Winchmore Press has stopped trading after receivers failed to find a buyer, and a nearby firm has followed suit.
Receiver Gerald Edelman closed down machines at the Hainault, Essex firm last Friday, sealing the fate of 50 jobs. Winchmore called in the receiver two weeks ago (PrintWeek, 14 July).
Merlin Colour Printers said it was interested in the firm but was angry when told to make an offer within a week. Ian Yerrill, a partner at the receiver, was not available for comment.
CK Printing, 20 minutes away in Londons Leyton, has stopped trading after calling in receivers last week.
Managing director Ernest Collins ran the firm with around 20 staff and kit including two Heidelbergs.
No one from it would comment, but in 1998 it made a loss of just over 36,000 on sales of 2.6m. It was incorporated in 1997 when it changed its name from Sight Communications.
But Chris Herron, a partner at receiver Levy Gee, said: "We are not looking for a buyer. We are looking at selling the machinery." He did not say what the firms debt or turnover had been.
An industry insider warned of recession. "We hear rumours every day about firms in trouble and they are falling off the branches at an alarming rate," he said.
"Suppliers are being hit again and again and its only a matter of time before one goes belly up and there will be a domino effect.
"We havent seen a boom for five years. The millennium was a write off: all we seem to be getting is bust."