Kingsmill maker Allied Bakeries to close Cardiff bakery

The Cardiff bakery employs 360 staff - with just under half set to lose their jobs

A bakery will halt production at its Cardiff facility, with the loss of 176 jobs.

Allied Bakeries, which makes the Kingsmill brand, decided to move operations away from the site after reviewing its UK-wide business.

The facility in the Heath area of the city will still be used as a distribution depot for Wales and south-west England.

A consultation with 360 staff at the Maes-y-Coed Road site started in June.

After the loss of a major own-label contract and "highly competitive market conditions", the company said it had been reviewing the business.

"This process concluded that re-allocating the Cardiff bakery output into Allied Bakeries' wider network was the most effective way of responding to these challenges," it said in a statement.

As well as Kingsmill, Allied Bakeries produces the Allison's, Sunblest, and Burgen bread brands.

It employs about 4,000 people across the UK.