Closure looms for Trafford Park’s Kellogg’s factory
Kellanova, the parent company of the cereal manufacturer, is looking to shut down the plant in 2026.
Kellanova said that 360 jobs are at risk. The company has begun a consultation with those who work in the factory and their union representatives about next steps for the Trafford Park plant, which sits on land Kellanova owns according to HM Land Registry.
Chris Silcock, UK managing director at Kellanova, emphasised that the decision to close was not made because of the employees.
“We know generations of families have worked at our Trafford Park site, and the proposal we are announcing today has nothing to do with the dedication of the outstanding people who work there,” he said.
Instead, he placed the blame on the site’s age.
Silcock said: “…We can’t escape the fact the site opened in 1938. It’s laid out in a way that made sense in the 1930s, with food travelling up and down six floors to be made.
“With changes in industrial design and technology, you just wouldn’t lay out a factory like that nowadays,” he said.
“What’s more we only use half the space in the buildings and the investment required to maintain the factory in the coming years is simply not viable.”
Those factors meant that Kellanova was no longer interested in a long-term future for the factory.
Trafford Council Leader Cllr Tom Ross described the announcement of the plant’s closure as “extremely disappointing” and “a real blow for everyone connected to the business and the local economy”.
He added that the local authority will be looking to help when it comes to plans for the factory’s future.
“We will continue the dialogue with Kellogg’s on their plans for the Trafford Park factory and will work closely with the senior management, their staff and other key partners to provide whatever help we can in the coming months,” Ross said.
The 1,180-acre Trafford Park is a key source of employment in Trafford, with more than 1,300 businesses calling it home. The district has also been a hive of development activity, with Russell WBHO starting work on its £14m warehouse scheme at Ashburton Point in December last year and Chancerygate and Northwood Urban Logistics’ 130,340 industrial project off Dock Road set to finish this winter.
Kellanova’s 520-strong office in MediaCity is not impacted by the Trafford Park closure. Neither is its factories in Wrexham or St Helens.
Looking at land values round there now, it was kind of always going to happen. It’s still a shame. There could be higher value uses on this site.
By Inevitable
Can they not just rebuild the factory and sell off the land they don’t need?
By Jon P
@am By Inevitable And what about the 300+ jobs lost ??? awful news for the area.
By Anonymous
We will really see if it isn’t about the employees in the next few years, if they build a new factory elsewhere in Trafford Park then I may believe it. Likely the operations will be moved somewhere with cheap labour or be automated.
By Big Dub
Anyone who’s ever been through a redundancy “consultation” knows its nothing of the sort, unless the unions are in a very strong position indeed.
Good spot that Kellanova owns the land, so they can’t blame rising costs.
Trafford Council could helpfully make very clear at this point that any other use classes for the site will not be entertained if Kelloggs do pull out, rather than launching straight into bland offers to help them profit from the land value, which is presumably just what they want.
By Rotringer
Did not know they had a factory in St Helens! What is made there?
By St Helens
How much have they got for the land?
By Elephant
Another lost good old factory from the Park lost! So sad, went round the factory with school about 62 years ago. Happy memories.
By Anne Beighton
Distribution only in St Helens, although they also produce cereal in Wrexham.
By Abots
Announce closure, spark job loss outrage, offer to build a new factory in an investment zone where no taxes are payable, otherwise take production overseas, then sell the existing land for a huge profit. That feels like the playbook.
By Anonymous
The office’s 520 jobs in media city are only safe as long as they can still fullfill their customer orders, I can’t see Wrexham being able to up their production by a mill boxes a day which is what they produce in Manchester, unless they scrap the portable food/cereal bars looking at the size of their plant. They might already have plans in the pipeline to add new lines and move some of the newer machinery recently installed at Manchester from Poland & invest in the plant their. Their biggest customers the likes of Tesco & Asda, will only get let down a few times with cancelled orders before they pull any contracts, and will just jump at the chance to sell more & more home branded cereals like Aldi & Lidl do. If they sell the land for a fortune so what? it’s theirs and all relative we all do it with our houses when we sit on them for a few years we want to cash in & flog in a boom which just then gets spent on another property. Thats a capitalist society we live in. By the time they have paid out redundancy for 300+ people, most being their well over 20 years and if they have to demolish the building they will be easily out of pocket. The sale of their office (a fully usable building) in Old Trafford years ago for £11m & subsiquent redundacy of 200+ staff across the board didn’t leave much left in the pot apart from a deposit in Peel’s Orange Tower some flash office refurb & a years free parking for staff. So 26 acres will get a good few mill minus at least £9m redundancy payouts aint going to leave much of a lottery win left. Maybe it would better to keep the factory up & rent out to the government as a massive HMO or even a new prison. Who knows? but these companies absorbing more & more price increases for raw materials, transport & shipping, staff annually demanding wage increases to cover their rising costs at home, while the customers want everything for £1 shop prices with a discount. Sooner or later somethings got to give and Kellogg, Battlecreek have always pulled their strings so they have the last say.
By AnonMCR
Most of the office workers work from home now anyway, surely they won’t keep the media city space for long
By Dan
You’re always making the same point Dan about offices. Looks like you’re wrong in this case too, I can assure you our office is quite safe. Sorry, you’re in the wrong city if you don’t like offices!
By Cal
You need to leave your bedroom more Dan. Manchester is busy from 6-30 am when I arrive in Manchester and till late in the evening. That int tourists or shoppers or students or boozers……it is workers…….but you will never know because you are never here
By Not true
Not true, you should’ve gone to Manchester before lockdown, when it was busy, it’s far less busy now, we all know that, look at the bars and shops
By Dan
AnonMcr You selling your house for the best price is not capitalism. Just you being smart. Capitalism is also not private property or markets or shopping until you drop. Naked capitalism is, in this particular, speculating absent oweners and managers, chasing maximum short-term profits even if it creates huge losses and costs for others. Or as Daniel Adamson the builder of the Manchester Ship Canal said. “the money maggots of London”. A social-market economy as on the Continent is much more successful.
By Anonymous
High footfall is not translated into spending as the rows of empty shops and now closure Tommy Hilfiger store in Arndale show.Rent seeking capitalism greed is killing business and especially small businesses in the city.
By Fred Shearer
Dan I have lived in Manchester for over 60 years and have worked here for over 40. I am in the city centre from 6-30 till 17-30 month Friday and often at weekend. It is very busy with lots of development. Do yourself a favour Dan and get out from under that duvet. There’s a wonderful city out there
By Not true
Kellogg’s Variety is manufactured in Haydock by Aimia Foods
By Anonymous