Family-owned Newcastle manufacturer opens Carlisle facility with seven-figure investment

A family-owned Newcastle manufacturer has created six jobs by investing in a new Carlisle facility.

Jobling Purser opened the centre at Hespin Wood with the help of a £1.8m hire purchase facility from Lloyds Bank and a £49.5k Cumbria Growth Fund grant.

The firm, which produces asphalt, bitumen emulsions and surfacing products for the highway maintenance sector, said the expansion has doubled its asphalt production capacity.

Home to a new Benninghoven asphalt plant that can churn out 240 tonnes of mixed product per hour, the Carlisle facility will serve clients in Cumbria, Northumberland and southern Scotland.

Jobling Purser’s existing manufacturing facility, opened on Scotswood Road in Newcastle five years ago, has helped the company double its turnover from £8.7m in 2011 to £17.1m in 2016.

With a history dating back to the 1780s, the company today employs a team of 47.

Jobling Purser finance director John McCreary said: “The new state-of-the-art plant is an excellent opportunity for us to grow our customer base and to build on the success we’ve experienced in the North East.

“The design of the plant offers us high-volume production and flexibility in manufacturing high-quality products, helping us to deliver a first-class service to small and large contractors and to local authorities.”

Discussing the support from Lloyds Bank, John continued: “Our relationship director, Michael Hindhaugh and Keith Bowden genuinely made me feel that they were proud of what we’d achieved as a business, and they also demonstrated an excellent understanding of our requirements throughout the expansion process.”

Keith Bowden, Lloyds Bank’s regional manager for hire purchase, commented: “With the new site, Jobling Purser can develop on its long history in the highways industry and continue to quickly grow its turnover.

“Hire purchase facilities are a popular way of supporting investments like this, as they offer firms flexibility by spreading the asset cost over an agreed term.”

He added: “We’re committed to helping Britain prosper by raising awareness of all the funding options available for businesses to grow.”

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