancies."

Both firms say their rivalry has been so damaging that a take-over deal may have been the only sensible way to prevent wide scale job losses in the future.

Michael Ellison, chairman of family-run Ellison Holdings PLC said: "We were ripping each other's throats out. When you've been battling against a company for 40 years there comes a time when it's better for all concerned to call it a draw."

Michael Berthelot, chairman and president of TransTechnology who flew in from New York to address employees at the Bingley firm last night, said: "It is a distressing time for some workers and a good opportunity for others. If we hadn't taken this step one or both of these firms would have folded within the next three years anyway."

Bingley Councillor Jim Flood said: "This is a sad loss to Bingley just as the town is beginning to turn the corner. Clearly we must redouble our efforts to ensure regeneration."

And Bingley Rural Councillor Simon Cooke: "It's a terrible blow to the town and reflects the fact that Bingley isn't a very good place to do business at the moment."

Councillor Phyliis Pettit (Con, Bingley Rural) said she was ''very saddened'' to hear the news, adding: "The town is likely to be a sorrier place for this happening.''

The merged organisation will operate under the new name TransTechnology (GB) Ltd, but the product brand names of Anderton and Ellison will remain. The deal will now be referred to the Office of Fair Trading.

Shipley MP Chris Leslie said he was very disappointed about the job losses: "The site of the existing Anderton International mill building is important for Bingley and great care needs to be taken over its future use. "

Philip Smith, chairman of the Better Bingley Campaign, said: "It's a big blow for the town. We've lost Ford already and it's just one bad bit of news after another for Bingley.''

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