I know not a brewery famed for it's real ales, but a sad day for a historic brewing site. from
In a statement on Tuesday, Interbrew UK said it had been seeking a purchaser after a long-term contract to bottle soft drinks at the plant ended.
The closure in January will bring 107 years of brewing at the Glen Road site to an end.
The biggest private employer in an area of high unemployment, the factory was also one of the few workplaces where Catholics and Protestants worked side by side throughout the Troubles.
Other operations on the site, which employs 200 people in areas such as distribution and customer services, and a sales and distribution depot in Omagh, County Tyrone, will not be affected.
Northern Ireland Office minister Barry Gardiner said he was disappointed at the decision.
Mr Gardiner, who has responsibility for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, said Invest Northern Ireland was continuing to discuss the situation with Interbrew and Bass Ireland to attempt to minimise the impact the decision will have for the workers and the economy.
Brian Houston, of Bass Ireland, said it was a sad day.
"The business plans that we looked at, along with our insistence that the terms and conditions for our employees be transferred over, just made the whole operation unviable in our opinion," he said.
"No purchaser has emerged, regrettably, so we have had to announce the closure of manufacturing as from December."
David Randall, Interbrew UK supply chain director said the conclusion of the bottling contract had resulted in increased costs.
He added that this, along with a general overcapacity within the industry, "meant that a viable manufacturing operation would no longer be sustainable".
The company says it hopes to offer redeployment to about 20 of the workers losing their jobs.
Sinn Fein President and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams was also disappointed by the decision.
"We believe that this decision fails the needs of the community and the workforce," he said. SDLP assembly member Alex Attwood said the decision was a tragic blow to the local community. "I plan to meet with the management in the near future," he said.
The brewery was founded in 1897 and brews and kegs Bass and Tennent's Lager, and kegs Stella Artois. (no mention of Caffreys?) __________________________ & quoted on alt.beer by "Rick ( snipped-for-privacy@REMOVE.winfirst.com)"
Last Pint Brewed At Bass END OF AN ERA AS PRODUCTION STOPS EARLY AT BREWERY The lay-offs at Bass Ireland take place in January next and it had been thought that the brewing of beer would continue at least until the turn of the year. But in a move that surprised staff at the Glen Road brewery, we can reveal that the last vat of beer was brewed last Tuesday, bringing the curtain down on over a century of brewing tradition at the Glen Road.
The halting of beer production means that the brewery now owned by industry giants Interbrew is solely a storage and distribution facility.
85 workers will lose their jobs in the new year in a swingeing series of job cuts that spelt the end of the brewery as a production facility. Some 200 workers will continue working at the Glen Road building mainly in distribution and administration posts.
One worker said the ending of brewing at the Glen Road earlier than expected was another example of Interbrew "doing what it likes and never mind the rest.
"We had thought that we would go on brewing here maybe up to Christmas and beyond, but then last Tuesday the brewing stopped and that was that," he said.
"We're at a bit of a loose end in here, to be honest. It's a bit like Friday afternoon every day we're just counting the days in to January now. Not many of us have been able to find other jobs, a few have but most haven't.
"At least when we were turning beer out there was something to put your day in. But now that's stopped. That's Interbrew for you doing what it likes and never mind the rest."
Journalist:: Staff Reporter ______________________