The Wensleydale Creamery Unveils £750,000 investment

Mar 09, 2010

The Wensleydale Creamery, at Hawes in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, has unveiled ambitious expansion plans involving a £750,000 investment that will increase employment and create an economic boost.

The business has secured planning permission, from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, for a substantial extension to its popular visitors' centre to meet customer demand.

The expansion, which will lead to an increase in staff, has also secured the support of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward in the form of a £290,000 grant from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE).

Construction is due to begin in late March with a phased completion date in September 2010.

It will comprise:

• Doubling the size of the cheese shop, which can no longer cope with the number of visitors, to provide a bigger sales area and more space for cheese tastings.
• Enlarging the coffee shop to increase the capacity from 10 people, to 72
• Increasing the souvenir shop's retail space which will allow it to sell a wider range of souvenirs and a larger variety of regional products.

 The number of jobs, a combination of full and part-time, will increase by seven to 46 in the first year.

 David Hartley, The Creamery's Managing Director, said: "This expansion is a major development for The Creamery which will lead to additional jobs being created and more money coming into the area with the centre able to handle a bigger influx of visitors.

"A large part of The Wensleydale Creamery's ethos is supporting the rural economy. By increasing the retail space, we will be able to expand the range of local products stocked alongside our cheeses, including Real Yorkshire Wensleydale, which is the only Wensleydale cheese actually made in Wensleydale.

"This philosophy is already reflected by The Wensleydale Creamery's use of a network of 50 local farms to supply our milk which helps sustain the surrounding agricultural community."

Andy Tordoff, Assistant Director Rural Renaissance and Visitor Economy at Yorkshire Forward, said: "The Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes is vital to the prosperity of the surrounding area through staff directly employed at the business, its network of local suppliers, and it helping attract visitors to the area.

"By supporting the expansion of The Wensleydale Creamery's popular visitor centre through RDPE, Yorkshire Forward is strengthening the sustainability of the Dales as a tourist destination as well as supporting a significant source of local employment."

The centre is already one of the largest tourist attractions in the Yorkshire Dales with more than 200,000 people a year coming through its doors.

Its gross internal retail floor space will grow by an additional 281.8 sq metres from its current 350 sq metres.

The design of the extension will be in keeping with the surrounding locality with the external walls built in local natural stone.

The expansion will be overseen by the centre's manager Richard Whorton, who has a wide range of retailing experience.  He started off in the High Street moving to an out-of-town environment before transferring into tourism.

The father-of-three spent the nine years managing the busy Watershed Mill at Settle where he oversaw three re-fits.

At The Wensleydale Creamery, Richard, who lives in Giggleswick, is also responsible for creating a programme of events for the centre.

RDPE, which stands for Rural Development Programme for England, has £65m to invest in rural businesses over a six year period through a number of programmes. The Wensleydale Creamery accessed its grant through the Rural Enterprise Investment Programme which offers grants starting from £25,000 and is available to rural businesses wanting to grow and become more productive.

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