Following a comprehensive review of the wider business, JW Galloway, the owners of the Scotbeef abattoir at Inverurie in the north east of Scotland, have confirmed the facility is being closed, with 90 staff made redundant.

A spokesperson for Scotbeef cited “sustained challenges within the UK meat and beef industry” and said the review showed it was necessary to close the Aberdeen abattoir to protect the long-term future of the business.

That includes facilities at East Kilbride and Annan in the south of Scotland as well as operations in Sheffield, Heysham and Wolverhampton.

In their last accounts, published in March 2025, but for the 12 months to 26 February 2023, JW Galloway reported an operating profit of £4.5m on turnover of £449.5m, leaving profit margin at a very slim 0.1%.

The accounts also note a post balance sheet event in April 2023, when the company “unexpectedly” lost a major contract.

Later that year it sold its Bridge of Allan abattoir outside Stirling and Queenslie meat packing plant in Glasgow, to ABP.

Planning permission

In 2023, the local council approved outline planning permission for 50 homes on the site of the Scotbeef abattoir at Inverurie.

The long-term aim had been to move the abattoir to a new location close to the Aberdeen Northern Marts (ANM) site at Thainstone Business Park. ANM was a minority shareholder in Scotbeef, but disposed of that investment in 2023.

The latest developments suggest that £17m abattoir project is now abandoned, despite Scotbeef already drawing down nearly £2m of a £4m grant awarded by the Scottish government in 2018 towards the cost of a new build.