73 jobs go

by John Eccles

BAXTERS, the printers, is to leave Lewes after exactly 200 years on School Hill. Seventy-three jobs will be lost in the town.

The company, which specialises in sheet-fed offset printing and loose-leaf binding, is moving to Mitcham in June to be near its parent company Fulmar PLC, which is based in the Croydon area. The firm s premises on the Phoenix Industrial estate will also close.

The company hopes to re-locate many of its workforce to Mitcham, but there will be redundancies.

Baxters managing director Simon Baker was this week tight-lipped about the move, saying only: 'The move enables us to better use group resources and also makes economic sense.

Baxters was sold by its former parent company Royal to the print group Fulmar five years ago.

John Bunn, mid-southern branch secretary of the GPMU, met with Baxters management on Tuesday on behalf of his union members at the print works.

He said there was disappointment that Fulmar s original strategy of investing in pre-press and print and re-locating to one site in the Lewes area had not been fulfilled.

'Our members are angry that the relocation is in fact to Mitcham, he added.

'At the moment Fulmar have offered no help with moving and other expenses during the re-location of the workforce.

'There are no additional pre-press jobs at Mitcham so there will be redundances - how many, I can t say as yet - and the redundancy terms discussed so far are the worst I have seen for many years.

'Fulmar should be ashamed.

Mr Bunn will be having further discussions with management on Wednesday.

Said Lewes District Council planning director Lindsay Frost: 'They haven t spoken to us about the future of the site as yet.

'But the closure is a sad loss. One of the great attractions of the centre of Lewes is its mix of shops, homes and industry.

'The loss of 73 jobs is also clearly a huge blow to the town.

Said Lewes District Council leader Cllr Ann De Vecchi: 'It s very bad news for the employment prospects of the town and also very sad to see such a long-established firm move on.

'We have yet to have discussions about the future of the town centre site.

Lewes Chamber of Commerce president Malcolm Heaven said: 'It is a shame that the town is losing all those jobs.

'We hope any new use of the High Street site will generate jobs, as it did before. We need to make sure that it remains a commercial site and not used for housing.

Mayor, Cllr John Webber, said: 'It s very sad to see a firm that is part of the fabric of Lewes leaving.

'I am sorry about the loss of jobs in the town. We shall be watching the future development of this key High Street site with great interest.

The Sussex Stationers and Bredon s shops under Baxter s premises on School Hill are leased and not affected by the move.

l John Baxter established his printing business in Lewes on School Hill in 1802. His son George was a pioneer of colour printing and produced the now famous Baxter Prints. The company in 1837 launched the Sussex Agricultural Express, which later became the Sussex Express.