A master baker who has run the Oakworth Bakery for 20 years is shutting up shop following the announcement of a new government tax.

Norman and Barbara Blissitt, from Clayton, bought the shop on Lidget, in Oakworth, in 1981, revamped the building and built up the business.

The introduction of a new climate change levy will mean that they can no longer afford to keep the bakery open.

The levy is a tax on the industrial and commercial use of energy.

It is intended to encourage businesses to become more energy efficient and use less energy.

But Mrs Blissitt says: "We will be charged 15 per cent for our electricity and 10 per cent for our gas.

"It will cost us about £25 a week, but it's money we need. Plus there's the time doing the bookwork that I'll have to spend.

"We've been struggling to keep the business going for the last couple of years and this is just the final nail in the coffin."

As part of the levy, employers will be entitled to a 0.3 per cent reduction in the National Insurance contributions they pay.

Barbara continues: "It's all very well, but we don't employee people, we are the full time staff here so that doesn't affect us.

"There will be larger companies who have lots of staff who can benefit from the reduced National Insurance, but we'll be paying out for the energy levy and getting nothing back."

Mr Blissitt adds: "There has been a bakery on this site in Oakworth for 100 years but this tax is too much. We've been struggling on but it's not worth it now.

"There used to be three or four bakeries in Oakworth but now people don't shop locally and all seem to be going to supermarkets."

He is a fully trained master baker who produces all his own products and loves baking.

Mrs Blissitt says: "When we started we worked for years to build up the business and didn't have a holiday.

"If it snows, Norman works all night to provide the village with bread.

"We do have a small loyal base of customers, one man travels from Leicester, and we offer quality and good prices.

"We would have tried to keep open for another couple of years but there is no point with this tax. I have written to Ann Cryer about it, and she is going to speak to the Paymaster General."

Mr Blissitt says: "It's a fact of life, we can't afford to keep open. It's a shame that the bigger businesses with lots of staff will manage but that the small village shop will suffer.

"We are being taxed for using the energy that we need to use to bake everything we sell."