UK: Two more Dairy Farmers of Britain dairies close

The administrators of failed UK dairy co-operative Dairy Farmers of Britain has closed two more dairies with the loss of over 500 jobs.

PricewaterhouseCoopers said dairies in Bridgend and Blaydon would close due to ongoing losses from DFB’s liquid milk business.

Some 279 staff at Bridgend will lose their jobs, while the closure at Blaydon will mean redundancy for the “majority” of the 290 workers at that site.

Depots linked to the Blaydon dairy could also be closed today should Pwc fail to find buyers for the facilities.

“The liquids business has suffered continuing losses and recent withdrawal of customers has compounded the problem,” DFB joint receiver and manager Stephen Oldfield said.

The collapse of DFB, which accounted for 10% of the UK’s milk supply when it fell into administration, has led to the closure or sale of a number of sites.

Last Wednesday, DFB’s Lincoln dairy was closed with the loss of 127 jobs. PwC had success in striking two sales last week, offloading the Lubborn Cheese business to Lactalis McLelland and Llandyrnog Creamery to Milk Link.