A home furnishing chain will create 50 new jobs in the North-East by the end of this year with the opening of four new stores.

The Yorkshire Linen Company, which already has nine outlets in the region, will invest £600,000 in stores at Consett and three other as-yet-undisclosed locations.

On Monday (April 8) the new Consett store, at the Victoria Centre, will open its doors for the first time and will offer customers a 70 per cent discount on a range of products.

The Yorkshire Linen Company recently spent £50,000 on the refurbishment of its Middlesbrough store, in the Dundas Street arcade.

The updated shop, which features the company's new logo, will be used a design template for all new and existing Yorkshire Linen Company stores.

Julia Allen, manager of the Middlesbrough store, said the shop had been popular since it first opened seven years.

"Over the years the store has built up a tremendous amount of regular customers all of whom, I am delighted to say, have commented how much they like the new layout," she said.

"We still offer the same high quality value-for-money merchandise but it is now displayed in a much more modern environment."