Former Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne at a Britvic factory. Stefan Rousseau/PA Images. All rights reserved.The closure of the Britvic factory in Norwich is a huge blow for the 249 Britvic and 113 Unilever workers who share the site. Sadly, this comes as no surprise – across England there are over 660,000 fewer people working in manufacturing than in 2005, with some regions like the West Midlands being hit harder than others. Talking to workers in factories in areas such as East Anglia reveals not only the lack of public and private investment driving these closures, but the impact on those losing skilled and well-paid jobs across the country.
Like many towns, Norwich has a history of manufacturing that is now largely constrained to food and drink. Unlike the food plants run by the likes of scandal-hit 2 Sisters, drinks factories like Britvic are home to some of the more productive, higher paid manufacturing jobs in the area. So why is a site which the company admits is profitable being closed?
Britvic claim it’s because of transport costs – and that does chime with what people in the area had to say to us. As a local pointed out: “the closest bit of motorway is in Holland”. For Britvic, it is more expensive to transport Fruit Shoots out of Norwich, so locating to cities on the M1 corridor offers a chance to boost profits.
