One of the last remaining operations of a well-known name from Bradford’s industrial past is set to close at the end of this week.

Finishing of confectionery packaging at the former Fields printers, which since 1999 has been Chesapeake Branded packaging, is to be transferred to Newcastle with the potential loss of up to 20 jobs.

Chesapeake will retain production of tobacco packaging print at the Lidget Green site employing around 40 people in its gravure operation.

The latest move follows previous cutbacks at the Hollingwood Lane site, where Fields, which started in the 1850s, moved in 1935.

In 2011, 145 jobs were lost when lithographic printing was moved to Newcastle The main Bradford factory was demolished and remaining operations concentrated in a former warehouse.

A Chesapeake spokesman said transferring the finishing operation to Newcastle would reduce costs as the bulk of the Chesapeake Branded Packaging operations were in the North East, with only gluing and finishing in Bradford.

Bradford employees, including several long-serving staff, have been offered transfers to Newcastle with eight understood to have accepted a six-month trial period there.

Barry McTasney, Bradford cell manager, who has worked for Fields and Chesapeake for 38 years, said the closure marked the end of an era.

He said: “It’s a sad day when you think of what used to be here.

“Fields was a firm where generations of families worked and stayed for the long-term. One of the people affected by the closure has worked here for 41 years.”

The move coincides with another change in ownership for Chesapeake, which is merging with US-based Multi Packaging Solutions to create a global provider of print-based specialty packaging. The combined company will have sales of more than $1.4 billion and employ more than 7,000 people at more than 50 manufacturing sites on three continents. The deal is expected to be confirmed in the first quarter of 2014.

In July this year private equity firm The Carlyle Group acquired Nottingham-based Chesapeake from private equity firms Irving Place Capital and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management, which took over Chesapeake five years ago.

Meanwhile, the buyer of Wyke-based Prospect Mailing Services, which went into administration earlier this month with the loss of around 30 jobs, has been named as St Ives Bradford Limited which paid £400,000 for the business Before Prospect went into administration St Ives owner Kevin Dunstall, whose investment group Cogent B2B, which also owned the original Prospect operation, had plans to merge the two businesses.

Administrators SFP said the sale followed a marketing campaign which attracted several interested parties and after negotiations the St Ives offer was the highest ‘by some distance’.

The sale ensured the continued trading of Prospect and the jobs of remaining employees following a round of redundancies.