TWO brothers cut the ribbon as a rare machine they jointly spent 76 years operating rolled back into production.

Albert, 77, and Alan, 73, Yates opened the new factory in Belgrave Mill, Darwen yesterday, where future generations will produce Lincrusta.

House proud Victorians' favourite wallcovering has suddenly become fashionable again and companies are trying to satisfy demand.

The Imperial Home Decor Group (IHDG) bought a 125 year-old Lincrusta emboss machine from Akzo Nobel last year. It is the only one of its type in the world.

Since November it has been painstakingly dismantled and moved from nearby Queen's Mill.

IHDG and Akzo Nobel were sections of the same company until 1984, when Crown was split up. The machine was moved to Queen's Mill in 1918 from a factory in Sudbury and had been there ever since.

Albert, from Blackburn, retired from the mill in 1985 after spending 38 years as foreman, while Alan, from Darwen, finished in 1991 following the same amount of time in the mixing department of the Queen's plant.

Several new parts have been fitted, but the machine is as Albert and Alan remember it -- many of the designs will be too.

Gillian Harding, design director at IHDG, said: "We will be reproducing a number of key authentic wall coverings that have featured in the Lincrusta portfolio over the past 125 years, so the range will include a variety of patterns that can be used to rejuvenate old or uneven walls."

Lincrusta inventor Frederick Walton had already made his money with what is now known as 'lino', although he called it Linoleum. In 1877 he had the idea to make a lino for the wall and Lincrusta was created.

The putty-like deep embossed wallcoverings made from linseed oil, cork dust, wood flour, tree resins, ground limestone and pigments, quickly became popular. But by the 1950s people began to turn away from the 'old fashioned' Lincrusta.

Its variety of bright modern colours has coincided with the fashions of today and the product is in vogue once again.

IPHG has even had a special order from Wisconsin in the United States. A couple there wanted two rolls to match the original Lincrusta in their home.

But the pattern for the machine had been melted down to help the war effort in the 1940s, so the couple sent copies of the Lincrusta on their wall to the Darwen company.

Designers then re-made the original moulds. It would have cost £6,000 per roll if the company had not added it to the product range.

"Textured wallcoverings are having a huge revival at the moment and period design never really goes out of fashion, so Lincrusta's historical relief designs offer a great combination of the two looks," said Gillian Harding.