The advertiser reports this week that the Competition Commission has finished its provisional investigation into the takeover of Hartington cheese factory. It concludes that with out Long Clawson Dairy takeover, Dairy Crest’s Blue Stilton factory would close down anyway, shortly after Christmas – it has been making a loss for years. The downturn in the factory’s profitability has been partly put down to a decline in the quality of cheese going back to 2001 when expensive new equipment was brought into the site, they lost customers like Sainsbury’s. The Hartington Creamery was founded in 1870 and has been used for the production of Stilton since 1900.
The Commission has invited the public to have their say on the finding, please email stilton@cc.gsi.gov.uk before January 9th.
Come along and join in the New Year’s Eve Parties – there are three in the village tomorrow.
Thanks to the triple-whammy of a) the Big Lottery Fund grant, b) the cheeky Advent Calendar pages and c) Tom’s Strictly Come Dancing victory, PARWICH.ORG has enjoyed a record month in terms of visitor numbers, with over 20,000 page views (and counting). 
