'Everybody benefitted' from factory set to close

Former employees of a six-decade-old coffee factory have told the BBC that it will be "sad to see it go", after its closure was announced earlier this week.

Dutch coffee-making giant Jacob Douwe Egberts (JDE) said it would be closing its plant in Banbury - which employs about 160 people - next year.

The MP for Banbury Sean Woodcock, whose grandmother worked at the factory, said it was a "sad day" for the town that "really stings".

JDE said closing the site - which first opened as a General Foods (GF) plant in the 1960s and employed thousands at its peak - was "not an easy decision to take".

"Unfortunately, it seems clear that JDE gave up on Banbury long ago," Mr Woodcock said.

"This will be a very anxious and worrying time for employees and their families - I would urge them to contact me if they have need of any assistance," he added.

The then GF Factory opened in 1964, producing food and drink - including Bird's Custard.

On Tuesday a group of former employees gathered at the GF Social Club in Banbury - which was established more than 50 years ago as a place for the factory's workers to let off some steam.

Robert Marshall, who worked at the factory for 38 years, said it had been a "lovely place to work".

"It was a very homely place and it was really good for you - they really looked after you."

He said the news of its closure was "terrible", adding: "If we don't look at the way things are going now - once they're gone, the town is going to die."

Echoing a similar sentiment, Annmarie Rutland said: "Its all just disappearing, and its a shame because General Foods was Banbury."

"For some people it went down from fathers to sons and daughters - it was a family business," Ms Rutland, who stopped working at the factory two decades ago, said.

"A lot of people have come and gone now, and everyone has to move on - it's a shame."

Her mother Jean Rutland, who previously worked at the GF Club, added: "Banbury has changed such a lot now - it's all gone, everything's disappearing."

Basil Wallock, who worked at the plant until 1989, said the closure was "not good for the area", adding that it would be "sad to see it go".

"Everybody [in the town] has benefitted from it - it was good for the community for a whole," he said.

"I never worked anywhere else, and I had a good life through it."

Coffee production at the plant ended in 2023, with hundreds losing their jobs and only the site's packing facilities left running.

Following a further review, JDE said the costs involved in maintaining the decades-old infrastructure in Banbury was "not financially viable", and the site would be completely closed.

"We are proud to have manufactured and packed coffee in Banbury for almost 60 years and would like to thank the local community for their valued support," JDE said.

"Most importantly, we want to acknowledge and thank everyone who has worked at the factory over the past six decades."

A consultation into the planned closure in 2026 would be launched soon, the company added.

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