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End of soap era

TRADITIONAL soap making has ended after 100 years at the famous Port Sunlight factory in Wirral.From this week the former Lever Brothers plant - now called Lever Faberge - will concentrate on shower gels, liquid soaps, and laundry detergents.A revolution in the personal care market has led to a steep decline in the popularity of traditional household names such as Lifebuoy and Lux.In Port Sunlight's heyday five factories produced soap bars, in the past year it accounted for only 2.5pc of the site's total production.

The 125 workers whose jobs were lost by the decision to axe soap production have either been re-deployed elsewhere on the site, or have taken early retirement or voluntary redundancy.Tommy Keating senior began his career packing soaps in 1962.Mr Keating said: "I never thought soap production would finally end at Port Sunlight, and it makes me particularly sad as the village was named after the soap."When I started, the soap was made by hand in the big vats and we used to taste it to see if it contained enough caustic soda. If it was the right amount, it would produce a tingling sensation on the tongue. If it was too much, it would burn."His son David followed in his father's footsteps and works in the factory producing laundry tablets.

He said: "Now everything is computerised and it has changed out of all recognition from my Dad's day."Gerry Hare, works director at Lever Faberge, said new technology was the cause of demise of the traditional methods of production.He said: "We have had to adapt to that change by taking Port Sunlight from the 19th to the 21st century in one step."Soap production is now being moved to a site in Prague, Czechoslovakia, where it can be produced more cheaply and where there is greater demand.

(Article October 2001 by Alan Weston, Daily Post reporter)