R&R Ice Cream to close Leeds factory

All 135 staff at the factory have been offered jobs at the firm’s Leeming Bar site in North Yorkshire.

The closure of the site was “the only viable option”, ​a detailed financial study had revealed, said the company.

While £23M had been invested in the site over the years, the fabric of the buildings needed considerable investment, it added. “In addition, the area is now increasingly residential in nature which means it is becoming much more difficult to manufacture without upsetting residents.”​

Upsetting residents​

R&R Ice Cream acquired the Crossgates site from Treats Ice Cream after that business merged with what was then Richmond Ice Cream.

Last week James Lambert stepped down​ as the chief executive of R&R Ice Cream but will remain as chairman.

Formed 28 years ago as Richmond Ice Cream, the firm now employed about 665 people at its Northallerton head office and 30 at a site in Bodmin, Cornwall.

Lambert is a contender for the Personality of the Year Award​ – part of the Food Manufacturing Excellence Awards.

Meanwhile, the cold spring in the northern hemisphere, coupled with problems in emerging markets, are likley to put the chill on Unilever's second-quarter and first half results​, according to City analysts.