A fruit mill in Ledbury is set to take shape over the next three months as workers prepare for the arrival of fourteen colossal tanks.
The tanks, which have a capacity of 227,000 litres each, will be moved from Bulmers’ Plough Lane plant in Hereford to a Universal Beverages Ltd site at Little Marcle Road, in Ledbury, to be installed in readiness for this year’s apple season.
The move will require the removal and re-installation of the roof of the concentrate store in the Bulmers mill building, as well as a police escort for the massive vessels, each one weighing over 12 tonnes.
Three tanks will be moved at a time, with each journey being made on a Sunday on police advice.
Transporters will ferry the loads over the next five weekends to the site at Ledbury, where they will be unloaded and craned into position.
Five smaller enzyme reaction tanks will also be transferred from the Bulmers mill during the second week of July with the plants concentrate store roof replaced by early August.
“It represents an unprecedented level of investment for this area of Herefordshire and is fantastic news for Ledbury,” said David Hepworth, managing director of United Beverages.
“We are building a new facility with high levels of quality and efficiency and we will be opening up employment opportunities as each development nears completion, as well as retaining a number of existing jobs by agreeing to continue with the Atora suet production line.”
The new facility will work alongside the existing cider-making site at Bulmers in the centre of Hereford.
Universal Beverages will be contracted to manage all fruit milling for Bulmers and will ensure that future growth can be accommodated easily under an initial 15-year contract.
