Abertillery hit by Tillery Valley Foods factory closure

Empty shops, the closure of every bank branch, and now the loss of hundreds of jobs have sent Abertillery into a slow, agonising downward spiral, locals told the Argus.

The appointment of administrators at Tillery Valley Foods (TVF) has confirmed the community’s worst fears, that the employment of around 250 people has been wiped out.

In the town centre, one local said the closure was a “sign of the times these days”.

On the gates of the TVF factory, less than a mile away, a few painted banners still flutter in the wind, the last reminders of workers’ defiance and optimism their workplace could be saved.

Workers' signs at the entrance to Tillery Valley Foods in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

The site made meals for the health service – unusually, most of its trade was reportedly with NHS trusts in England, rather than Welsh health boards – and employed scores of people from the area, many of whom had never worked anywhere else, the Argus was told.

Greg Hillman is a local businessman “born and bred” in Abertillery.

Sitting in a café next to his arcade gift shop, he said the end of TVF was “going to affect a lot of  people”.

“People have been working there all their lives,” he said. “Lots of them might not be drivers either, so when [TVF] has gone, what else is around here?”

Business man Greg Hillman in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

The loss of such a major employer was reminiscent of the end of coal mining in the town, which, like many other mining areas across South Wales, had to scramble for new investment and industry, he suggested.

“After the pits closed we had to diversify and bring jobs here,” he said. “It’ll affect the society loads.”

Like many others who spoke to the Argus in the town centre, Mr Hillman fears the domino effect the job losses will have on the town’s economy.

“Lots aren’t going to have money to do shopping,” he said. “I can imagine how hard it’s going to be for everyone.”

Abertillery town centre. (Image: Newsquest)

Speaking to locals in the town centre, it was clear the news about TVF had hit the community hard.

A window cleaner, doing his rounds in Somerset Street, said the closure was a “devastating blow” for the area.

Alun Davies, the Senedd member for Blaenau Gwent, also said TVF entering administration was “devastating” for “a workforce that has worked hard and delivered on everything that has been asked of it”.

“People in the town and the wider area will feel the weight of this news,” he said, adding that a taskforce should “provide support for workers who lose their jobs”.

The Argus understands other employers from the wider area have organised a jobs summit for TVF staff who were laid off.

Empty shops in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

But any regeneration of the local economy will take time, and the sudden demise of such a major employer has left people in Abertillery fearing for the town’s future.

The loss of TVF, they added, mirrored a wider pattern of decline in the town illustrated by a growing number of empty and boarded-up shops, and the departure of vital services.

One shop owner told the Argus: “The town’s dead now, and it’s going to be a lot worse after [TVF] closes.”

Adding that many people from the town had to travel to Blackwood for their shopping, she said: “We haven’t got any shoe shops or anything, there’s nowhere you can get dishes or bedding.”

Greengrocer Jeffrey Lewis in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

In Church Street, greengrocer Jeffrey Lewis pointed along the road and said: “Thursday is market day, but look, there are no stalls.

“There’s nothing here at all, nothing to bring anybody into this town.”

“All trade is getting less and less.”

Further along that road, a large blue Barclays van was parked – its weekly visit is now the only banking service still available in Abertillery.

“About six banks have gone,” Mr Lewis said. “There’s no bank at all, and people can’t get money.”

The Barclays banking van in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

Another shopkeeper told the Argus people in the town had been left to “struggle along and hope for the best”.

She also bemoaned the loss of banking services, saying people from the area would rather “go to other towns”, thereby benefitting traders there, instead, with passing trade.

Margaret Ruxton, a resident, said Abertillery had been allowed to turn into a “poor excuse” of a town.

Margaret Ruxton in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

“We haven’t got a bank, we’ve got nothing,” she said. “What good is that [Barclays] van they’re sending?”

“We’ve got to go to Brynmawr for the shops, we can’t even get a pair of shoes here. It’s a disgrace.”

One of the main draws in the town centre is the factory outlet shop, but tomorrow, Friday, is its last day in business, marking the end for a high street fixture which has been open since 2011.

“This shop has a bit of everything,” one member of the public said outside the store. “It’s a big loss. There’s no footfall in this town.”

The local impact of the closure of the TVF site cannot be underestimated. One of the workers’ signs on the factory gates simply read: “R.I.P. Abertillery.”

Workers' signs at the entrance to Tillery Valley Foods in Abertillery. (Image: Newsquest)

Blaenau Gwent council has called the end of the factory a “significant blow to our surrounding communities” and said it was “committed to working” with the government and partners to support affected workers.

Peredur Owen Griffiths, a regional Senedd member from Blaenau Gwent, said staff would “find it difficult to find other work” in the area and called for a like-for-like replacement at the food manufacturing site.

The government should “explore any possibility of maintaining a food manufacturing presence on the site of Tillery Valley Foods”, he said, adding: “The skilled workforce, with decades of experience behind them, is already there.

“These workers would be assets for any other company that wishes to employ them.”