STAFF at a Kent bakery say they feel betrayed after it was revealed the factory is to close with the loss of 130 jobs.

The news was announced to workers at Hoppers Farmhouse Bakery in Sea Street, Herne Bay, by Interlink Foods PLC which owns the bakery. The staff now face redundancy.

The factory will close its doors for the last time in early 2007, almost 14 years after it first opened.

It is the culmination of months of falling profits and lay-offs since the company was sold by founder David Hopper in December 2004.

Laurence Willis, a quality assessor at the bakery, said of the news: “It has come like a bolt out of the blue and it’s gone down very badly. We feel betrayed.”

Some workers will be offered roles at the parent company’s headquarters in Blackburn to where production will be relocated.

Town MP Roger Gale said: “It is a sad day for Herne Bay.”