Colmans To Leave Norwich?

[Timbo]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-41482151

[BrundallNavy]

I won't miss the smell of mint but it would be a shame.

[LizG]

I will!!!

[ranworthbreeze]

This is a sad decision for Norwich and would be the end of an era.

Far too many well known manufacturing names have been taken over for the brand name and then asset striped, big business is not always good business.

Regards

Alan

[thingamybob]

It is a great shame and an end of an historic era. It must be very sad news for the employees of the company.

[Chelsea14Ian]

I hope they stay in Norwich. Mustard  is Norwich and Norwich is mustard.As for mint always like the smell when we arrive by boat.All the mint used comes from Brundall by the way.

[Andrewcook]

This is the sorry sign change of the Times as we all got used to all theses land marks that where here for many years. All I hope is the Sugar Kane Factory does not disappear? As we are now entering the Britex .

Andrew Cook

[Vaughan]

14 hours ago, ranworthbreeze said:

This is a sad decision for Norwich and would be the end of an era.

Far too many well known manufacturing names have been taken over for the brand name and then asset striped, big business is not always good business.

Quite right. Just like Rowntree Mackintosh, which is now another shopping mall. Remember Toffolux, and Rolo?

Norwich used to be a major manufacturing city, but no more.

Colmans was here because the mustard was grown here, of course, but I can understand that Unilever might now consider the logistics of transport delivery from Norfolk to be too expensive. They used to deliver by rail of course, with long trains of their own private, bright yellow wagons.

[thingamybob]

15 hours ago, Chelsea14Ian said:

I hope they stay in Norwich. Mustard  is Norwich and Norwich is mustard.As for mint always like the smell when we arrive by boat.All the mint used comes from Brundall by the way.

From what I have read the mint is of a strain peculiar to Colmans. I wonder if there are some bits growing wild along the roadsides in Brundall. I would love a root as I love mint sauce.  

[Chelsea14Ian]

As  I understand they tryed all sorts of mint and found  mint from Brundall  to meet there needs.

[thingamybob]

I tried to find out the full story by googling but newspaper websites screw my computer up for some reason. However, there is an article on the Daily Mail website which may throw some light on where production is going to. Perhaps somebody with a better computer could access the website and provide some information

There are some interesting pictures on the website too. but as usual, my computer got screwed. Why do newspaper websites do that?       

[TheQ]

According to the radio,

Britvic wishes to close their production lines for Robertsons squash and Fruit Shoot, with the loss of around 340 jobs.

 Unilever share the site to produce Colmans Mustards and Mints etc, due to them sharing facilities, Unilever are now reviewing the Colmans  production, if that goes it will be another 100+ jobs lost.

[thingamybob]

16 hours ago, Andrewcook said:

This is the sorry sign change of the Times as we all got used to all theses land marks that where here for many years. All I hope is the Sugar Kane Factory does not disappear? As we are now entering the Britex .

Andrew Cook

Yes Andrew, the factory is quite a landmark on the flat fields surrounding the factory and once more it provides valuable work for the people of the area. Hopefully the factory will stay as the raw material, sugar beet, is bulky and costly to transport. That said, British Sugar could rationalise everything and concentrate production at their other factory in Bury st Edmunds.

The factory actually processes sugar beet which grows profusely in Norfolk and provides a British grown source of sugar which helps somewhat with our balance of payments and saves us importing cane sourced sugar. I always buy British beet sugar.

[Vaughan]

The production process of beet sugar requires huge amounts of water, which is why these factories are situated beside rivers, such as the Yare at Cantley. It is also obvious that the finished product, packets of sugar, is cheaper to transport over long distances than thousands of tons of mud covered beet, grown in the surrounding farms.

So I would hope that the production of sugar in Norfolk is not at risk.

[marshman]

Vaughan - you should know that you do not have to be a manufacturer of anything, just to be a success. Look at boat hirers!

But seriously Norwich even without those names is still a major success story especially now it seems to be following the success of Cambridge as a major and innovative science centre.  It is a flourishing City and growing fast - its not just old people and those on benefit who are living in those new housing estates.

Whilst it is never pleasant to be made redundant, if that were to happen to me, I would rather it was in Norwich with a low  unemployment rate than in other places.

This year, now there is no longer, I think, a quota system, the acreage planted of sugar beet is one of the highest seen for some years and I doubt British Sugar is just taking a punt - we shall see.

[marshman]

P.S. Cantley has recently had considerable investment - not usually a sign of imminent closure!

[Vaughan]

1 hour ago, marshman said:

This year, now there is no longer, I think, a quota system, the acreage planted of sugar beet is one of the highest seen for some years

And also plays a vital part in agricultural crop rotation. Remember Turnip Townshend - his estate was in Norfolk.

[Springsong]

Remember Norwich Union ? They used to employ 10 s of thousands I think, under 10 thousand now it is Aviva,  although they (Aviva) are still in Norwich just.

[Vaughan]

Is Norwich really thriving, nowadays? As I see see it, you can't even get in there any more, unless you are on a bicycle. The commerce of Gentleman's walk and the market place is dying on its feet - unless you are a fan of Costa coffee shops.

Let's have a little "pub quiz" - who can remember the names of the factories, big businesses and big employers, that used to be in Norwich, from the War until the sixties? Let me start the list :

Colmans (of course).

Laurence, Scott and Electromotors.

Boulton and Paul.

Norwich coal fired power station, employing hundreds.

Reids flour mills

Thos. Moy and sons coal yard.

Stevensons steel.

Jewsons timber yards.

A. King and sons scrapyard (whose family owned Ferry Boatyard in Horning)

Norwich gasworks (another big employer)

Wallace Kings furniture factory and showrooms.

The Great Eastern Railway locomotive and carriage works. (Second only to Stratford)

Mann Egertons. Big car dealers but originally a furniture factory, which then specialised in vehicle coachwork.

At least 8 public houses (to my memory) and 4 large breweries.

 

So that is my list, but it lists only the factories and businesses around the banks of the Wensum, in the area of King Street. Nowadays, about all that's left is Norwich Football Club.

Who can remember, and list, some of the others, in all the rest of the city?

[BrundallNavy]

Corona factory on the ring road, The shoes people who's name escapes me.

[BrundallNavy]

Curls department store, Bonds department stores.

[BrundallNavy]

Bertram books.