THE HISTORIC Andover Mill has been visited by the town’s MP this month as he considers how the town is ‘building back’ from the pandemic.

Kit Malthouse MP recently visited Premier Foods’ Andover Mill which produces tens of thousands of tonnes of flour every year.

Speaking after the visit, Kit praised the direction of the company, adding that the jobs provided are “exactly what the town needs” as it moves forward from the coronavirus pandemic.

He said: “Andover Mill has been going for over 100 years and it’s a very impressive operation. Over 40 people are employed in highly skilled jobs such as millers and engineers, and the average length of service is 20 years. They also offer on-the-job training and they’re doing an incredible job in feeding the nation, they saw a huge demand for their flour thanks to the baking boom at the height of the pandemic.

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He continued: “Coincidentally, the latest jobless figures show we had 1,585 people claiming unemployment benefits in North West Hampshire in January which equates to 2.4 per cent of the population. I’m happy to see this is almost half of the equivalent 4.3 per cent UK claimant rate, but we can still do better.

“High quality jobs and training opportunities like the ones at Premier Foods are exactly what we need in towns like Andover as we build back from the last two years.”

Paul Croker, factory general manager at Premier Foods’ Andover Mill added: “We were delighted to welcome Kit Malthouse MP to our Andover Mill, where he met with many of our long-standing colleagues.

“Our Andover Mill has been prominent within the community for over a century and visitors are often surprised by the level of technology we have on site, so it was a great opportunity to show this off, explaining how the combination of technology and a highly-skilled workforce enables us to produce around 46,000 tonnes of flour each year.”

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