A huge industrial park owned by a defunct fruit packaging company is on the market and could fetch more than £20 million.

Fresh produce firm A Gomez Ltd, based in Coldharbour Lane in Bridge, just outside of Canterbury, brought in administrators in December after suddenly shutting down weeks before Christmas, leaving 400 workers without a job.

Now its former headquarters, which covers 10.4 acres, has hit the market for a princely sum, although bosses behind the sale warn the final amount will be dictated by the level of interest in the building.

Made up of four adjoining steel portal frame buildings, the site is described as a logistics facility, with 18 docking levels, offices and a reception.

Marketed by Colliers on behalf of administrators, the industrial park comes on a freehold basis and also has a temperature-controlled storage space and 300 parking spots.

The four buildings have been built over the last four decades as the park expanded, with the first built in the late 1980s, and the most recent in 2019.

KentOnline understands the site has a guide price of about £22 million, but the market will dictate what someone is willing to pay for such a facility.

As late as 2022, A Gomez Ltd was looking to expand the site, with plans approved in September that year to make room for more HGVs to stay overnight.

The sale is the latest sad turn for a firm which once farmed more than 3,250 hectares of land in Spain, while maintaining much smaller plots in the Netherlands and the UK, and distributing fruits from across Europe.

Employees at the business were left “shell-shocked” at the “atrocious timing” of the closure last year.

A letter signed off by director Raquel Hernandez, seen by KentOnline, said: “It is with regret that I have to inform you that, with effect from Friday, December 8, A Gomez Limited will cease trading.

“As most of you are aware, the business has been encountering many financial challenges following the loss of its business since undertaking a gradual wind-down of its operations over recent weeks.

“Unfortunately the financial pressures on the business have meant that the shareholders and directors of the company have had to take the reluctant decision to cease operations with immediate effect.”

The letter also said employees would be paid for the hours they have worked in December.

It is understood bosses at the firm had planned to wind down the business and cease trading between February and March this year – with the sudden closure taking many by surprise.

One employee, who asked not to be named, called it “a bitter pill to swallow”.

The worker said: “We’re all shell-shocked. When we first heard the business would wind down we couldn’t believe it.”

“Business has got quieter, but we all feel let down and failed by the senior management – there are people who have spent more than 10 years there and not so much as a thank you.

“It’s horrible not to have one last day with my colleagues.

“The timing is atrocious. Everyone thought we would have at least this Christmas to prepare – it has completely knocked everyone off their feet and it’s a bitter pill to swallow.

“We were told we’d have a new beginning for Gomez a few years ago – but now, there’s nothing.”

Gomez was previously owned by Dover Athletic chairman Jim Parmenter but, according to Companies House, he gave up control of the business in September 2021.