Pottery firm Royal Doulton is shutting a second factory in Stoke-on-Trent.

A total of 200 jobs will be lost with the closure of the Beswick plant in Longton, announced on Friday.

Last February the company revealed it was closing its Baddeley Green factory in Stoke-on-Trent with the loss of 500 jobs.

Competitive market conditions have been blamed for the closure.

Lower prices

Production is being switched to factories outside the UK who will be contracted to Royal Doulton.

"The product ranges manufactured at the factory would have to be sold a lower prices to make a profit," said a company spokesman.

"This is not a reflection of the skills and quality of the workforce but of the market conditions."

He said the announcement was in line with company strategy of becoming a smaller but more profitable business by making a third of its products in the UK, a third in Indonesia with the final third being made elsewhere.

A total of 25 jobs from the Beswick factory will be transferred to the firm's plant in Nile Street, Burslem - one of the two remaining Royal Doulton factories in Stoke-on-Trent.

A total of 4,000 people are employed by the firm worldwide.