Joy and anger over Tulip International's return to Bromborough

Before it shut, the factory sliced and packaged cooked meats for Marks and Spencer and the Co-op.

Tulip says it will re-open next year in a £12m investment that offers the potential for future expansion and additional new jobs.

The Northwest Development Agency (NWDA) has provided a grant towards the cost of the plant although both it and the company refused to reveal the amount.

The decision has angered former employees, who are waiting to hear whether Tulip will be offering them their jobs back.

The company says it would welcome applications from its former employees for the new jobs.

For some the pain is still raw and they are adamant they will never return but those who are still struggling to find work say it will be a case of swallowing their pride and seeing what's available.

Today we were told that the new factory will probably open in March, and that workers from another Tulip plant in Peckham, will be given the option to move to Bromborough - creating more uncertainty over exactly how many jobs will be created for Wirral workers.

Former Tulip workers have kept in touch on a group on Facebook , where the return to Wirral has been rumoured for months.

In June there were suggestions that Transfoods had bought the site while in July, Peter Judge, Tulip's divisional managing director, was reported to be in Bromborough.

The rumours reached fever pitch in October when Tulip announced it was ceasing the production of sausages at its Peckham factory, saying it was over 50 years old and had "a number of infrastructure and environmental issues".

One former worker, Chris Mann, said yesterday he and other ex-colleagues considered the move an insult.

He said: "This news is an absolute disgrace. Tulip made hundreds of people go through hell by making them redundant earlier this year.

"To make us all redundant and then rehire less then a year later is unacceptable and is an insult.

"I don't think much about Tulip any more but hearing this has brought back all the emotions and anger back."

Here are some more comments from ex-Tulip workers, many of whom, understandly, want to remain anonymous:

"It's very annoying. When they closed the factory it was horrendous - we went in for a pay rise and came out with a P45. I want to know what they're going to do about taking on the people who used to work there and what the pay and conditions would be now. Needs must - I'm unemployed now and if they asked me to work for an interview I'd go and see what they were offering."

"Imagine if 200 people from Peckham wanted to come to Bromborough - that would leave only 70 jobs for us. I spent ten years there helping to build the factory up and we were like a family. We were on £9 an hour so I don't know what they would offer now. Why couldn't they have just kept it open before?"

"There aren't many people who have got a better job and a lot of people are still unemployed so if they can go back, they will. But everyone is wondering if it would be on the same money."