Imperial Tobacco calls time on last UK factory

Brands made at the plant in Nottingham, including Lambert and Butler and Embassy No 1, will now be manufactured in Germany and Poland and imported to the UK market.

Although Imperial’s current facilities in Nottingham, on Thane Road, only date back to 1972, the company’s ties with the city can be traced back to 1877 when John Player bought a small cigarette manufacturing business in Broad Marsh, Nottingham. Players was one of 13 family-run businesses from which Imperial was born in 1901.

A spokesman for Imperial said the company will undertake a consultation process and expects to close the factory “progressively” over the next two years.

The tobacco giant also plans to shut a factory in Nantes in France, where it employs 320 people, as part of the European restructuring programme, which will claim 900 jobs in total. The Nantes factory has also suffered from declining production - it will only produce 9bn cigarettes this year but has capacity to manufacture 21bn.

A research and development facility in Bergerac in France is also under threat, although the group said 80 new roles could be created in Paris under plans to restructure its sales force and support operations in the French capital.

Alison Cooper, chief executive of Imperial Tobacco, said: “These projects are an essential part of securing the sustainable future of the business. The prospect of job losses is always regrettable and we will be doing all we can to support employees and ensure that they are treated in a fair and responsible manner.”

Unite national officer, Rhys McCarthy, called the closure “shocking” and said it will have a devastating impact on the local community.

“What we were not expecting was the wholesale closure of the Nottingham site and an end to Imperial Tobacco manufacturing cigarettes in the UK and moving production to eastern Europe.”

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