Shepton Mallet cider production secured as former owners step in to save historic mill
The future of the threatened Shepton Mallet Cider Mill has been secured after the factory was brought back by the family who first owned it.
The historic plant was threatened with closure when the previous owner decided to shift production to its base in Ireland.
But now the factory is back in the hands of the Showering brothers whose family - the inventors of Babycham - originally owned it.
They are planning to carry on producing Brothers Cider there, keeping on 24 of the 80 remaining staff.
In January it was first reported that 127 jobs were about to go at the Shepton Mallet mill after parent company C&C announced the return of its base to Ireland.
The mill had been producing cider as far back as 1770 producing 200 million bottles in total.
What was thought to be the last batch of cider made at the mill was completed on April 1, but that last batch will now be just one of many more.
Staff at the mill have been involved in an ongoing battle to keep their jobs including meeting with Unions and MPs to discuss their future.
Only a fifth of the original 127 workers will keep their jobs.