A STEEL fabrication firm, which erected buildings across the North-East for more than 80 years, has ceased trading.

Hares of Snape, near Bedale, North Yorkshire, has folded, leaving 22 workers looking for new jobs.

Directors say the decision was made due to the economic climate and increasingly difficult trading condition.

Peter Hedley, a director of the firm, said it hoped to help workers new posts.

He said: “We have ceased trading after 80 years and there a lot of reasons, including the economic climate.”

Founded by the Hare family, it originally provided timber-framed buildings for the agricultural industry, moving into specialist design, fabrication and erection of steel-framed buildings for industrial and leisure use from Northumberland to Yorkshire.

It provided structures and cladding for a number of firms in the region, including an 18,000sq ft storage hub for haulage company, Bertschi UK, near Middlesbrough, and steel and cladding for Seward's agricultural depot, in Thirsk, North Yorkshire.

Councillor John Noone, Hambleton district councillor for Bedale, said: “It is like an institution, you don't expect places like that to go and it is a shock.

“If places like this can go, then the concern is who could be next.”