A HAMPSHIRE coach firm is to fold, bringing the curtain down on a business that is almost as old as the car itself.

Taylors Coaches of Sutton Scotney will finally cease trading on Christmas Eve after nearly a century in the business.

Around 15 jobs will be lost, including 12 drivers.

The family firm said the rise of the budget airline in an already tough marketplace meant the business was barely operating in the black.

Maxim Taylor, 33, whose great-grandfather Walter Charles founded the company in 1916, said the decision to close had been hard.

"There is almost inevitably pressure to continue because we have been going so long," he said. "But a realistic and common-sense decision had to be made.

"The coach holiday market has declined, largely due to the fact that many people have their own cars and also the budget airlines going to our traditional destinations at very good rates."

Red tape and the high price of vehicles are also factors behind the decision to call it a day, he said.

Taylors vehicles have been a familiar sight on the county's roads since Walter Charles, then landlord of the nearby Coach and Horses, launched a livery business from the pub at the turn of the century, with horse-drawn coaches for hire.

No deal has yet been made to sell the bus station, but the two-acre site may now be snapped up by a property developer and turned into homes.