Response from UBL (From Ledbury Reporter)

Response from UBL

10:24am Monday 15th June 2009

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I FEEL compelled to write in response to the letter sent in by Mr Gaskins in last week's edition of your paper outlining his response to the views of another resident of the town.

Ledbury remains a beautiful and prosperous market town despite the global economic downturn due to the continued success of local business in providing employment, investment and community support.

Universal Beverages employs nearly 50% of its employees from Ledbury and the surrounding villages and secured employment opportunities for nearly 85% of the Premier Foods work force who had been made redundant. We take produce from a very significant number of local farms with their orchards covering over 7,000 acres of our glorious county.

Last UBL contributed more than £50 million to the local economy with many local companies taking on additional employees to cope with that work. At peak times during our building programme more than 250 additional contractors were employed at the site.

Our staff and contractors use local shops, cafes, pubs, restaurants and hotels giving welcome additional income to these local enterprises. We have chosen to support Ledbury in Bloom, The Three Counties Show, Ledbury Rugby Club, The Medieval Shopping Night, Megan Baker House and The Mayor's Charity to name but a few, and we are extremely proud to do so.

I hope that this letter helps to inform Mr Gaskins and helps him to more fully appreciate the positive impact that I believe we have and continue to make to Ledbury and Herefordshire.

DAVID HEPWORTH, Chairman, UBL, Bromyard Road, Ledbury.

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