RUMOURS are rife that a Forest oil manufacturer is closing its doors after at least 35 years of business – with seven job losses.
Forest Lubricants in Bream, which is owned by Penrite Oil Company, has been told by its head office in Australia to leave by the end of November.
A source at the company said ‘everything is up in the air’.
The source said: “Even I don’t know what is going on at the moment. All I have been told is we aren’t taking any more orders and we will cease to exist as a manufacturing company from November 30.
“We supply to a lot of customers and are in the process of notifying them that we aren’t taking orders. Many local people are asking us what is going on and the answer is ‘we don’t know’. Everything is very much in the air.”
•STAFF at Travis Perkins across the Forest and Wye Valley are breathing a sign of relief as they will not be affected by the proposed closure of 30 branches nationally.
A spokesperson for the builders’ merchants said the branches in Cinderford, Coleford, Lydney, Ross, Monmouth, Caldicot and Chepstow will remain open.