An historic Willenhall pressings firm is to close down with the loss of 79 jobs, it was announced today.

Administrators acting for George Carter (Pressings) Ltd in Willenhall said efforts to find a buyer for the company established in 1830 had failed.

Based in Clothier Street and Park Road, the firm makes pressings and carries out powder coating. It went into administration in January after the downturn and a fall in commercial vehicle sector orders. There were 31 redundancies.

Workers took legal action on alleged lack of consultation before redundancies were announced.

Andy McGill, joint administrator at KPMG Restructuring, Birmingham, today said they had alternative other than to wind down the business despite interest by a number of parties. No potential going concern sale was possible.

KPMG spent two months trying to negotiate a possible sale. The firm will cease trading at the end of April.

Willenhall South representative Councillor Carl Creaney said of the 179-year-old firm. “This is a crying shame, but will be no surprise to the employees some of whom have spoken to me about their concerns about the firm’s activities in recent months. They were really hoping against hope that a buyer would be found to keep it open.” A management buyout in September as directors Lee Pearson, Jerry Edmunds and Stan Whitehouse take over.