Over 200 jobs to be lost as Vale of Mowbray pork pies closes after energy price rises

Vale of Mowbray Limited, based in Leeming Bar, North Yorkshire, had employed 219 staff. A total of 171 workers have already been made redundant with the remainder being retained in the short-term to assist with the wind-down of the business and the sale of its assets.

The assets include two freehold manufacturing sites in Leeming Bar, plant and machinery, as well as intellectual property.

Martyn Pullin, Mark Hodgett and David Shambrook of specialist business advisory firm FRP were appointed as Joint Administrators to Vale of Mowbray Limited on Wednesday.

Mr Pullin said: “The Vale of Mowbray was a proud family business with a loved brand that has been synonymous with pork pies for generations. But the increasingly difficult trading conditions being experienced by many energy and labour intensive manufacturing businesses have ultimately led to the business’ closure.

“We are urgently calling on any interested parties to come forward. In the meantime, we are preparing to wind up the business’ operations and move towards an asset sale in line with our statutory obligations. We are on site and supporting staff, through what is an extremely challenging time, as we support claims to the Redundancy Payments Service.”

Vale of Mowbray is a historic business that traces its roots to the Vale of Mowbray Brewery, which was opened in 1795. The family-owned business began making pork pies in 1928 and had established itself as the UK’s leading pork pie brand.

A spokesperson for the administrators said: “The business has experienced significant financial challenges in recent years due to rising raw material input prices, increasing energy costs and sector-wide recruitment challenges. A marketing process was conducted to attract fresh investment into the business but, without any viable offers and without the resources to continue trading, the directors have appointed administrators and closed the business.”