Whitechapel Bell Foundry will close by May 2017, it's been announced.
The Bell Foundry has been at its current site on Whitechapel Road since 1738, and has existed elsewhere since 1570, making it Britain's oldest manufacturing company.
It's most famous for casting the Big Ben bell in 1858. It remains the biggest bell the foundry has cast to this day.
Little more is currently known about the closure beyond the statement on the company's website, which states that it will honour all outstanding contracts but won't take any more on for the time being.
