Sayer's Norris Green bakery threatened with closure

May 22 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

Sayers' Norris Green bakery on Lorenzo Drive _320

SAYERS’ Norris Green bakery will close with the loss of up to 150 jobs unless a “small miracle” saves the site.

In April the firm launched a 90-day consultation with unions and staff about the future of its Lorenzo Drive operation.

But last night the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) presented a bleak picture.

John Higgins, BFAWU’s organising district secretary, said: “It looks like the site is being closed, there’s little or no hope for jobs. The land has been sold, we are given to believe, six or nine months ago.

“It will need a small miracle to stay open.”

The bakery’s future has been shrouded in doubt since it shed 200 jobs in 2006 after the company lost a significant contract with Kwik Save.

The union is now getting ready to help workers prepare for the future when the decision is announced after the consultation period ends on July 7.

“We are now talking about what sort of services we could put in at the site, such as monetary and pensions advice,” said Mr Higgins. “We will also be discussing how much people will be getting paid in redundancy.”

Sayers is owned by Sale-based Lyndale Foods, which also operates Hampsons and Peter Hunt’s Bakery Foods. The group employs about 2,600 staff and operates 205 shops, predominantly in the North West.

Sayers denied that it had decided to close the bakery, however it did confirm meetings are taking place with staff to “review their positions and in certain situations, where possible, identify other opportunities within the business.”

A spokesman for the company said: “This operational review is all about returning the Sayers business to profitability and securing a future for as many staff as possible.

“The 90-day period of consultation, which was announced in April, will be concluded in July and because of the legal process it is difficult for the company to make any further statement in this time.”

Sayers, which was founded in Old Swan in 1912, blamed the “worldwide escalation of raw materials and soaring energy and fuel costs” for the need to review its operations.

In February it launched a £1m re-branding programme – its second since 2000 – as it tried to reverse a decline which has seen it post losses for each of the last eight years.

alex.turner