Earlier this month Hallmark UK announced the proposed closure of its Bradford card and giftwrap manufacturing site, with the loss of up to 300 jobs. It plans to outsource production of cards to the Far East instead.

Hallmark subsidiary Tigerprint is the main supplier of greetings cards to Marks & Spencer.

A spokeswoman for the retailer told PrintWeek that some M&S card production will be moving to Herbert Walkers, based in nearby Shipley.

“We were particularly keen, despite the bad news, that a significant proportion of our business would still be made in the UK,” she said. “We want to retain some English printing.”

Marks & Spencer sells a wide-range of greetings cards in-store, and has more than 1,300 card variants available via its website.

Some of its cards are already produced in China, and some in the UK.

The production of its range of personalised cards is unchanged, with printing carried out by an unnamed printer in the South East of England.

Herbert Walkers chairman Keith Chapman was unavailable for comment.

As well as greetings cards and associated products such as giftwrap and tags, Herbert Walkers also produces packaging and commercial print.

The Hallmark facility is set to close by the end of the year. The US-headquartered firm is currently in consultation with the workforce over the plans.