Ginger nuts

United Biscuits has assured retailers that its Carlisle production facilities were close to being fully operational again.

Home of the Carr’s, McVitie’s, Jacob’s and Crawford’s brands, the Cumbrian factory was forced to close on 5 December as the result of Storm Desmond causing flood damage to the electrical equipment and brick ovens.

UB predicted at the time that the premises, the workplace of around 600 people, would be closed for several months and said it had been unable to find suitable alternative facilities to bake many of its products, including Table Water biscuits - although production of McVitie’s Gold Bar restarted in early January. The company even took out newspaper adverts reading, “Flooding in water biscuit factory. Oh the irony.”

But 540 tonnes of debris have since been cleared and all staff members have returned to work, with normal production expected to commence “very soon” across all lines, including the production of approximately 250,000 McVitie’s Ginger Nuts every hour, said UB.

During the closure, employees ran biscuit donations and other charitable activities to help the affected local community.

“Since the floods, we have seen extensive coverage in the media around the ‘biscuit shortage’, with consumers wanting our products back on shelves as quickly as possible,” said Mike Heaney, factory general manager.

“It’s been awful not to be baking biscuits, so we thank everyone who has helped us along the way to get production back up and running. We’re extremely proud of how employees have come together to support the wider local community, raising necessary funds and providing biscuits.”