Overview
- Holmesterne Foods, which appointed Interpath’s James Clark and Howard Smith as joint administrators on Monday, has begun an orderly wind-down with a small team retained to assist the closure.
- Administrators said sustained increases in ingredient, packaging and factory costs plus higher employment taxes crushed margins and strained cashflow.
- Most of the roughly 130 employees have been made redundant, and the administrators say helping affected staff is their immediate priority.
- The shutdown covers two North Yorkshire sites at Brompton on Swale and Leeming Bar that supplied prepared meat and vegetable products to retailers and manufacturers including Asda.
- A turnaround launched in July 2025 and a sale to Leeds-based Troy Foods did not reverse falling sales, highlighting wider cost pressures on UK food manufacturers.