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Slumberland closure will cost 260 jobs

Damon Wilkinson
28/ 9/2007

A ROYTON factory is to close with the loss of 260 jobs.

Production could cease at the Slumberland plant at Salmon Fields by as early as next January.

On Monday theowners, Swedish bedding group Hilding Anders, announced production would move to its other site in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.

Bosses say the closure is necessary to stop losses and improve profits.

Staff at the Leonard Way factory are said to be devastated by the news.

One employee, who asked not to be named, said: “A lot of people are going to be in trouble.

“They’ve got families and young kids, a lot of people’s lives depend on this. It’s a shock.

“At the moment they’re not answering questions, they’re going through the HR process like they did with the last redundancies.
“Basically we get told nothing.”

Councillor Dave Hibbert, Oldham council member for regeneration and environment, said: “This must feel devastating for the employees and their families.

“We shouldn’t forget that it is not just the 260 individuals, but their families as well that will be affected.”

Following the buy-out of Slumberland in 2001, Hilding Anders has acquired three other bed and furniture firms, completing the purchase of Myers in August, prompting rumours of job cuts.

It is expected that only a small number of the workforce will be offered employment in Huntingdon.

Hilding Anders’ president and CEO Anders Palsson said the purchase of Myers and Staples meant the group had strengthened its UK position.

He said: “It is now necessary to establish a solid, sustainable and profitable business set up in the UK in order to secure future development of the group’s four brands.

“In order to stop losses in the business in Oldham, lower total production cost and improve production in the UK, a concentration to one site is necessary.”

Slumberland was established in 1919 as Crown Bedding and operated from the Prince of Wales Mill, Derker.
It moved to Salmon Fields in 1997.

In 2001 Hilding Anders bought Slumberlan,d followed by Birmingham bed company Dunlopillo in 2002.

The following year Dunlopillo relocated to Royton, forming Hilding Anders UK Plc.