Tipperary Star, 30 September 1933

It was a landmark day in the history of the town when, in September 1933, it was announced that Thurles would be home to one of three new sugar factories. The industrial and agricultural landscape of the town and its hinterland would be transformed, and employment given to thousands of locals over the course of the half century that was to follow. The families of Mid Tipperary that didn’t have some connection or other to “The Factory” were few and far between, and sugar beet poured into the town during the “Campaigns” in tonnes by road and rail. When its doors closed in 1989 the local economy was dealt a blow from which, many would argue, it has never fully recovered.