AS production of Dyson vacuum cleaners came to an end in Malmesbury on September 27 with the loss of 590 jobs, company founder James Dyson has pledged his future to the town.

The multi-millionaire spoke exclusively to the Gazette as the final moves were made to switch manufacture of the vacuum cleaners to Malaysia.

He said: "It is a disappointment because I hoped to make vacuum cleaner manufacture work in Britain and in Malmesbury and we have used a huge amount of money and time doing that - a huge investment in research and development driving new technology and product manufacture."

He said the company would still have 1,200 staff in Malmesbury, which was more than four years ago. "I am very excited about the future in Malmesbury," said Mr Dyson.

"I can't say what developments we will be making in the future, whether they will be completely new or developments to washing machines or vacuum cleaners.

"We are still a small company in world terms but we are the biggest in research and development in the world for washing machines."

Mr Dyson said a lot of those made redundant had other jobs to go to. He said: "There is very low unemployment here.

"I talked to people leaving to find out how they are doing. Most people have stayed right to the end which is terrific. Which means I hope they enjoyed being here. We have to put an investment in cash to do that."

Mr Dyson, who spends about 80 per cent of his time in Malmesbury working on new projects, said he was pleased with sales of his washing machine but could not totally commit to the production always staying in Malmesbury.

"The sales are in the same position as vacuum cleaners, we're at the same point. We are going to launch in Germany and Holland and we already sell them in France and Ireland."

He said savings made by moving the vacuum cleaner production would be used for research and development, an arm of the firm that would remain in Malmesbury.