Over 80 members of staff at a Snowdonia cheese factory have lost their jobs after administrators were called in.

Staff at the GRH Food Company were told on Monday morning that cheese production had stopped and they were being made redundant.

In 2017 the company relocated from Y Ffôr to a state-of-the-art factory (pictured) in the Snowdonia Business Park in Minffordd, between Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth, with the help of £1.5m in public funding from the Welsh Government.

The news has shocked local politicians who have offered their support to the workers and called for more well-paid jobs to be created in the area.

Porthmadog councillor Nia Jeffreys said: “The loss of 80 jobs in Penrhyndeudraeth is a hammer blow for Dwyfor Meirionnydd. This is a terribly stressful time for all the staff and their families and my heart goes out to them.

“For a rural area 80 jobs is equivalent to the loss of 400 jobs in a city like Cardiff. The Welsh Government must step up and offer the same financial support for jobs in rural north west Wales as it has in other parts of Wales.”

Cllr Gareth Thomas, Gwynedd Council’s rconomy and community Cabinet member, said: “This news underlines the need to attract well-paid jobs to Meirionnydd. To this end, through the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone project, we are working with both the Welsh and UK governments to attract high quality private sector investment to both the Trawsfynydd and Llanbedr sites as a matter of urgency.”

MP Liz Saville Roberts said: “I am calling on the Welsh Government to step in and hold urgent talks with the liquidators KPMG, to make sure this valuable public investment in food production in north west Wales is safeguarded for the future.

“I extend my sympathies to all at GRH Foods and both Cllr Gareth Thomas and I stand ready to support those affected in any way that we can.”

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