HP sauce squeezes way into Spain

Production of the world famous HP Sauce which was switched from Birmingham to Holland to save cash is now taking place in Spain, it has been revealed.

Food giant Heinz has said millions of its popular 450 gramme squeezy bottles are made a year at one of its sites in the north of the country because it is more efficient.

The company's famous Aston production centre closed its doors in March 2007 with the loss of 120 jobs despite a massive campaign to keep the plant open.

Heinz spokesman Nigel Dickie said today: "We have got a lot of manufacturing sites across Europe and we are always looking to get the best configuration of them."

He added that the flavour would be in no way changed by the Spanish influence. "It is exactly the same recipe and the same ingredients," he said. "The Spanish water would have no impact on the taste."

Other sauces within the range are still being made at the Holland site.

Heinz announced plans to close its Aston site which was open for more than 100 years two years ago after saying it had considered almost 20 different proposals to keep it open. The move was expected to save the company in the region of £2.5million a year.

An array of people joined the fight to keep it up and running including MPs, trade union officials, workers, councils and development agencies.

Workers organised marches around the area to encourage people to back their campaign to keep the site, which was famous for its unique smell, open but to no avail.

Historian and Express & Star columnist Carl Chinn also threw his weight behind the campaign to keep the production of the much loved sauce in Birmingham.

A campaign was launched to call for a boycott of Heinz products after the last bottle of HP sauce rolled off the production line at its Birmingham home.

Former Labour minister John Spellar said it was a "disgrace" that Heinz was ceasing production at its Aston factory. He wrote to the head of catering at Westminster and to the chairman of the administration committee asking for Heinz products to be taken off the menus at the House of Commons.

In the initial weeks following the switch of production to Holland supplies of the sauce were said to be drying up with many local independent supermarkets reporting they were experiencing problems in getting their hands on the popular treat.