A FACTORY making ready meals could close as early as next month – with the loss of 350 jobs.

A spokesman for Northern Foods could not confirm the exact date of closure of the site, but said the Brighton Street factory was unlikely to remain open.

Northern is due to publish a half-year trading update today, in which a decision on the Hull plant is expected.

After talks in May this year, the firm said the Hull site was no longer viable after the company lost a contract to make ready meals for its main customer, supermarket chain Morrisons.

Northern Foods, which has several sites across Yorkshire, said it had not been able to agree terms with Bradford-based Morrisons.

Earlier this year, Northern Foods decided to postpone a decision to merge its Fox’s Biscuits plants at Batley and Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, on a single site.

The group wants to build a new £40m factory at one or other of the sites, but said it would undertake a “rigorous” evaluation before making a decision next year.