About 20 workers face redundancy after a carpet maker announced it was slashing its workforce.

The jobs have been axed at Steele's Carpets, at Bloxham, near Banbury. The cutbacks were made following the £12.2m takeover of Steele's parent firm Tomkinsons by rival firm Gaskell.

Weaving operations will be moved to Gaskell's site at Rishton, Lancashire. The company have promised that some jobs will be created at Rishton and a similar factory in Kidderminster. The Bloxham factory will be retained for sales and administration work.

Richard Hopkin, Gaskell's group finance director, said: "Obviously this is a sad process but to a certain extent it is inevitable when two large companies come together."

"We will be offering many of the weavers re-location and will make every effort to ensure they are employed elsewhere." Another Tomkinsons factory, at Carleton Mill, in North Yorkshire, will be closed with the loss of more than 100 jobs.

Gaskell, based in Lancashire, said it planned to close one factory and centralise distribution to cut out duplication created by the takeover.

The reorganisation is due to begin early next year and will take around six months, the company said.

Story date: Saturday 20 November

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