A STONE-carver who devours Marmite for breakfast every morning has created a sculpture in tribute to the yeast spread.

Steve Byrne, 46, of stone masons APS, in Osney Mead, Oxford, oversaw the creation of a giant stone Marmite jar, which was unveiled on Monday in Burton-upon-Trent, the Staffordshire town where Marmite is made.

The prestigious £15,000 commission, nicknamed Monumite, has attracted national newspaper headlines.

It conceals a system which lets people receive information about Marmite on their mobile phone using a Bluetooth connection.

Closer to home, it has helped the 195-year-old stone masonry firm recover from the recession, after it was threatened with closure last year.

Mr Byrne said: “We got a phone call with the message that they wanted us to sculpt a giant Marmite jar.

“When I got told about it, I thought someone was winding me up. We do get a few unusual requests, but nothing as odd as this.

“Getting a commission like this is fantastic. It keeps the guys busy for a couple of days and brings a certain amount of kudos.”

He added: “Personally, I love the stuff. Believe it or not, I have it every morning on toast.”

In December last year, APS faced closure, after orders dried up due to the recession.

The firm, which then employed 20 staff, wrote to other companies in the industry saying it would have to close.

But after the board and shareholders rallied round, APS has been able to keep going, albeit with a reduced staff of eight.

Mr Byrne, who has been at the company since he was 15, said: “We’re now focusing on keeping the machinery busy, and hoping everything else will come from that.

“We still get people now saying they thought we had closed, but we’re pretty busy again.

“We had to get rid of two thirds of the staff, which was sad, but eight of us got a reprieve.

“Everybody feels they have a bit of ownership and responsibility for the business.”

Founded in 1815, APS is half a century older than Marmite itself, which was discovered by German chemist Justus Liebig in 1866 and first produced in Burton-upon-Trent in 1902.

Tom Denyard, marketing manager at Unilever, which makes Marmite, said: “We hope Marmite fans up and down the country enjoy this new addition to the British cultural landscape.”