The news follows the $350m sale of one of GSK’s divisions to pharmaceuticals company Sandoz. Barry Mcclure said: “It’s sad but nobody is surprised. It was a fantastic place to work.” Kevin Myers said: “Worked in there for 20 years. It was never going to survive after they pulled the plug on the bio farm. They have given it another four years. It will be shut in 18 months.” Al Phizzer Phizacklea said: “This has been coming for years. No surprise really.” Paul Martin said: “They have been telling people it will shut for years. I worked in there for 12 years and watched buildings coming down all the time. Don’t know why people are so surprised – the writing was on the cards.”