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End of an era for HP sauce

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LONDON, England -- The last bottle of HP sauce to be made in Britain has rolled off the company's production line.

Production of the iconic brown condiment, which carries an image of Britain's Houses of Parliament, ended at the company's factory in Aston, Birmingham, on Friday morning, marking the end of 108 years of sauce-making at the site.

Parent company Heinz will now move production to the Netherlands, with the loss of 120 jobs.

Joe Clarke, spokesman for the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) in the West Midlands, said the closure was a blow for the workforce and for Birmingham as a city.

"The plant has been a landmark for 108 years -- you could always smell it from miles away," he told the UK Press Association.

"The implications for the workers are terrible. Most of them were looking to spend the rest of their working lives at HP.

"Now they'll have to re-train, and if you look at the job prospects in manufacturing, they're not promising."

Heinz's decision last August to move production out of the UK prompted a wave of public support for the factory. Members of parliament tried to get the condiment banned from the House of Commons, and even workers at the new factory in the Netherlands objected to the move.

Nigel Dickie, a spokesman for Heinz, told PA that although it was a sad day for Birmingham, the financial reasons for the move were compelling.

"This decision comes after reviewing 17 different packages during a process lasting months. We simply could not find a way of continuing production at Aston and filling the financial gap."

Dickie added that more than half of the workers facing redundancy had already found new jobs.

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