Nestlé factory sold to a property developer
Firm’s plans for 30-acre site remains a mystery
THE Nestlé factory in Hayes has been sold to a property developer as it prepares to shut down with at least 85 redundancies.
SEGRO has bought the 30-acre site in Nestles Avenue for an undisclosed sum.
A spokeswoman declined to comment on the firm’s plans for the plant, which has produced Nescafé coffee for nearly a century.
Nestlé UK said 18 of the factory’s 207 workers would remain at the site while equipment is removed during the ‘decommissioningprocess’, which is expected to take between six and nine months.
Since July, another 44 have been transferred to the company’s Tutbury factory in Derbyshire, while four have gone to other Nestlé sites.
A spokeswoman said 41 had previously announced their intentions to take early retirement, meaning up to 100 had been made redundant, most of whom left over the Christmas period.
The company announced its plans to close the factory in 2012 and has since added a £200million extension to its Tutbury facility.
A spokeswoman said: “The UK is one of the biggest markets for freezedried coffee and is key to Nestlé and we need a long-term sustainable manufacturing facility that is fit for the future to provide the flexibility in production that the UK requires. Unfortunately, it became clear that it was impossible to completely redevelop Hayes whilst maintaining production.”
A SEGRO spokeswoman said the firm would be in talks with Hillingdon Council to establish a suitable new location for a memorial currently housed inside the factory, which honours those employees who fought in the two world wars.
Hayes and Harlington MP John McDonnell, who has campaigned on behalf of the factory’s workers for four years, has arranged to meet the new owners to discuss how they can engage with the community.
He said that if the site is used for housing, adequate supporting facilities must be put in place.
The factory opened in 1913 and was bought by Nestlé in 1916.
It began Nescafé in 1939.
In its heyday in the 1950s, the factory employed some 2,000 people. Many of those currently working there have done so for more than 25 years.
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