Glens of Antrim Potatoes shuts with 95 staff. Will part of it sell within a month?
Glens of Antrim Potatoes, a County Antrim food firm with 95 staff, stopped trading on 21 September. Most of its workers lost their jobs.
What happened
Stuart Irwin, Ian Leonard and Robin Coughlin of Interpath were appointed joint administrators of Glens of Antrim Potatoes on Monday . The company stopped trading and made all but a skeleton staff redundant.
Three partners from the firm Interpath now run the company as its administrators. Of the company’s 95 staff, all but a small team kept on to help them lost their jobs.
The firm was set up in 1972. It packs potatoes for supermarkets across the island of Ireland from sites in Cushendall and Ballymena. It also makes hand-cooked crisps under the Glens of Antrim Crisps name, and own-label crisps for Tesco in the Republic of Ireland.
The administrators said higher costs for staff, fuel, energy and machinery had drained the firm’s cash. Before they were appointed, the directors had looked for new loans and new investment but found no way to keep the company able to pay its debts.
The administrators are now looking for buyers. They said they are seeking interest in the business and its assets. Jim Allister, the MP for North Antrim, said he hoped a suitable buyer would come forward.
The administrators have until to set out their plans. Administration in Northern Ireland runs under the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989. It gives them eight weeks from to send their proposals to creditors and Companies House.
Companies House also lists three companies set up in 2025 by members of the same family, including Glens of Antrim Crisps Ltd. None of them is in administration.
Sources: BBC, legislation.gov.uk, Schedule B1 paragraph 50, Companies House, Glens of Antrim Crisps Ltd
The Pattern
We looked for UK food producers that went into administration and stopped work. For each we asked whether the administrators sold all or part of the business, its brand or a factory site within 31 days. Sales of stock, debts, vehicles or loose machinery alone do not count. We found 20 cases since 2010 and checked them against the administrators’ own reports at Companies House. The ten closest to Glens are shown, closest first. In four of the ten, part of the firm was sold within 15 days. None of the cases is from Northern Ireland, which has its own insolvency law with the same eight-week deadline.
Show the other 8 cases
The Read
The record splits in two and leans slightly against a quick sale. Four of the ten closest cases sold something fast: Baraka Foods in 2020 and the potato packer QV Realisations in 2024 on day one, a factory site at Banaras Halal Meats in 2016 on day nine, and plant with brand rights at Garth Bakery in 2022 on day 15. The other six sold nothing in the first 90 days, and where a sale came later it took 154 days or more. Two of the four quick sales went to buyers linked to the owners.
For Glens the day-one route has already passed, because Interpath announced no sale when it was appointed and said it is now looking for interest. That leaves a deal like the ones on day nine and day 15, a site or a brand sold fast to one buyer. Two things cut the other way. The family set up a separate crisps company in 2025 that is not in administration, so the brand may not be for sale. And none of the ten cases comes from Northern Ireland.
A statement from Interpath about offers, or a filing at Companies House, would show which way this is going.
Disclaimer
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