Hobart’s Cadbury visitor centre and shop closes today after decades as a drawcard

TODAY’S closure of the Cadbury visitor centre and shop marks the end of an era, says Glenorchy Mayor Kristie Johnston.

Election13: Day Twenty-Four of the Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during the 2013 election campaign. Tony Abbott was in Hobart at the Cadbury chocolate factory.

TODAY’S closure of the Cadbury visitor centre and shop marks the end of an era, says Glenorchy Mayor Kristie Johnston.

Mondelez, Cadbury’s parent company, has said the visitor centre at Claremont will close for the last time today, with the loss of 11 jobs.

Then Opposition Leader Tony Abbott tours the Cadbury chocolate factory during the 2013 election campaign promising a $16 million upgrade to the visitor centre that the company later torpedoed. Picture NEWS CORP

“It’s an end of an era,” Alderman Johnston said.

“The Cadbury factory has been in the Glenorchy municipality since 1921 and we’re certainly very fond of it. I can remember as a child stuffing my pockets full of chocolates on the [factory] tour.”

But Ald. Johnston said Glenorchy council was “really keen” to ensure Cadbury’s ­future was sustainable and ­respected the company’s decision to focus on making ­chocolate.

The visitor centre opened in 1948 and at the height of its popularity attracted 150,000 visitors a year.

It was due for a new life thanks to a $16 million federal funding promise, but the company pulled its application and the funds were redistributed as a Tasmanian jobs and investment package.