A historic Scottish meat factory which boasted a Royal Warrant and the world's biggest selling haggis brand is to close with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

The Hall's of Broxburn factory, which has been a range of pork products from Haggis to sausages and black pudding since 1932, is to be shut down by its Dutch owners Vion despite two bids being made to acquire the business.

Vion said neither of the two bids had been 'viable'. It said several areas of the plant would halt production later this month, with the rest to be mothballed by February 2013.

The Vion Food Group bought the ailing West Lothian business in August 2008 from Grampian Country Food Group.

The plant's future has been in doubt since the summer when Vion said it was suffering from 'unsustainable losses'.

The factory, which handled 8,000 pigs a week, was haemorrhaging £79,000 per day at the site, a situation it blamed on 'significant over-capacity in the UK meat industry'.

Vion even rejected a lifeline from the Scottish government to buy and lease back the factory, saying such a move would only delay the inevitable.

Redundancy talks are now taking place with the plant's 1,700 workers.

The Scottish government and local authorities have vowed to do all they can to help the axed workers find new jobs.