Huddersfield beer mat firm in fight to defy slump

May 8 2009 By Henryk Zientek

A BEER mat manufacturer with strong Huddersfield links has stressed that it’s business as usual – despite filing for protection from its creditors.

The Katz Group said the move applied to its German operations and not its international businesses, which include a 15-strong sales and design team based at Morley.

That business, Katz Quarmby, is the successor to beer mat maker Quarmby Promotions, which was founded in 1872 and based for 40 years at Milnsbridge.

Quarmby was taken over by Katz in 2001 and moved to Brighouse and Morley a year ago – before Katz closed the Brighouse manufacturing site last December and switched production to Germany.

At its peak, Quarmby employed more than 80 people in Huddersfield and produced millions of beer mats.

Despite being the market leader in Europe – with clients including Kronenbourg and Stella Artois, Katz said it had been hit by reduced orders in line with falling beer sales. Hundreds of pubs have closed in the past 12 months, hitting suppliers to the licensed trade such as Katz.