A fast-growing Welsh food distribution company is to open a new Shropshire depot as it plans its expansion into England’s West Midlands.

A chance meeting between David Cattrall, Managing Director of Harlech Foodservice, and Matthew Farrall, who heads major North-Wales-based haulier Farrall’s has led to the deal.

It will see Harlech operate in an area of Farrall’s new site in Telford in Shropshire and give them a foothold in an area they have identified as ripe for growth.

It is part of an ambitious expansion programme which has seen the Criccieth-based business open two new sites in South Wales in the past 12 months, in Merthyr Tydfil last year and Carmarthen earlier this year and the acquisition of Pembroke Dock’s Celtic Foodservices.

The Telford opening is part of a £6 million plan to create 150 new jobs.

Ian Evans, Harlech’s Head of Operations, said: “David mentioned that we were looking for a new base in that area and it turned out that Farrall’s had just opened a new site in Telford and there was spare capacity.

“They’ve agreed that we can use the site as a base to work from and initially we will employ five drivers there along with another driver here in Criccieth.”