Dairy group Dale Farm is to close its creamery located in Fivemiletown, Northern Ireland, and will offer staff relocation to other of the company’s sites or redundancy.
A lease arrangement for the site with Fivemiletown and Brookeborough Co-operative is due to end this year and Belfast-headquartered Dale Farm has decided not to renew the Co. Tyrone plant on the grounds maintaining production there is “no longer feasible”, according to a statement.
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Cheese manufacturing conducted at Fivemiletown will be switched to another Northern Ireland facility at Dromona, Cullybackey, Co. Antrim, to where staff, numbering 18 in total, will be offered the opportunity to relocate, or failing that they will be offered redundancy packages.
“Dale Farm has stated that following careful consideration, maintaining production of Fivemiletown cheese at the Fivemiletown site was deemed no longer feasible,” the statement explained. “Dale Farm will relocate production of the main lines of our Fivemiletown cheeses to our facility at Cullybackey. However, the low volume Fivemiletown cheese retail lines will no longer be carried.”
In 2014, Dale Farm acquired the Fivemiletown speciality cheese brand from Glanbia Ingredients Ireland. It then leased the premises from Fivemiletown and Brookeborough Co-operative and took over employment of its staff.
Production of Fivemiletown cheeses at the creamery will cease in June, although the company will continue to make goat’s cheese under the same brand.
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