Job losses confirmed as Norville cuts back

Tough trading in the high street will mean compulsory redundancies at century-old lens business Norville, it was confirmed this week.

The company warned its workforce of 200 in October that it was looking to cut jobs after it was announced that it was consolidating its operations onto one base in Gloucester by closing its Paul Street site (News, October 14).

At that time it was hoped that individuals would apply for voluntary redundancies or early retirement, but early in December Norville admitted that this call has brought forward only a few applications.

The company now needs to 'review staffing levels of non-core activities' it told optician this week, and is looking to reduce its labour force by 10 people.

John Lane, operations director, commented: 'Spectacles fall to the whim of consumer spending patterns but we are confident that we will weather this storm, and emerge with a lean but very efficient business.'

Norville is consolidating at its Magdala Road site, he said, and the job losses were inevitable.

'We have built a state of the art optical glazing lab in Gloucester, to serve the needs of opticians both here and in Europe.

'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.'