The highly respected name of Axtell Perry Symm will exit stonemasonry production next year. 

In 2010, the Symm Group said it would close its masonry works but was surprised at the strength of feeling about the move in the industry and the high regard in which the business was held. So it changed its mind about the closure but reduced the business's overheads by incorporating it into the Symm Group rather than running it as a separate entity. You can refer back to that report here.

This year the business in Osney Mead, Oxford, was visited by The Duke of York as it celebrated its 200^th anniversary. It is a well-equipped business and was one of the first traditional masonry companies to buy a big CNC workcentre (a now ageing CMS Brembana).

Nevertheless, the conditions that made Symm want to shut the business in 2010 have not changed substantially and the company says it has reached the commercial decision that the business must close. There are 10 people employed on the stone side.

Symm Group says stone will continue to be an important part of its projects, it will just not be made in-house in the future. Current masonry projects will be completed before the workshops close.

Symm says it will make a statement about the move shortly.