Kent has become a European centre of dry food manufacturing after the opening of a new factory with the creation of more than 200 jobs.

Premier Foods reversed a decision to close the old Batchelors plant in Kennington Road, Ashford, and instead invested £25million in a new facility.

In a dramatic turnaround, the plant is now able to turn out 54,000 tonnes of products a year ranging from Cup a Soup, Bisto and Paxo stuffing to Curry Sauce, cake and bread mixes and Vesta meals.

The factory previously employed around 200 people, many of whom faced redundancy before the decision was taken to invest in the plant instead of shutting it down. Now the workforce has more than doubled to 420.

The Phoenix Building was formally opened on Tuesday by the Mayor of Ashford Cllr John Link.

He praised the team who had worked so hard to create such an outstanding building. But he reminded guests five factories across England and Ireland had closed because of the investment in Ashford with the loss of many jobs.

"I am convinced the hard work that has taken place here will pay huge dividends in the years ahead," he said. "As a result of this project, Premier Foods Ashford is now the largest dry food manufacturing site in Europe and possibly the world."

Tim Gregory, factory manager, said sales were growing, partly due to the downturn.

"We're seeing growth at the moment and we’ve already grown more than the project assumed," he said. "How much of this is down to the recession we will see when the recession is finished."

Annette Pearce has worked at the plant for 21 years. She expected to be laid off before the decision to transform the factory. "It’s so nice that there are more jobs here and it’s a good investment for Ashford."

Ashford council leader Cllr Paul Clokie added: "This is great news for Ashford. It's a wonderful sign to inward investors that people are coming to Ashford and seeing that Ashford is a manufacturing base."