Terry's of York enters its twilight tomorrow when more than 100 workers leave the chocolate factory and production of many famous brands comes to a halt.

The Evening Press can reveal today that the company's iconic chocolate box favourite, All Gold, has already gone from York, with production switching "very recently" to Upplands Vaesby in Sweden.

Three other products, Twilight, York Fruits and Touch Of Class, will no longer be made in York after tomorrow.

That will leave the plant making Chocolate Orange alone for the next few more months until it finally shuts in the late summer - bringing to an end a York confectionery tradition dating back to 1767.

In preparation for the switch of Chocolate Orange production to Poland, the company has already changed the wording on the sides of the packs from "Made in the UK" to "Made in the EU".

People losing their jobs tomorrow have told of their sadness at the closure, with some speaking of their difficulties in finding alternative employment or in having to take lower paid work.

One also said it would have been better for everyone to leave at once rather than in "dribs and drabs".

James Bickerdike, 35, will leave tomorrow to become a builder after 18 years with Terry's. "I think people have been managing to find jobs, a lot of them have been going to interviews.

"Some of the people in there have been working here over 30 years and I think a few people are taking a good few thousand pounds pay cut to get other jobs," he said.

Maureen Renshaw, 60, who has worked for Terry's for 15 years, will leave tomorrow.

She said: "I'm very disgruntled. I'm still looking for part-time work, but we'd all have much rather kept our jobs."

Jane Dickinson, 41, has also worked for Terry's for 15 years. She will leave tomorrow to work for Monkhill Confectionery, York.

"People feel very sad in there. As well as leaving your job you're leaving your friends, who you spend all day every day with - they're like a second family really."

Chris Beaumont, 47, will work as a nanny after she leaves tomorrow. She said: "I live in Barnsley and have commuted to York every day. I'm sad to leave Terry's and I'll be taking home half of what I'm getting paid now."

Paul Boyes, 36, will leave at the end of May. He said: "Things have really started to wind down now. It would have better for everybody to leave at the same time and walk through the gates together, not in dribs and drabs. There's no atmosphere now, everybody's really low about it all. I haven't found another job yet, I'll look nearer the time."

A Terry's spokesman said today about 105 employees will leave the business tomorrow, making it the biggest single batch of redundancies throughout the closure process.

About 110 had left the business in three previous phases since January, with about 108 remaining on site for the time being.

He said that of the 216 who will have left by tomorrow night, 132 had found alternative employment or taken retirement.

Some others still working with Terry's for the time being had also been settled with alternative work or retirement, bringing the total in this position to 162.

"Employees have been supported with appropriate settlement packages and assistance in their search for alternative employment," he said. "We continue to provide support to others in their search for other opportunities."

He said the company remained committed to building the Terry's brand in the UK "on the same high-quality standards that consumers have come to expect".

Battle to save Terry's jobs

TERRY'S chocolate factory was given almost 5,000 reasons to stay in York before the battle to save it was lost.

The Evening Press petition calling for Terry's to remain in the York area - signed by more than 4,700 people from across York, Britain and the world - was handed to factory boss John Pollock.

It was presented by Chief Reporter Mike Laycock, Labour politician Hugh Bayley, GMB organiser John Kirk and three workers from the factory in Bishopthorpe Road, Wayne Foster, Darren Gray and Carole Cooper.

Among those who signed it were Peter Terry and eight other members of the Terry family. Mr Terry, 85, of Brandsby, near Easingwold, a former deputy managing director and sales director, is the last surviving Terry who managed the York chocolate factory.

Union leader John Kirk, who backed the Evening Press Save Terry's campaign last year, said of tomorrow's developments: "It's a very sad day, not only for people at Terry's, but for the people of York."

Updated: 09:47 Thursday, April 28, 2005