THE owner of a family-run optical firm facing a sell-off has said he is heartbroken at the prospect of having to make his staff redundant.

Crown Eyeglass, an international opticians founded in Blackburn in 1984, has been in talks with potential buyers for its factory and 18 shops in the UK after becoming unable to compete with Chinese manufacturers.

The 75 workers based at the laboratory and opticians in Glenfield Park, and three staff at a store in Chorley, could face redundancy if no buyer is found.

Joseph Lee, 81, who built the company from scratch, has poured £750,000 of his own money into the firm since December in an attempt to save it.

He said: “The bank said we can’t pay our bills and so I saw it that I must do what I could to keep the business going.

“It’s breaking my heart not to be able to save it.

“I know I’m a millionaire now, but I’ve worked day and night building this company.

“I know all the people who work in our Blackburn office personally, they are my friends.

“There are people who have spent their lives here.

“I’ve done everything humanly possible to keep the business going, but we just can’t compete with Chinese manufacturers.

“They’ve driven the price of glasses down so low that nobody wants to buy from us anymore.

“I could have filed for bankruptcy and I wouldn’t have to pay redundancy to people, but that would be terribly unfair.

“The one thing I can promise is everybody is going to get a decent redundancy package.

“I’ll probably be paying out £350,000 for it, but it’s what they deserve.”

More than 60 technicians who make the company’s glasses will have job security until May, when Crown Eyeglass will cease supplying the product.

Coun Dave Harling, executive member for regeneration at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said: “The strength of many local companies is they really care about people.

“The difficulty with international economies is they can produce things far more cheaply overseas.

“This case is clearly a real shame.”

The company has already sold its 35 European stores to a retail chain based in the Netherlands.

Crown Eyeglass was one of the pioneers of affordable eyewear.