08/10/2026
If this is true, how worrying! Where is the care and the dignity for these people and their families.
So, if you want an undignified impersonal funeral, this is the company to go for. Before you arrange your funeral, ask your local director, they can do it cheaper and better, and your family would probably like to say goodbye, using a celebrant like me!
â°ïž A major funeral company has secured approval to establish one of 'Britain's biggest' mortuaries, despite fierce opposition from residents who described it as a 'human conveyor belt. '.
The substantial storage facility - capable of accommodating up to 700 bodies in racks stacked five coffins high - is being developed by Pure Cremations, Britain's leading direct cremation provider.
Following approval from York Council last week, the 37,673 sq ft former telephone exchange will be transformed into a storage facility at York Business Park, in Nether Poppleton, North Yorkshire.
đ The company, which operates a comparable facility at Knutsford, Cheshire, has stated it will serve as the firm's principal mortuary for the North East.
It will become one of the UK's largest facilities - surpassed only by temporary structures erected during Covid, which could accommodate up to 1,300 bodies.
Numerous local residents had previously opposed the proposal, labelling it as "horrific" with some likening it to a "human conveyor belt".
đ Local funeral director Martin Rowley, 64, who operates Rowley & Sons Family Funeral Services, in York, said he is "disappointed" by the decision. He alleges the approximately 25 members of staff working at the site will be unable to provide sufficient care for the deceased.
Martin, who also serves as a Conservative councillor for the Osbaldwick and Derwent Ward, commented: "This facility just endorses the impersonal, transactional, profit driven nature of the Pure Cremations operation.
"I'm not questioning their service, rather the industrial scale of the facility. How can so few staff realistically look after so many bodies and ensure they are kept in good condition.
"If the council really cared about people and transparency, they would have brought this planning application to the Planning Committee for determination."
