Compulsory redundancies at Norville as high street demand flattens

Norville Group has announced that it needs to reduce its workforce in the coming weeks after too few staff came forward for voluntary redundancy.

A statement from the company said that high street demand for new spectacles is affected just as much as it is for other consumer products in the current economic climate.

Norville, which dates back to 1898, is consolidating its business in Gloucester onto the Magdala Road site and closing its Paul Street operation.

'We have built a state-of-the-art optical glazing laboratory here in Gloucester, to serve the needs of opticians both here and in Europe,' said operations director John Lane.

'We are sought out by opticians for producing some of the most complex prescription work and our commitment is to maintain this role.  Sadly, there is not the volume demand for new spectacles in the current economic climate that we would like to see.'