Then and Now

We bring to a close our series on the Staverton Mill site this week.

Work started in 1967 on the construction of the £750,000 Culinary Plant a business that became known as the baked bean factory with products labelled under the Cross and Blackwell brand.

The factory work force increased to 450 and wages were £12.40 a week plus £4 for those who worked shifts.

In 1972 the Nestle Company announced the closure of milk cannery after a decline in the business and a £500,000 refit began to convert the redundant milk factory into a yogurt manufacturing plant.

By 1978 Nestle had acquired the major interest in Chambourcy and production of chilled products rose to 72 million pots in 1980.

Staverton’s Cross and Blackwell plant ceased production in February 1995 and the company announced Cereal Partners would set up operations and produce breakfast cereals in the converted and modernised redundant Culinary Plant building.