OT - Interbrew closes Bass Ulster Brewery early.

In message , MikeMcG writes

That's what they get for drinking mass-produced chemical fizz.

Drinking local real ale keeps the jobs in the area.

A keg brewery can always change to producing cask beers, a closed and redeveloped one cannot.

Tony

(tell that to the staff at Boddingtons, ScotCo in Scotland & Newcastle, or going back a bit those from Brakspear's, Morrel's, Eldridge Pope, etc)

no sympathy for the 85 folks losing their jobs or the families depending on them, then?

& the knock on effects when "the biggest private employer in an area of high unemployment" stops manufacturing?

Like it or not, for various reasons AFAIK NI is still not a major drinker or producer of real ale. If the biggest RA brewery in NI closed it would be a sad day, but it would not cause much of a blip in the unemployment figures. Mike.

Like animal rights protestors would have sympathy for the staff of Huntingdon Life Sciences if they successfully got it closed down?

Or CND regretting job losses at a weapons factory due to scaled down production of arms?

As I see it, those working in the production of keg beer are not on the same side as me and I have a major problem with romantic selectivity when it comes to who we should real sorry for.

I got f*ck-all sympathy when I got made redundant, most people get very little, and there's no reason why it should be any different for a bunch of people in the manufacturing sector who just happen to all lose their jobs in the same place at the same time. They're all just individuals, and the collateral damage to them and their families is no different from anyone losing their job in any other situation.

I don't buy the tired old 'decimated an entire community' line - local economics are irrelevant if you happen to be doing particuarly well or particularly badly against the grain.

BTN

I think I know what you mean. For the people unemployed the *local* rate is 100%, moving outside the 6ft circle centred on them it may be lower, but then that isn't really that relevant for the person concerned.

You mean Hilden's? I'm astonished that they have managed to keep going for so long.

Brian

In message , BrianW writes

We drank Brakspears and Morrells (the others are away) and their owners closed them despite their being profitable. But at least we did our best. Now we're drinking the local beer made and sold by ex-Brakspears and ex-Morrells people, so we're still keeping the money in our area, and the profits go to smaller proprietors who spend more locally themselves.