Baker announces closure of factory with loss of 118 jobs

Warburtons

One of the region’s best known firms is to close a factory with the loss of 118 jobs.

Bolton based Warburtons has blamed the challenging bakery market for the closure of its factory in Newcastle.

The family-run business is planning to shut its bakery at the Newburn site which has been operational since 1989.

The firms depot and other operations  in Newcastle are not affected by the proposals.

The baker has started a 45 day consultation with staff at the bakery and said it will do everything possible to redeploy employees.

Warburtons said: “The bakery market continues to be challenging, and as consumers continue to switch from bread to other wrapped bakery such as bagels, flatbread and crumpets, we need to ensure our business is set up to meet demand for the long term.

“Unfortunately, this means making the very difficult decision to enter into consultation on the proposed closure of our core Newburn bakery. No decision will be made until the thorough consultation is completed and we are supporting everyone affected at this very difficult time.

“We continue to invest in our business and in the last 18 months we have invested over £35m in our infrastructure alone to enable us to innovate and meet changing consumer demand.

“We also remain committed to our North East operations, and over the next 12 months will be making improvements to our free-from bakery and distribution facility at an investment of £3m.”

 

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