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Tony McLoughlin has taken over as interim general manager at The Lake District Creamery as Sean Bell heads overseas to start a new life in South Africa.

Tony is well known to us as he was interim general manager at our Maelor cheese packing facility in North Wales for the latter half of 2007 and led a number of major improvement initiatives. He has previously worked with Northern Foods, Cadbury Trebor Bassett and Proctor & Gamble.

“This is an exciting time to be taking over at The Lake District Creamery with the recent hugely successful launch of our own Lake District Cheese Company,” said Tony. “The brand has been so warmly received by everyone in the county and I am looking forward to building on the excellent work of Sean and his team.”

Departing general manager Sean Bell is to become chief operations officer for Butler’s Farmhouse Cheese, which sells a range of cheddar and other semi-hard cheeses throughout South Africa.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but it was a really tough decision to leave The Lake District Creamery and the fantastic team here after 16 years.”

The recruitment process for a permanent general manager is already underway and a number of high calibre candidates have already been interviewed. As well as operational responsibilities at the creamery, a key part of the role will be to engage with stakeholders across Cumbria, as well as representing The Lake District Creamery outside the county.