ALL hope has gone; Terry's will close. Soon the factory will become another icon of York's past, part of the tourist trail, a nostalgic reminder of a time when the city used to make things.

Terry's will live on in name only. For 200 years that name stood for something: the Terry family, quality, York. Now it has been relegated to a logo. One brand in a billion pound product portfolio accumulated by those gluttonous corporate magpies who would not know York from Yemen.

Today's news will be greeted with anger but no surprise. The axe has hung over this fine company for a long time. Some will date its decline back 40 years, to when Terry's lost its independence to the Forte group.

But the descent really started when Kraft Foods took over 11 years ago. Back then, it was a thriving concern, with 1,000 workers. Since then the US owners have run down Terry's so that only 316 staff are left to pick up their redundancy cheques.

It has been death by a thousand cuts. The sort of innovation which had turned Terry's international was all but abandoned.

American bosses drooled over big names such as the Chocolate Orange, but showed little interest in anything else. Who cares about tradition, skilled workers, planning for the future when you are a food superpower? Kraft ate up Terry's and has now spat it out.

When it was a family concern, workers' welfare was paramount. Now all that matters is profit.

Thank you to every reader who joined our campaign against closure. It was a valiant fight. Ultimately, however, Kraft bosses have shown York the same contempt as they showed their own employees. Kraft will leave the city nothing but a bitter aftertaste.

Updated: 11:10 Tuesday, June 22, 2004