30 July 2012 Last updated at 09:59 ET

Cooplands takeover closes 34 Peters bakers stores

The sale of County Durham-based firm which had gone into administration will safeguard the factory and 22 stores, but close 34 others.

Peters Cathedral Bakers, which trades as Peters Bakers, has been taken over by Coopland & Son (Scarborough) Ltd.

The store closures - across Tyneside, County Durham and Teesside - will result in 149 redundancies, but the deal will save 208 other jobs.

Administrators said it was the best outcome for employees and creditors.

Scarborough-based Cooplands is taking over the factory and headquarters site at Durham's Dragonville Industrial Estate.

Mark Firmin, joint administrator and regional head of restructuring at KPMG, said: "We undertook negotiations with several interested parties and this deal represents the best outcome for both the creditors and the employees of the company.

"It means that as much of the business as possible will continue to trade under the new ownership of Cooplands, safeguarding more than 200 jobs."