GATESHEAD makes more money than any other town in Britain, but you will struggle to find anyone whowill talk about it.

Sitting a few hundred yards from Retail World on Team Valley is the largest commercial banknotefactory in the world.

It's all bit hush-hush. I can only tell you a fraction of what I saw when I was given a rareglimpse inside De La Rue - the North-East factory with a licence to print money.

This year the Gateshead plant marks its half century.

Nearly 600 people work here, about two thirds of them in the banknote facility that convertsblank sheets of paper into dinars, dollars and much more.

The company, which traces its roots back 201 years to Thomas de la Rue's London straw hat shop,has won scores of awards for its quality and innovation.

The Gateshead factory, which has a sister plant in Debden, Essex, makes about ten millionbanknotes a day - up to 3.1 billion a year.

Each note possesses a unique serial number and is produced to the most exacting standards. Thisyear alone the firm's North-East will make 75 different denominations for clients across theworld.

We often talk about firms in our region being hidden gems. It is part of a business reporter'sjob to shout about the great companies that often go unnoticed.

For obvious reasons, De La Rue is about as low profile as a Stock Exchange-listed company canbe.

Securing access to this place was no mean feat. Getting a job here is nearly as tough as joiningMI5.

Background checks on job applicants are so detailed it means the recruitment process forproduction line staff can take up to eight months.

Once people secure a job here they are advised to talk as little as possible about theirworkplace, and are even encouraged to come up with the name of an alternative employer to tellfriends or family.

One worker tells me that he had led his children to believe he worked for Pyrex, which was fineuntil the glassmaker went bust and his kids fretted that dad was headed for the dole queue.

Security here is Fort Knox tight. Again, I can't disclose much detail, but it's safe to say thatthe typical factory visits I've been on don't require multiple body searches.

I'm allowed inside only after I've produced my passport, emptied pockets, had my photographtaken and gone through a series of security gates where more ID checks are taken.

The first thing you notice inside the plant is the light. It's a gloomy early autumn dayoutside, but the factory floor is as bright as an operating theatre. Being able to spot potentialflaws before the production process goes too far can save the company a small fortune. It's warmtoo - unusually so for a factory - as the air conditioning is set precisely to match the airtemperature of the factory where De La Rue makes its paper. This prevents the sheets from shrinkingor warping.

Away from the main production area are small side rooms - one contains washing machines testingthe durability of notes left in the pockets of jeans - while another is an oasis of calm wherecraftsmen tap away to remove tiny blemishes from the surface of the metal printing plates that bearthe notes' original image.

We pass a printer churning out this year's Christmas stamps, and head to the end of theproduction line where finished blocks paper, now worth thousands of pounds, are being fed into aguillotine, before being stacked on pallets awaiting dispatch.

Bound into bundles they suddenly look less exotic, more real. The people who will use them willprobably never give the details on the notes a second glance. They will barely notice that thegrain on one side is more pronounced, or that the ink on a note fresh from a cash dispenser willsmudge if rubbed hard enough.

They certainly won't think about Gateshead. But they should.

To read the complete article, see:
A licence to print money (but keep it quiet)(www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/business/spotlighton/11506497
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