| Administrative History | The Nestle factory was first opened in Ashbourne in 1912, producing condensed milk. The company entered the mineral water market in the 1960s. Employee numbers fluctated from 400 up to 550, but by 1989, the factory employed 205 people, most living in the area of Ashbourne colloquially known as Tin Town.
In November 2002, with employees numbering about 100, Nestle UK Ltd announced the closure of their canned milk products factory on Clifton Road, Ashbourne. Production ceased on the site in June 2003, and de-commissioning was completed in 2004.
During its history the Clifton Road factory had produced Nescafe coffee, and rice pudding. By the time of its closure, the Ashbourne plant produced Carnation evaporated milk, Ideal Milk and Fussells condensed milk. It also housed a spring that produced Ashbourne mineral water, which Nestle bottles in Buxton. In 2002, milk product sales rose by 5.5 per cent to £5.3bn, as the group’s first-half net profit rose 79 per cent to £2.5bn. |
| Custodial History | These records were donated in October 2004. |
| Archivist Note | Catalogued by Paul Beattie, 2004. Catalogue updated in Feb 2020 by Sarah Chubb to include extents in extent field, move formats to title field, move full dates from title field to date field, add creator name and accession no fields to all records, conform closure periods to GDPR requirements and correct levels which were incorrect on import. |