FIVE employees who between them have worked for a Newent company for more than 200 years joined Forest MP Mark Harper to officially open a new manufacturing facility.

Bobby Blewitt, Rose Williams, Francis Smith, John Hale and Ian Millard have worked for industrial ladders manufacturer LFI for a total of 206 years.

Mr Blewitt has 44 years’ service, Mrs Williams has been there for 42 years and Mr Smith, Mr Hale and Mr Millard have all worked there for 40 years.

Officially opening the 10,000 sq ft factory, Mr Harper said: “It is a pleasure to come to a business that has expanded, employs more people and is doing really well against tough, foreign competition.”

The firm was established in 1947 and is now a fourth-generation family business.

Chairman Mr David Walker said: “This is 10,000 sq ft of new manufacturing space so we have headroom to keep moving forward.

“We are a very successful British manufacturer, manufacturing British products to British standards with all the British after-sales service that goes with being a good, reliable source of product and we’ve got an awful lot to be proud of in that respect.

“It is about growing and moving forward in a difficult environment – business is tough as a manufacturer in the UK but we take the attitude that we commit to it and invest back into the business.

“That means new products, new lorries and systems but also new space so we have headroom to grow.”

The company is developing a new step ladder and will probably be the only British manufacturer of it for the UK market.

Among the specialist products manufactured at Newent are platforms for working on MRI scanners in hospitals.

Mr Harper said he would be having a discussion with the company’s directors about the UK’s new trading relations in the light of the vote to leave the European Union which he would pass on to Secretary of State for International Trade Liam Fox.

Mr Walker said Brexit was unlikely to have much of a direct impact on the company as it was not an exporter but the value of the pound was important as it buys steel from Austria and Germany.

He said: “What we need is a good plan – to get a grip of the situation and be positive about it and make a good go of it.”