Manufacturing is a shrinking sector in York, with only four per cent of the city’s workforce employed in the industry, a total of 4,100 jobs.

However, extend the scope into North Yorkshire and the region’s industry produces a more thriving picture, employing some 35,000 people.

Food and drink production plays a big role in the sector, with household names such as Nestlé employing 1,700 people in York and McCain employing about 1,000 people in Scarborough.

Nestlé has made York the home to its £7 million product technology centre; its main global research and development centre for confectionery; and engaged in activities from materials science and chemistry, engineering of production equipment to marketing, and tasting by locally recruited chocolate tasters.

The region is also home to a number of artisan producers, many of which have evolved from farm diversification projects. North Yorkshire is now home to a host of sausage, icecream, beer, confectionary and preserve producers.

Agricultural employment in the sub-region is estimated to account for about 20,000 jobs, while North Yorkshire also has a busy engineering industry.

Steel specialist Severfield Rowen has a big presence in the region with its 55-acre facility at Dalton, near Thirsk, working ten production lines and processing 3,200 tonnes of steel a week, while its Atlas Ward Structures facility in Sherburn, near Malton, is a leading design-and-build steelwork contractor for distribution warehouses in the UK.

A number of manufacturing roles in North Yorkshire also fall within the automotive sector with two bus and coach building firms based in region; Plaxton in Scarborough and Optare at Sherburn-in-Elmet.