Business leaders say news about all manufacturing of Boots products leaving Nottingham for the first time in its history is a "worry." The company which makes products including the No 7 and Soltan ranges confirmed on Friday (June 30) that it was entering into consultation with hundreds of its staff.
Fareva, which first acquired the manufacturing arm of Boots in 2017, has been making products at the historic D10 building within the Beeston headquarters of the Nottingham-founded company. But Fareva is now proposing to manufacture all Boots products at factories in Wales and France.
The news was described as "devastating" by local council leaders and union representatives. It came days after Boots itself announced the closure of 300 stores nationwide, though that move is not expected to lead to any job losses.
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Regional business leaders have now expressed their concern at Fareva's plans, which would herald the end of all Boots manufacturing in Nottingham for the first time since John Boot founded the company in 1849.
Sir John Peace, the Chair of Midlands Connect, said: "I think it's a worry. Once Boots was effectively sold with private equity coming in, [the buyers] were going to try to run that combined group as efficiently as they could.
"Businesses remember the history of Jesse Boot and everything. But when you've got owners coming in who are not that connected with that city or that particular region, don't be surprised then if they take decisions based on commercial logic which says you can do it cheaper elsewhere."
A statement from Fareva confirming its plans said: "The effects of Covid and the recent political unrest in Europe have been unprecedented. This economic change has had a big impact on Fareva's business in the UK. Production volumes have decreased due to some customers moving production in-house and remaining business volumes are lower than their pre-Covid levels."
Chris Hobson, the Director of Policy and Insight at the East Midlands Chamber, said Fareva's plans pointed to the wider climate that businesses are currently operating in. He said: "Anyone whose job is at risk, it's really tough for those people.
"What it demonstrates is that we shouldn't take the growth that we have right now for granted. Businesses are doing okay but it's a difficult trading environment and it's not necessarily being made easier at the moment by some of the decisions that are being taken down in Westminster.
"What I would hope is that it sends a message to policy makers. We need to be creating policies to help those businesses invest, which includes creating better infrastructure in an area."
Product testing, research and development, commercial and procurement activities for Boots would all still take place in Nottingham. Production in the D10 building would continue for at least another year, with Fareva adding that it does "not expect to make any colleagues redundant until early next year."
Sir John Peace added: "I've been concerned about it. If I was a leader in our city and our region, I would be [trying] to get a clear understanding of where they're going.
"With all that's happening in Ukraine and tensions with China and everything, the concept of a global market is being questioned here and so I don't think anytime soon things are going to get easy and go back to where we were five or ten years ago."
