Administrators for collapsed pie maker Vale of Mowbray have confirmed the sale of machinery and its North Yorkshire factory site to two separate groups.
The famous pork pie producer went into administration in September last year with the loss of 220 jobs amid soaring costs and issues recruiting staff.
Administrators have now revealed the machinery and plant from the factory at Leeming Bar, near Bedale, has been sold to rival pork pie producers Compleat Foods, which make Classic Pork Pies and Melton Mowbray Pies, and has bases in Clitheroe, Poole, Milton Keynes and Nottingham.
The factory site has been bought by NewCold, a Dutch-based international company which describes itself as specialists in advanced automated warehousing and cold chain logistics.
Administrators Martyn Pullin, Mark Hodgett and David Shambrook, of FRP, said attempts to attract new investment had been made when Vale of Mowbray was no longer able to meet financial obligations, but it wasn’t possible at the time.
Mr Pullin said: “Despite trading for almost 100 years, Vale of Mowbray faced significant challenges and was no longer able to operate or secure the investment needed to trade. While it’s never easy saying goodbye to an established brand, we’re pleased to have found buyers for both the site and machinery and wish them all the best in the future.”
Compleat Foods and NewCold were both approached by the Darlington and Stockton Times for information about plans for the site and whether Vale of Mowbray pies would continue to be produced and sold, but neither responded to requests to comment.
The collapse of Vale of Mowbray, which produced one million pork pies a week, came just months after a major £4m expansion introducing a new line with scotch eggs.
The business had originally been opened as a brewery in 1795, operating as a pork pie factory from the 1920s with the local Gatenby family taking over in the 1990s.
For many in the shocked local community, it has been the real end of an era. Vale of Mowbray employed thousands of people over the years, taking on dozens of casual staff every Christmas to produce its pies.
One former worker, who asked not to be named, said: “It is sad that pork pie making has ended there, but it is a sign of the times and at least the factory site is being used. It is only six months since it closed down so there is obviously a lot of interest in the area and in pork pies.
"You just wonder whether we will ever see VOM pies again and the new company will use the name, because it was very well known.”
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