The Kimberly-Clark paper mill continues to be one of the main employers in Barrow, and it certainly saw a surge in demand at the start of the coronavirus outbreak.

During the mill’s previous guise of Scott Limited, The Mail was often granted access to the factory floor and given an insight into how products for Andrex and others were made, while it also covered some of the company’s ups and downs.

In 1990, The Mail was across union leaders’ talks with the mill as they fought against plans to axe 400 jobs within the company and a meeting with workers at the Astra cinema.

Regional officer for print union Sogat, Ken Mallinson, said: “Over the past couple of years the company has said they would have to reduce the workforce but we never expected this many to be announced.

“We will be talking to the company to see if we can reduce this figure.”

Two years later, Scott’s held an open day that The Mail attended, by which point the future was looking rosier with the company planning a major investment in their Barrow plant, 25 years after it was opened.

Manager John Whitely said: "Everything we have done in the past three years and the sacrifices we have made is so that we can have a long-term future in Barrow and I have every confidence in the future.”

But in November 1995, a huge fire burned overnight at the mill, causing damage to over 150 tonnes of tissue and threatening the national supply of Andrex.

It took the local fire service 17 hours to put out the blaze.