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Bittersweet reaction to sugar factory closure plan

Robby West,in Cantleyand
Helen Burchell
Martin Giles/BBC Bill Phillips is looking at the camera and is wearing a pink shirt with a green checked shirt over the top. He has short, grey hair and is sitting on some stone steps.Martin Giles/BBC
Bill Phillips said working at the factory in the past had been "an experience"

The potential closure of the UK's oldest sugar factory could rip "the life and heart" out of a village, residents have said.

British Sugar announced on Tuesday it was proposing to close its Cantley factory, established in the Norfolk Broads village in 1912, which has put more than 100 jobs at risk.

While some living nearby see the site as an opportunity to develop facilities in the area, others are mourning the loss of a business they said had supported the village for more than a century.

British Sugar said the proposal had not been taken lightly, but the closure was proposed to "improve efficiency and support the long-term future" of the UK sugar industry.

Martin Giles/BBC Sugar storage silos at Cantley sugar factory with a river in the foreground on a cloudy day. There are boats moored on the river and a pub on the left of the picture.Martin Giles/BBC
The Cantley site in Norfolk is one of four British Sugar factories in England. Pictured in the foreground (left) is the Reedcutter Inn

The Norfolk site, on the banks of the River Yare, was the first sugar-processing factory to open in the UK but it could close from the end of February 2027.

British Sugar's website said Cantley was "well known for the generations of local families who have worked alongside each other".

Martin Giles/BBC Sam Johnson is looking at the camera and is wearing a pink top. She has short, fair hair and is wearing spectacles. Blurred in the background are bushes and the roof of a house.Martin Giles/BBC
Sam Johnson said Cantley needed the support it had enjoyed from the factory

Sam Johnson, 43, lives close to the factory and said news of its impending closure left her "astounded."

She said smells from the factory and lorries trundling up and down had never affected her and she mourned the possible loss of the industry as it was "such an important piece of the community".

"It seems such a shame to close," she added.

She expressed concern about the future, as "goodness knows what they'll put in its place".

Asked if she had a message for British Sugar, Johnson said: "Please don't close the sugar beet factory. We need them and we need their support to keep it open."

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Martin Giles/BBC A factory site with large metal silos against a blue sky on a sunny day.Martin Giles/BBC
Cantley's sugar beet processing factory has been in operation for more than 100 years

Bill Phillips, 77, worked at the Cantley factory for four seasons, dealing with the sugar beet as it tumbled through the plant.

With many early morning shifts, he described his time there as "an experience".

He said: "A lot of village people were employed, and then outside labour was brought in, and the village people just dwindled down.

"It's going to be sad for people to lose employment, but times are changing."

Martin Giles/BBC Dot Machin is looking at the camera and is wearing a grey top and patterned blue jacket. She has greying hair.Martin Giles/BBC
Dot Machin said news of the factory's potential closure was a shock

Dot Machin, chair of Cantley, Limpenhoe and Southwood Parish Council, said news of the closure - despite rumours - had come as "a complete shock".

She said it would be greatly missed, as there has always been a special relationship between the beet factory and the village.

Machin said residents were anxious about how the land might be used, but added: "We're beginning to develop a local plan for Cantley and we're going to be talking about housing, jobs, shops.

"So in a way it's an interesting time for Cantley, but at the moment, we have no idea where it's going to go."

Martin Giles/BBC Christopher Campion is looking at the camera. He is wearing a black T-shirt and spectacles. In the blurred background are houses and a driveway.Martin Giles/BBC
Christopher Campion described the factory as "the life of the village"

Cantley resident Christopher Campion, 60, echoed pleas to British Sugar not to close the plant.

He said: "Think of the bigger picture and the local community which they've been part of for the last hundred years, and the effect on the environment that closing this factory is going to have with more truck movements going further afield."

Owen Sennitt/BBC Looking at the Cantley sugar factory from upstream, with its buildings, the river and a boat in viewOwen Sennitt/BBC
The factory has been a dominant feature of the village and in the Broads landscape for more than a century

Jan Davis, who also lives close to the factory, said the news was "not overly surprising", given that "sugar beet has been declining in terms of its value, subsidies have been withdrawn and less sugar is being used".

But he added: "The sugar factory has been the heart of the village.[It] was a great supporter of events in the village. That will clearly be missed."

Carole Grimes, 65, who has lived in Cantley for 26 years, said: "We see it as our factory - we have this affinity and they've been very good to the village."

Having worked there in the past, she said news of the possible closure left her "devastated", but she said there "could be opportunities - it's a brownfield site - we could benefit, but I know people who work there, and their lives are going to be turned upside down".

A consultation will be held over the closure proposals, which would concentrate British Sugar's beet processing operations at Wissington in west Norfolk, Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk and Newark in Nottinghamshire.

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