Stock Print Services closed its doors last Friday and is set to go into liquidation on 8 December at a meeting of creditors.

Fraser Stock, who took over the company from his father, said: "Trading conditions leave no margin, there is nothing to fall back on. We just saw a black hole opening up in front of us. It is a sad time, but we just got to the point where we couldn't go on any further, we had already put a lot of our own money in. 'Mr Market' beat us in the end – it wore us down."

Stock added that the usual busy period in the run-up to Christmas had not happened this year.

He claimed that there is no place in the industry for a medium-sized finisher, because of the service expectancy of customers.

He explained: "You either have to be a one-man band, or a big finisher. Customers expect a level of service and, when I visit printers, I am amazed by the amount of admin staff.

"We wanted to have that, to be able to give instant prices and a higher level of service, but the market was not prepared to pay for us to be able to add that element."

He said: "We were always looked upon as a barometer for the trade, we always used to get people calling up just to check where the industry was. When the trade was busy, we had so much work we didn't know what to do with it.

"But, at the end of October, we should have been very busy – it was the end of the month, a busy month usually – and the work wasn't there. We looked at the boards and the work was thin on the ground."

Stock said he wished to thank the vast number of customers and suppliers that had contacted him and his staff since the announcement.

"I was expecting to get my ear bent," he admitted. "But we have been contacted by so many people saying that they have enjoyed dealing with us, it makes it even sadder really."