More than 120 jobs will go at a Barnsley bakery with a union official blaming it on the loss of a £16 million supermarket contract.

La Baguette Doree, on Carlton Industrial Estate, will close in August and 123 people will lose their jobs.

Despondent bakery staff say morale is very low and most are 'sitting it out' until it shuts.

One employee said they had been offered redeployment to sister companies in Sheffield and London but it wasn't a viable option for most.

Shop floor worker Malcolm Firth, 58, of Springfield Street, Barnsley, has been at the bakery for 18 years.

He said staff were told the news in April.

"Everybody is really down, as you can imagine, and some have been there longer than me," he said.

"They're actually making extra bread now so they can get in front and then shut it down."

The bakery, part of the Fletcher's Group, was set up in 1991 as a bake-off site for Marks and Spencer frozen baguettes. Over two decades, it built up a national distribution business supplying retail customers, in-store bakeries and food service customers.

Sam Vickers, from the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union, said the closure was down to the Barnsley bakery's sister company in London, Grain D'Or, losing a lucrative contract with Tesco worth £16 million.

He said the power major supermarkets wield means they can 'turn on and off' with the demands they make on manufacturers.

"They're making billions of profit but switch from one manufacturer to the other to save a penny," said Mr Vickers. "It affects people's lives and it's disgusting."

As a result of the lost contract, one of the two sites 'had to go' said Mr Vickers, and Barnsley was chosen.

Finlay Nelson, general manager at the bakery, said it has 'consistently lost money' and been supported by the Fletcher's Group for a number of years.