Chancellor Opens New Factory Extension

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, made a trip to Wetherby to visit Arville where he talked about his plans to create a Northern economic powerhouse.

Touring the factory and offices at Arville the Chancellor spoke of how places like Wetherby can benefit from a vision to encourage growth in the North of England with better transport links and infrastructure investments.

During his visit, Mr Osborne officially opened the new extension to the factory and offices which were created as part of an ongoing investment plan to expand the business. The Chancellor took in a guided tour of the production processes, with a first-hand demonstration of the state-of-the-art facilities for weaving, yarn preparation and finishing of technical fabrics.

He also took the opportunity to meet with the many apprentices who are employed at Arville and was especially impressed with the plans for future growth of the business which were explained to him by Managing Director Jim Wight.

The event was covered by the BBC, Sky News and a host of other local journalists.