More than 50 jobs are set to go when historic Sunderland printing business Edward Thompson halts its manufacturing plant next month, after 155 years in business.
Monkwearmouth based Edward Thompson started life as a small stationery printer with 12 staff in 1867. In the 1970s the company spearheaded the national newspaper bingo game and, at its height, employed more than 1,000 people.
The company printed everything from bingo cards and promotional games for national newspapers, to election ballot papers used around the globe – including ones use to elect Nelson Mandela as South African president in 1994 – printing more than 150 million tickets a week in its prime.
