THE closure of Honda's Swindon plant will have a big knock-on effect on other businesses in the area.

Though some of the car manufacturing plant's staff live locally, many commuted from further afield, so pubs, cafes and takeaways near the site who have been fuelling the workforce for years are expecting a change in footfall.

Amjad Qazi said: "I dropped food off from our Saffron Tandoori takeaway on Tuesday night. We regularly had orders from Honda staff.

"The person I spoke to was clearly upset but he said most of the people he knows have a new job lined up already.

"Let’s hope Honda employees are able to find alternative jobs to keep them going. It's definitely a big loss for Swindon."

The Rat Trap pub manager Marc Richardson said: "I think once the staff get their money through, there will be a few parties here in the short term.

"But it's still a sad day, an end of an era, Honda was ideal for the town, I want to say thank you to them.

"In the long-term, the Honda site is a big plot of land and it will be used again, though I wonder if Panattoni will employ as many people as they did."

"The workers tell me they are happy with how Honda treated everyone, compared to other companies, and they've earned a good living so they can't complain.

A bigger ripple effect of the factory shutdown will see other firms in the Honda supply chain struggle as a client who provided most - or, in some cases, all - of their business disappears from the area.

TS Tech in Highworth is expected to close shortly as it made car seats for the vehicle manufacturer, and other companies are in a similar situation.

Susan Maybank said: "I worked in the supply chain Kasia, who made door linings. We have also lost our jobs and our redundancy payments were shocking."