A POOLE sweet factory is set to close down after more than 50 years next March with the loss of up to 75 jobs.

Tangerine Confectionery Limited has announced plans to transfer the manufacturing currently carried out at its rented site in Branksome to its other factories in Yorkshire and Lancashire.

Staff representatives are being consulted, but it is not yet clear whether any of the current employees will be offered the chance to relocate.

Chief executive Graham Hunter said: “The decision to move production from the Poole site has not been taken lightly. With increasingly tough market conditions, Tangerine Confectionery needs to ensure it runs efficiently, and this has resulted in the decision to move production to our other sites.

“At this stage, our primary concern is the welfare of our 75 employees and we will be doing all we can to support them through the consultation period.”

When the Daily Echo spoke to shocked workers leaving the Alder Road factory yesterday they declined to comment.

Tangerine – which took over the former Parr’s site in 2007 – says transferring manufacturing from Poole would enable the company to stay competitive and make sure some of the nation’s “much-loved products” carry on being made.

The Poole plant provides own brand products for supermarkets.

Branksome West ward councillor Phil Eades said: “I’m sorry to hear of a long-standing local employer moving away from the area, with the implication for local people’s jobs.

“I’m calling on the council’s economic development team, sooner rather than later, to see if we can find alternative employers for the site. That’s what we should be doing.”

He pointed out the factory was on the edge of a highly successful retail park, anchored by the John Lewis at home store. “I would like to see the retail park extended. A couple of stores could hopefully provide that number of jobs for local people.”

Borough of Poole council leader, Cllr Elaine Atkinson said: “It is always sad to lose any jobs in Poole but I am confident we will be able to help people find other jobs.”

She said they worked closely with Jobcentre Plus to help people back into work. Poole has the fastest turn around in the UK from someone becoming unemployed to getting back into work of around 16 weeks, compared to 21 nationally, she said.

“If the site becomes available we will work with employers to bring more jobs into the town,” she added.

Blackpool-based Tangerine is one of the largest confectionery firms in Europe.

Previously the UK arm of Danish company Toms, it was created through the acquisition of three traditional confectionery companies – Taverners, Daintys and Parrs – in the decade to 2001.

Family firm Parrs started in Parr Street, Lower Parkstone, in 1949 making crisps and chewing gum. After the factory burnt down, the company relocated to Alder Road, Branksome in the late 1960s.

In the 1980s the company began mass producing jellied sweets including jelly babies, wine gums and fruit jellies.

Parrs was once the world’s biggest manufacturer of lettered rock, employing more than 200 people and exporting as far afield as Australia and New Zealand. The rock making was sold off to a company that ceased trading in 2007.

The Queen was presented with a special souvenir stick of Parrs rock during a visit to Bournemouth in 2004.

Toms changed its name to Tangerine in 2006.