Grantham - Economy

Economy

The food-processing industry, with Grantham Hospital, is currently the largest Grantham employer. Moy Park (formerly Padleys, now owned by MPP Holdings) is at Gonerby Hill Foot; GW Padley bought the site in 1977 from Wolsey, a former garment manufacturer, and the site is a poultry hatchery. Moy Park are owned by Marfrig of São Paulo, with Marfrig Europe based at Preston Deanery in Hackleton, Northamptonshire. Aviagen Turkeys also have a poultry hatchery at farther along the B1174 at Gonerby Moor. In the same area is Sharmans Agricultural at College Farm. Brake Bros Ltd have a depot near the Gonerby Moor service station, off the B1174.

Fenland Foods (part of Northern Foods) on the Earlesfield Industrial Estate, was mothballed in September 2008 following loss of business with Marks and Spencer, their sole customer;. Close to the new police station is Brewsters Brewing. On Ellesmere Business park is Väderstad-Verken UK (Vaderstad Ltd), its parent company based in Väderstad in Sweden. Also on Ellesmere Business Park is Tecknit Europe (makers of electromagnetic shielding equipment), owned from 2006 by Parker Hannifin based in Cranford, New Jersey.

At Easton, 7 miles (11.3 km) south from Grantham, are two large facilities. The first is Norbert Dentressangle who bought Christian Salvesen plc in November 2007 and have maintained the frozen storage and distribution operation which has been at the site since the late 1960s. The second is McCain Foods who purchased Potato and Allied Services (PAS) in 1991, who had run a potato processing factory on this site since the early 1970s; this has since been extended to include a dedicated Fries-To-Go factory. There was a third large frozen vegetable processing factory owned and operated by Christian Salvesen. However this was sold to Pinguin Foods in August 2007 who closed the facility in December 2008.

Bell & Webster are a nationally-known company, part of Eleco plc based in Ware, that makes precast concrete. Stanborough Press, the UK division of the Adventist Book Centre, is based nearby. Vale Garden Houses make conservatories on Londonthorpe Road. On the Withambrook Park Ind Estate, at the southern end of Belton Park, are Stanhay Webb (formerly owned by Wordsworth Holdings, and now independent) who make seed drills. Nearby RC Setchfield supply agricultural equipment and there is the headquarters of Chandlers Oil & Gas. Holscot Group make fluoroplastics, and Farm Electronics make drying equipment for grain stores, and for storing potatoes and onions on farms. Rapstrap, founded in Grantham in 2002, moved to Hertfordshire after being sued for patent infringement. Amberjac Projects is the only European company that provides plug-in conversion for conventional hybrid vehicles. Oldershaw Brewery is at Harrowby Hall Today Interiors make wallcoverings on Orchard Park, and supply the John Lewis Partnership.

Escritt Barrell Golding a local Chartered Surveyors and Estate Agents still operate in Grantham, having been founded in 1860. Jourdan plc (former Thomas Jourdan) is based in the town which from 1973 until 2009 owned John Corby Ltd. (now owned by Huddersfield-based Fired-Up Group), the maker of the Corby Trouser Press. Belvoir Lettings is a national estate agent based in the town on London Road.

BGB Innovation is on Dysart Road next to the A1 bridge; off Trent Road opposite the leisure centre is Grantham Book Services (GBS). GBS has been based in Grantham since May 1975, when known as Chatto, Bodley Head & Cape Services. Chatto & Windus had merged with Jonathan Cape in 1969. The former site was officially opened on 23 September 1975 by Michael Foot MP. Random House was formed in 1987 from a combination of book companies, and in 1990 the site became known as Grantham Book Services. It now supplies for Barrington Stoke, Osprey Group, Nosy Crow, Portfolio Books, Marco Polo Travel Publishing, Perseus Books, Quiller Publishing, and Publishers Group. The company won an award in 1992 from the British Book Awards. Next door to GBS and a Gala Bingo is Cathodic Protection, who with BGB Innovation both won The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) in 2009.

Grantham Engineering is on Harlaxton Road. The town has one of the only three branches of the Melton Mowbray Building Society. Lenco International are located on the site of a former cinema in George Street Genie UK (owned by Terex, and supply aerial work platforms) is based at The Maltings on the corner of Wharf Road and Westgate, in the former local offices of Natural England.