THE closure of shoe maker Clarks' Barnstaple factory and job losses at its Street headquarters will have no effect on the firm's Ilminster plant, the firm has said.

Clarks announced on Monday (January 13) that 107 jobs will be lost in April with the closure of the Abbeyfield factory in Barnstaple. Thirteen further jobs will be lost at Street.

Clarks PR manager John Keery said the news had no implications for the factory at Dowlish Ford, near Ilminster, which employs 115 people.

"There's no change in Ilminster," Mr Keery said. "It continues to be busy."

The Ilminster factory will be the only Clarks site left in the west country after April, and one of only two in the UK.