A NELSON food firm has confirmed it hopes to create up to 20 new jobs to support the launch of new products.

Farmhouse Biscuits made the announcement on the back of a visit by the Chancellor, George Osborne, to its premises on Thursday.

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The family-owned company, which started out at a Barrowford farm in the 1960s, now employs around 300 people at its Brook Street headquarters.

Managing director Philip McIvor and general manager Raymond O’Sullivan gave Mr Osborne a tour of the Farmhouse factory, a modern 200,000 sq ft facility refurbished in 2013.

Mr McIvor’s wife Gill, a director at the firm, said: “As a long-standing large employer in Nelson, we’ve seen at first hand the challenging economic times the area has been through and the real progress that’s now being made.

“Over the last year we’ve invested heavily in new bakery offices and a new warehouse, which will help us reach new customers both here and abroad. And we’re hoping 2015 is going to be even better – we’ll be launching new products and, if everything goes to plan, will be taking on another 10 to 20 staff, with each job we create helping the local area.”

A total of four generations of the McIvor family have worked at the business, which began life at Higher Oaklands Farm in Pasture Lane, Barrowford, before moving to its current home in 1978.

Mr Osborne, who name-checked the chocolate digestive as his favourite biscuit, said Farmhouse was “a brilliant business” – and admitted he was a big fan of its best-selling oat flip biscuit.

He said: “Britain’s small businesses are the backbone to our economy, which is why a key part of our long-term economic plan is helping them grow and succeed.

“I’m delighted with the announcement that Farmhouse Biscuits is planning to expand its workforce, which shows our long-term economic plan is working to create jobs and investment in north of England and increase the region’s exports to the rest of the world. This is backed by analysis that shows the North-West has seen the joint fastest growth in output per head in the UK.”

Farmhouse, which supplies confectionery for the likes of Harrods and Fortnum and Mason, now exports more than 20 per cent of its produce to overseas markets including Australia, the United States and Canada.

The bakery at Brook Street has continued to grow and evolve. Four generations of the McIvor family have worked together and imparted experience of biscuit making.