LONG service among employees is a thing of the past in many areas of work these days, but not so at Campden BRI.

The Chipping Campden-based company that offers technical support to the food, drinks and allied industries has 14 of its staff who have clocked up 435 years of experience between them.

Nine of them have been clocking in ever since the Berlin Wall came down 25 years ago, four began their employment with the company when the miners' strike forced a three-day-week due to power shortages in the 1970s and one would have been enjoying his morning coffee break when the talk at the time was the latest Beatles hit "A Hard Day's Night" half a century ago.

Gary Tucker said of his 25 years at the company: "My job at Campden BRI is rewarding and always interesting. I’m head of the baking and cereal processing department, which helps companies that produce bread, cake, biscuits, pastry and all types of bakery and snack products. We never know what enquiries will come in from our clients so every day is different. We could be training in bakery principles, analysing bakery products to identify the cause of a product quality problem or consulting to help with processing issues. My working week could include visiting a bakery overseas, presenting at an industry conference, carrying out research for our industrial members and business development.’

Head of science Martin Hall has completed 40 years' service. "I am the third generation of my family to be employed at Campden BRI and so I have been familiar with the company all my life. Despite this, it has always seemed incongruous to have a world-class scientific establishment that serves clients in 75 countries, nestled in the Cotswolds. During my career a lot has changed. The company has changed its name several times, expanded by around 600 percent and undergone two major mergers, but it’s always been a great place to work. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have stayed."

Campden BRI employs 300 staff at its Chipping Campden site which incorprates three fully equipped food processing halls, two bakeries, product development facilities, a packaging testing suite, a substantial cutting-edge sensory analysis suite, and research and analytical laboratories covering microbiology, hygiene, chemistry, biochemistry and microscopy. It has a further 50 employees at a sister site in Nutfield, Surrey, and a small satellite site in Hungary houses a dozen specialist workers.