Lakeland Dairies’ site in Banbridge in Co. Down has been listed for sale with an asking price in the region of €11.2 million or £9.5 million.
Lakeland announced last November plans to close three of its facilities in order to cut overhead expenses.
This included its site in Banbridge, Co. Down, now on the market, which had acted as a butter churning and packing and powder storage site, with no milk being directly processed there for many years.
Lakeland acquired this site in 2016 as part of a deal to purchase the Armaghdown business from Fane Valley.
The overall site on which the main buildings are located totals an area of around 12.3 acres while the agricultural site to the south-east is approximately 4.2 acres, which according to property agents, gives a total site area in the region of 16.5 acres (6.68 ha).
According to the selling agents: “The remainder of the buildings, while more specialised to the dairy industry, could be reconfigured or redeveloped to suit the needs of numerous operators”.
In relation to the Banbridge / Newry and Mourne Area Plan 2015, the primary dairy site at 30 Rathfriland Road is classified as an ‘Existing Area of Economic Development’ and is situated within the Settlement Development Limit of Banbridge.
The agricultural site on the other side of the A1 dual carriageway is designated as a ‘Local Landscape Policy Area’.
Lakeland Dairies
Including the closure of its Banbridge site, Lakeland Dairies liquid milk production plant in Coolshannagh in Co Monaghan will close in the first quarter of 2025.
Milk drying facilities at Lough Egish, Co. Monaghan will also close in June 2024.
Lakeland has previously said there would be redeployment opportunities for some staff into vacant positions in the business.
Commenting on the new strategy Lakeland Dairies’ group chief executive officer Colin Kelly had said: “As a business, we continually assess how we can take long-term strategic decisions that will benefit the society for this and subsequent generations.
“Lakeland Dairies is a cooperative with a heritage spanning nearly 130 years. We have a strong balance sheet, strategically located sites in ROI and NI, a high-quality milk pool of some two billion litres produced by 3,200 committed farm families, a customer base in over 100 global markets, and we are well placed to meet future demands.