Well-known North-East pie company Henry Newbould has gone into administration with the loss of more than 200 jobs.

The company, which has a 150-year-history of supplying Teessiders with meat pies, called in administrators on Monday.

Its former sister company, Naturally Newboulds, which runs more than 20 butchers shops across the region, is unaffected.

The companies started trading separately last year after a management buyout.

Newboulds was set up in 1856 and remained under family ownership until last year, when its manufacturing side was the subject of a buyout by business consultant Rob Clarke.

H Newbould's factory at Riverside Park, in Middlesbrough once employed 240 people but 170 agency staff left the company last week, and earlier this week 44 of the remaining 64 staff were made redundant with immediate effect.

Its customers include major supermarkets including Morrisons, Asda and Somerfield, as well as Macro and the Naturally Newboulds shops.

The company appointed Adrian Berry and Ian Brown, of Deloitte in Leeds, as joint administrators on Monday.

Mr Berry said: "There have been some initial redundancies which have taken the workforce down to about 20, and we are reviewing the situation at the moment.

"We are in the process of marketing the business and assets for sale.

"There have been a few expressions of interest but it just depends how quickly things move because it is a difficult time of year and a lot depends on support from customers. "But it is a purpose-built factory, a fully-equipped food production facility at Riverside Park and we hope there will be a lot of interest.

"The brand is also a strong name in the region."

Mr Berry said it was difficult to say why the business had been forced to call in administrators, other than the consumer slowdown.

But he added: "I think they have just experienced a downturn since the management buyout last year. "But the retail side is totally separate and is unaffected."

Naturally Newboulds was formed last year after the retail outlets were bought by the descendants of the original Newbould family.