According to social media posts an unspecified number of employees at the Manchester web and sheetfed printer were made redundant at the end of last week, including the long-serving pressroom manager and the digital print team leader.

One former employee commented: “Worked with some good people over the last five-and-a-half years and it's a real shame we all had to say goodbye today. So right now, there's some very skilled people out of work through no fault of their own who need jobs.”

The employee said people working in pre-press, digital printing, and finishing were among those out of work. 

The firm’s website has also been removed from general public access and now requires a login to access the information.

Despite repeated attempts by PrintWeek, G&H owner Earl Hawley has not responded to requests to clarify the situation at the company.

A man, who declined to give his name, who answered the phone at the business yesterday insisted the company was still printing at both its sheetfed and web offset operations. He said the firm’s website had been taken down “because we chose to”.

One local source commented: "It's a very strange situation. Every day we keep expecting to hear something but it limps on. The latest bulletin from people there was that the web division would carry on in some form."

G&H had sought protection from its creditors earlier this month by filing a notice of intention to appoint administrators while it searched for a buyer to take over the business.

Based on the information available, the firm was not in administration at the time of writing.

G&H Print Services had sales of £11.9m and employed 71 staff in its most recent accounts for the year to 30 June 2017.