A historic UK metal firm has plunged into administration, with some 200 jobs potentially at risk. Rotherham-based metal recycling firm CF Booth filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators on Friday (January 16), with James Ronald Alexander Lumb and Howard Smith of Interpath Advisory appointed as joint administrators, according to a notice published in The London Gazette.
The collapse follows the recent death of director and owner Ken Booth, bringing an end to more than a century of family involvement in one of Britain’s best-known metal recycling businesses. Founded in the 1920s, CF Booth Ltd grew from a small local scrap trader into one of the largest independently run metal recycling companies in Europe, employing generations of families from the Rotherham area.
CF Booth focused on the purchase and processing of metals including steel, copper and aluminium, supplying customers across the UK manufacturing and recycling sectors.
Its main site, Clarence Metal Works, near the Rotherham Ring Road, has long been a fixture of the town’s industrial landscape and a major local employer.
News of the administration has sent shockwaves through the community, prompting an outpouring of reaction from workers, industry figures and residents online.
The National Wagon Preservation Group is a UK-based heritage organisation made up of railway enthusiasts dedicated to saving, restoring and showcasing historic railway freight wagons, particularly those built since the formation of British Rail in 1948, which are often overlooked in favour of locomotives and passenger coaches.
In a statement shared online yesterday (January 17), the group said: “Sad news that CF Booth is winding up its operations following the passing of Ken Booth a few weeks ago. With 200 staff on the books and many more throughout the supply chain, it’s not happy new year for them.”
