Food supply firm leaves town after 45 years

A food supplies firm says it is leaving a Herefordshire town after 45 years because of a lack of space locally to expand.

Originally set up by Harald and Jose Bosse in Ross-on-Wye in 1980, Bosse Interspice supplies ingredients to food manufacturers and restaurants.

But the firm, now run by the owners son and managing director, Jenson Bosse, said it was finding its premises in the town's Ashburton industrial estate "extremely tight for space".

The company has now been granted planning permission for a new 1,250-sq m building on a vacant plot within the Hereford Enterprise Zone in Rotherwas to the southwest of the city.

"We would have stayed in Ross if there had been units or land, but it's all going for housing rather than industrial," Mr Bosse said.

"I know of other companies who have already moved for the same reason."

A planning application by Mark Pearce, managing director of the zone, sought approval for the building on what is known as Plot 8 of the zone's North Magazine area, accessed from Skylon View.

The firm has planned for a warehouse with an adjoining two-storey block housing office and meeting space, staff facilities and "testing/display" area, and space outside for deliveries, turning, parking and cycle storage.

Different planning rules apply to the enterprise zone, making it easier to get new commercial developments off the ground, and council planning officer Heather Carlisle confirmed the scheme met these requirements.

As with all developments in the zone, the plot will first have to be checked for contamination given the area's history of munitions production during and after both world wars.

"We will have to travel more," Mr Bosse said. "But the world keeps turning and we have to react to our and our customers' needs."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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