£750,000 creamery expansion raises jobs and tourism hopes

Video: See Wensleydale cheese being made

The Wensleydale Creamery, home of Wensleydale cheese, has unveiled a 750,000 investment programme to enlarge its visitor centre, which is experiencing very high demand.

Based at Hawes, near Skipton, the centre is already one of the largest tourist attractions in the Yorkshire Dales, with more than 200,000 people a year coming through its doors.

The move will create more than 45 jobs as well as vastly increasing the capacity of the creamery's shops and cafe.

The cheese shop will increase its capacity from 10 people to 72 and the souvenir shop's retail space will be enlarged.

To cope with the demand 46 new full-time and part-time jobs will be created.

Planning permission for the expansion work has been secured from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and work is set to begin later this month, a completion date being expected later in the year.

Creamery managing director David Hartley said: "This expansion is a major development which will lead to additional jobs being created and more money coming into the area with the centre able to handle a bigger influx of visitors.

"A large part of the Wensleydale Creamery's ethos is supporting the rural economy. By increasing the retail space, we will be able to expand the range of local products stocked alongside our cheeses, including Real Yorkshire Wensleydale, which is the only Wensleydale cheese actually made in Wensleydale.

"This philosophy is already reflected by the Wensleydale Creamery's use of a network of 50 local farms to supply our milk which helps sustain the agricultural community."

The expansion has also secured the support of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward in the form of a 290,000 grant from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

The extension will be in keeping with the other buildings.

The expansion programme is to be overseen by the centre's manager Richard Whorton. The father-of-three spent nine years managing the busy Watershed Mill at Settle, where he oversaw three refits, and also previously worked in tourism and High Street retailing.

Yorkshire Forward spokesman Andy Tordoff said: "The Wensleydale Creamery is vital to the prosperity of the surrounding area through staff directly employed at the business, its network of local suppliers and by helping attract visitors to the area.

"By supporting the expansion of the Wensleydale Creamery's popular visitor centre, Yorkshire Forward is strengthening the sustainability of the Dales as a tourist destination as well as supporting a significant source of local employment."

The Wensleydale Creamery will be hoping this year's expansion will turn into a double celebration as it awaits the outcome from Brussels of its application to receive Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.

If approved the application will mean that no other organisation could produce Wensleydale cheese and call it Yorkshire Wensleydale, affording it the same protection as feta cheese and champagne.

The Yorkshire Post is backing the campaign and the creamery has set up a website – www. realyorkshirewensleydale.co.uk – to allow people to register their support online.

In recent days it has been announced that Yorkshire forced rhubarb will receive PDO status while Yorkshire puddings are also set to begin the battle for similar recognition.

Product sold worldwide

Wensleydale cheese has been made in the dale since 1150 when Cistercian monks first produced it.

Today it is sold in large supermarkets and exported all over the world.

A management buyout in 1992, following the closure of the creamery, ensured that cheese-making in Wensleydale continued and the business now employs more than 200 people across two manufacturing sites.

Its bosses today say the cheese's unique flavour comes from traditional methods using time-honoured recipes and milk from local farms.

However, the company also innovates through the development of new

recipes.

The business supplies a broad range of customers including major

multiple retailers, exporters, wholesalers and the food service sector.