Nestlé sets 2014 deadline with Croydon Council to find new HQ site

The food giant employs around 1,000 people at its St. George’s House HQ – around one seventh of its UK workforce – and has always declined to comment on rumours of a possible move away from the borough.

However, in a statement released to FoodManufacture.co.uk Nestlé said it had been “forced into reviewing other options outside Croydon”​, although it had “no concrete plans to relocate in the short term.”​

Deteriorating environment​

The statement continued: "​Nestlé has been based in Croydon since 1965 and over recent years it has become increasingly clear that our current offices and the deteriorating environment around them do not provide a suitable base for our business or our employees in the medium term.​

"This coupled with increasing maintenance costs has meant that with Croydon Council we have been reviewing our options to build a new head office in the area. ​

“Unfortunately the council to date has not been able to identify potential alternative locations that are cost-effective.” ​

Council response​

Croydon Council acknowledged that Nestlé's existing HQ was not “fit for purpose”​ but said it was also aware of the potential impact on the local economy and jobs were the company to move away from the area.

But she stressed: “Within the constraints of Croydon’s dense urban centre we are doing everything we can to identify a building opportunity that will meet both its ​[Nestlé’s] specification and deadline of 2014.”​