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Rather a sad moment, all things considered. J S Fry's Somerdale factory in Keynsham made its last bar of chocolate this week, closed down by the very same Kraft Foods of Illinois who bought the factory eleven months ago with a cross-my-heart hope-to-die promise to keep production there.

My gran worked at Frys. Not recently, admittedly, but she did. The factory's been sold because the land's worth more if it gets housing permission. Shutting down production makes the site more valuable. I'd call it asset stripping at the expense of the local community.

spot;1350943 wrote: Rather a sad moment, all things considered. J S Fry's Somerdale factory in Keynsham made its last bar of chocolate this week, closed down by the very same Kraft Foods of Illinois who bought the factory eleven months ago with a cross-my-heart hope-to-die promise to keep production there.

My gran worked at Frys. Not recently, admittedly, but she did. The factory's been sold because the land's worth more if it gets housing permission. Shutting down production makes the site more valuable. I'd call it asset stripping at the expense of the local community.


Sounds just like asset stripping.

So, what's yer point?

"eleven months ago with a cross-my-heart hope-to-die promise to keep production there."

Too bad to see yet another factory go to the accountants.

Test: Different words.

There we are then, it's the content of what I was trying to post.

[please ignore this post, I'm debugging an Internal Server Error - if anyone else sees one on FG please tell me so and, if you still have the text, email me a copy of what you tried to post]

A loss of chocolate is a very serious matter........................

And loss of a business and employees is a sad thing in these hard times, especially for the local community.

Bristolians have been liberated of their chocolate factory.

Not seen Fry's chocolates on the shelves for years, didn't realise they were still being made.

Betty Boop;1350996 wrote: Not seen Fry's chocolates on the shelves for years, didn't realise they were still being made.


Frys branding tailed off in the eighties, the factory's been wrapping Cadbury products since then. It's always been called the Fry factory though, they being the local Quaker chocolate makers.


October 2007: Cadbury announces it will close Somerdale plant

October 2009: Kraft says it wants to keep Somerdale open if it takes over Cadbury

January 2010: Kraft agrees takeover of Cadbury

February 2010: Kraft says it will close Somerdale by the end of 2010 and switch production to Poland

May 2010: Takeover Panel criticises Kraft for misleading investors over promise to keep Somerdale open

January 2011: Production at Somerdale plant ends

BBC News - Broken chocolate factory pledge devastates Keynsham

Hard to believe Kraft didn't know how much work had been done in Poland when they originally took over hey.

BaghdadBob;1350948 wrote: Sounds just like asset stripping.

So, what's yer point?


I did say, in my post which you quoted. The cost to the local community.

A town without chocolate is a dangerous thing. :wah:

Other times, other customs.

BBC - Archive - Lord Haw-Haw - A Letter from the London Press Exchange

BBC - Archive - Lord Haw-Haw - A Letter from BBC Monitoring