A historic Sunderland printing business is to halt manufacturing after 155 years in business, with the loss of 53 job losses.
Edward Thompson first launched in Sunderland in 1867 as a small stationery printer but at its height employed more than 1,000 people, printing everything from bingo cards and promotional games for national newspapers, to election ballot papers used around the globe.
In its heyday, as the firm which launched the national newspaper bingo game, it was printing more than 150 million tickets a week, with national newspapers handing bosses the management of games – which often had top prize money of £1m – as an independent contractor, and providing telephone operators to take entries.
