Henkel leads the way in booming economy (From Warrington Guardian)

Henkel leads the way in booming economy

WINSFORD'S booming economy looks to be making even greater gains with the news that one of the town's biggest employers is set to expand.

Henkel, which is situated on the town's industrial estate and has a workforce of 450 people, is set to open a major distribution centre next door to its Road Five headquarters.

The news comes a fortnight after fashion giant H&M announced that it was to bring 100 jobs to Winsford by opening its own distribution centre in September, next door to Henkel's new building.

Henkel's operations director Mark Hamlin said there were no immediate plans for any new jobs at the distribution centre, which opens in July, but added that the company did hope to expand in the future.

He said: "It's part of our expansion plan for the site and it's next door to where we are at the moment. The building is 109,000sq ft and it will become our Henkel distribution centre.

"We are quite excited about it. It's a major project for us. It's the biggest expansion we have had for 20 years so it marks quite a major growth in the company."

Mr Hammil said that the growth in Winsford's economy was 'phenomenal'.

He added: "I think that the geography of the town is a factor. It is close to all the major road networks and I think the quality of the workforce is excellent in Winsford as well.

"Overall I think that the north west's economy is generally improving."

A spokesman for H&M said: "The quality of potential staff in the area appears very high, which hopefully could lead to a doubling of staff there within two to three years, as H&M have extra land to expand the centre's operations."

rfraser@guardiangrp.co.uk