A KENDAL business will be creating eight new jobs when it moves into a new factory.

Lakestone Natural Heating is moving its workroom into a new factory and will be employing more staff as a result.

The business, which specialises in stoves, hearths and range cookers, has been looking to expand for some time but has been unable to find the appropriate site.

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"Starting a business in the middle of a recession is not a very easy thing to do," the general manager Donovan du Plessis said. "But the business was on par with what we wanted in the first four years.

"But the last couple of years it has been stifled by where we are now."

Mr du Plessis hopes that the new 15,000sq ft space, which they will be moving into at the end of July and is located behind Homebase in Kendal, will allow the business to flourish.

He is working with Kendal College to offer apprenticeships to aspiring joinery students and hopes that in the long term the business will be able to employ even more local people, in positions ranging from fabricators to administration.

In the long term, Mr du Plessis hopes that the business will be able to double its staffing numbers.

Cllr Graham Vincent, South Lakeland District Council's economy portfolio holder, said that it was great to see a local business expanding.

"We are very pleased to see a business grow, particularly after the difficult time the businesses in Kendal have had," he said. "We welcome the increase in employment."