ONE of West Somerset's most high profile businesses has gone into administration with the loss of dozens of jobs in the district and neighbouring Devon.
Exeter-based administrators Kirk Hills have kept outlets in Topsham, Newton Abbot and Cheddar trading, while another at Puxton Park in Weston-super-Mare is also understood to have remained open.
In total, the company employed at least 80 full and part-time staff.
The decision to pull down the shutters was taken last Friday by company director Gerald David, who founded the business more than 40 years ago with his wife Jenny, opening the first shop in Langport.
Speaking from their home in Spain, Jenny told the Free Press her husband was devastated by the loss of the business.
"Gerald is completely hurt that so many people are now unemployed," she said.
"This was a family business - two of our sons, our daughter, daughter-in-law and grandsons worked in it so it isn't just the staff who have lost their jobs.
"We have undoubtedly been hit by the economic situation and difficult trading times and competition from supermarkets has also affected us.
"It was a very hard decision for Gerald to have to take and we are all hurting to death. Words can't explain how we feel as a family.
"We are not hard hearted and we are trying to do everything we can to help as many staff as possible find new jobs."
However, two former employees, who asked not to be named, told the Free Press that they were shocked and angered by the closure and the lack of notice - although they claimed they had suspected the business was in trouble for some months.
"We had been unable to order much new stock and a number of suppliers were owed money," said one.
"I've been told by the local Job Centre that I'm entitled to this week's wages, two weeks' redundancy pay and holiday pay so I believe I'm owed about £400."
Minehead-based Neil Arnold Tyres is amongst the company's creditors.
"We are owed money but I know some other businesses are owed a lot more," said owner Neil Arnold.
"I'm not totally surprised by what has happened - payments to us had certainly been slow for some time."
Alistair David, who with his brother Philip and sister Lorraine helped run the company, told the Free Press on Wednesday that the loss of the family business was still "very raw".
He said substantial tax demands from HMRC - revenues and customs - had been the deciding factor.
"We have all given our life to the business and it is so very painful to see it end in this way," he said.
"We are just so sorry that we got it wrong."
Alistair and other family members removed stock and equipment from the shops now closed last weekend on the instructions of the administrators.
"It has all been taken to a warehouse," he said. "We didn't want to do it on Monday because it would have been too painful to have people watching."
And he refuted claims from some staff that employees were not told the business had gone into administration.
"I held a meeting on Monday to announce it, phoned some staff and instructed managers or other members of the team to do the same.
"As many people as possible were told either face to face or by phone."
The David family owns the shops in Minehead - which included a deli - and Dulverton, as well as the abattoir, but rented the other outlets.
"The administrators have said they will be looking to find a buyer for the business if they can," said Alistair.
No one from Kirk Hills was available to comment.
Minehead Chamber of Trade chairman Graham Sizer said the closure marked the end of an era.
"It's always sad when a long-standing independent leaves the high street and the business goes back a long way.
"But my main concern is that the staff who have lost their jobs are looked after properly and that local businesses who may be creditors are not left out of pocket."
Just over a year ago, Gerald David and Family Ltd was fined a total of £3,000 and ordered to pay £12,000 in costs after pleading guilty to six counts of misleading labelling and advertising in a prosecution brought by Somerset Trading Standards.
The charges arose from claims appearing on the company's website, in its stores in Dulverton and Taunton and in a parish magazine that its lamb came from Exmoor and its beef from Devon when it had actually been sourced more than 100 miles away in the Midlands.