Tulip to shut Bromborough site

- Published: 09 January, 2009

Tulip International is to close its plant on Merseyside, management has announced.

The 300 staff working at the Bromborough site were informed by managing director Peter Judge that the plant would close and that production would transfer to plants at Kings Lynn in Norfolk and Boston in Lincolnshire.

Staff were told at the meeting that there would be a 90 day consulation period.

In a statement the company said the closure was due to "overcapacity in the food sector, combining with the economic climate".

Judge expanded on the statement saying: "As a site we have been working very hard to reduce our operating costs, being the lowest cost producer has never been more important.

"Against the backdrop of the continuing worsening of the UK economy we have been looking at a number of ways in which to secure a long term future for the Bromborough site, unfortunately however, we cannot currently see a viable alternative to closure."

Workers at the plant said the plant had been affected by the news of the closure of a number of M&S food halls, but management denied this.

Franny Joyce from the union Unite said they would fight the proposed closure

He said: "We owe it to our members and their families, who are angry, bitter and devastated, to do everything in our power to fight these proposals."