Christmas comes early as crackers start rolling
A ROYAL Christmas cracker company has reopened – to make sure families can enjoy festive cheer together, if restrictions allow, when December finally comes.
Bosses at the festive trimmings factory reopened the doors to make its merry packaging with “just” 249 days to go.
The Tom Smith brand invented the Christmas cracker in 1847 – and to this day makes “handmade bespoke crackers.”
It has held the Royal Warrant since 1904 and supplies its beautiful crackers and wrapping paper to the Royal family.
The company describes itself as having “a historic spirit and a breath of heritage which is represented in the designs”.
Production of the Christmas goods was halted for three weeks when the lockdown rules were brought in at their base in Ystrad Mynach.
IG Design Group, which owns the brand, has now made the decision to reopen the warehouse – and get ready for their massive range of other party and celebrations gear.
The group employs 210 workers in the warehouse and has brought in safety measures to stick to social distancing.
It also employs around 125 staff who are able to work from home.
A company spokesman said: “The health and safety of employees is our top priority and, for those that cannot work at home, we are operating in line with national government guidelines with full social distancing measures and extensive hygiene procedures in place across the factory.
“Employees have been fully communicated with and have been advised of their duty of care to ensure they adhere to the measures we have put in place.
“Moving forwards, we will continue to closely monitor for and fully observe all new advice as and when it emerges, while also continually evaluating new ways to enhance protection specific to our site.”
The Christmas company’s products are in over 210,000 retail outlets worldwide – including Walmart, Tesco, Amazon, Carrefour and Aldi.