The head boss of Fishers has made the surprise announcement that his business has reopened its Perth laundry after closing two years ago.
The site, located in Inveralmond Industrial Estate, shut in May 2020 due to COVID lockdown with around 84 workers made redundant.
Assistant engineer Gavin Fowler, who had worked for the company for 25 years, described the closing of the company’s Perth base as “heartbreaking”.
But Scotland’s largest commercial laundry and textile rental company is now making the u-turn due to a “resurgence in demand”.
With the reopening of the hospitality sector and this high demand across Scotland, Fishers anticipates washing, drying and ironing more than two million items a week by mid-summer.
The company, which began in Aberfeldy over 100 years ago, is currently running at below capacity but expects to return to its pre-COVID headcount of 80 people by September.
Although Fishers’ Perth laundry was forced to close in May 2020, Fishers kept its facilities in Cupar, Fife, Coatbridge, Lanarkshire and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne open in order to support and provide clean bed linen and towels for hotels that were accommodating front line workers and care homes for the elderly.
Managing director of Fishers Michael Jones, which is part of the K-Bro group of companies, said: “It’s been a hard road out of COVID, but we view the reopening of our Perth facility as a major milestone, both for the Scottish hospitality sector and for Fishers.
“Like the rest of the commercial world, we are currently facing a global supply chain crisis, sky high energy costs and staff recruitment and retention challenges, but we remain committed to supporting the hospitality sector as, together, we recover from the impact of the last two years.”
General manager at Fishers David Emslie said: “We’re thrilled to be reopening our Perth laundry.
“This is the right decision for our customers and for the business and we look forward to seeing the facility operating at full capacity once again.
“It was heart-breaking when we had to close our Perth laundry in 2020 and that strength of feeling is matched only by our delight at reopening Fishers Perth now.”
Perth and North Perthshire MP Pete Wishart welcomed the announcement saying: “I am so pleased to hear that Fishers are reopening their Perth base, following a resurgence in the hospitality sector as we emerge from the pandemic.
“This will be a most welcome boost to Perth’s local economy, creating more jobs and generating more business.”
Staff are being recruited now with more information available on their website.
