Hovis are selling 2 mills to whitworths and closing Southampton
Also ending DHL Southampton and Bawtry and DSV NI
Hovis to cut 100 jobs in Southampton and High Wycombe bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-45704120
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Not a real surprise, the big brands are feeling the effects of the consumer switch to low cost supermarkets.
Was going for a job at Allied Bakeries but looking at the company, noticed they hadn’t made a profit for last three years (Primark makes ABF figures look good)and thought there may need to be rationalisation with in the bakery industry, so didn’t follow up application.
It seems as if the uk are not doing things right…the Americans buy our firms, and a while later cut em to the bone, whilst making products smaller, and seling at the same price…a good plan eh…unless theyre getting ready for their new partner ( the uk ) then sell the items back to us…we lose…they win.
Sixties boy:
Not a real surprise, the big brands are feeling the effects of the consumer switch to low cost supermarkets.Was going for a job at Allied Bakeries but looking at the company, noticed they hadn’t made a profit for last three years (Primark makes ABF figures look good)and thought there may need to be rationalisation with in the bakery industry, so didn’t follow up application.
One of our rigid drivers worked at Southampton in the mill and he said the place was falling apart due to old age and the fitters had taken to Ebay to find spares for the milling machines [emoji47] He got made redundant last year then retrained as cat C driver only to get his first job at P&H , he got lucky when they went pop as I had just past C+E so my place on rigid needed to be filled
He’s still here 10 months later
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[deleted]
Edited: sorry I just realised the OP is talking about the milling side, not the class 2 bread.
Cosmic:
[deleted]Edited: sorry I just realised the OP is talking about the milling side, not the class 2 bread.
That’s ok , the cuts are being done to protect the bread side if you read the link or the whole lot could be at risk
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Have heard theve took.over one in Trafford park
3 yrs ago Hovis was in trouble I I know they actually as a whole company made a profit of
£400k pre tax
Yes that’s right the whole company.
It won’t be long a few more years before it’s sold and the only thing left will be the name
The group that bought hovis is a company that strips dead wood to bring new life but I think it’ll be a loss to their backers.
Lot of folk cutting carbs from their diet and then there’s the whole gluten free thing as well.
Own Account Driver:
Lot of folk cutting carbs from their diet and then there’s the whole gluten free thing as well.
Before you start on The gluten free bashing ! not all of us are gluten free by choice 
or doing it as a fad diet 
I would love a nice hunk of crusty bread or a sticky bun but can’t 
As I and many others suffer from a autoimmune disease called Coeliac disease , which means I cant process gluten so damage is caused to small intestines and stopping me absorb nutrients from the food as it passes through body to fast
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease
Seems I’ve been beaten to the headline.
foodmanufacture.co.uk/Artic … d-sell-two
Those of you who didn’t know I’ve been a regular (limper) for the Hovis bagged flour contract for many years (on & off probably the past 10-12yrs) I started my limping career out of the old flour mill at Rotherham before it moved to DHL Bawtry.
We got wind of what was happening several months ago with the original contract due to expire Dec 31st, a retendering process began around June, but it was clear the bulk tanker side of the operation would definitely cease at the end of the year, with the bagged product side being given an additional 12 months grace.
But with the selling off of both the Fleming Howden and Gainsborough Maltings to AB Maru earlier this year, it was enevitable something dramatic was going to happen soon, I heard through the grapevine a couple of weeks ago that the Manchester Mill was to be sold to Whitworths, but nothing official was stated, but if something was going to happen they would have to start the 90 day consultation with the staff now for it to end by NYE. Work at the bagged side had been sketchy recently, and today the line manager finally made it official to both local Staff and agency workers
There are some let’s say “mature” members of staff who have been there for a long time & may find getting another job difficult, personally about 6 weeks ago I booked a 10 day holiday to Fuerteventura for the 5th Jan on strength of the job ending.
How can a mill right in the docks lose money? When I worked for a flour mill, I was told that we couldn’t compete in the Southampton and Isle of Wight area due to Solent Mills.
Mills buying old machinery for reuse isn’t uncommon; Matthews bought some of the machines from Tewkesbury a few years ago and that’d be idle for a few years before that.
Not as good today as it’s always been 
A great christmas bonus if the 6 full time drivers at Bawtry get redundancy and don’t get transferred to another contract.
The youngest is 42 but a few will use the financial windfall to retire. Plenty of work around to keep them going.
Pierre - I’m not sure what your real name is but there is a good chance we have actually met, if you are still in touch with Mick (who drove tankers) say hello - a bigger hot head I’ve never met. But a decent bloke none the less. Last I heard he was doing agency after getting a payout after they sacked him.
malcolmgbell:
Not as good today as it’s always been
There’s truth in that; Just had a sarnie made with that “Rowan Hill” Lidl brand stuff and it tastes as goid as any of the branded stuff you can get from Hovis and the like.
Come to think of it, it’s probably from Fine Lady.
A 50p whole meal toasty from morrisons for me 
We regularly send 26plts of gluten down to the Hovis Bakeries in London. Even the staff there don’t eat the stuff they produce 
I think the “loss making” is a front to get permission to redevelop the mill. ADM did the same with Tewkesbury .
Anyone know if Whitworths have now taken over the Trafford Park Mill and if they are still going to continue using DHL for the haulage.