UK: Molson Coors confirms plans to close Burtonwood Brewery next year

Molson Coors has confirmed that it plans to close its Burtonwood Brewery next year, the Warrington Guardian reported on December 11.

The brewing giant has pulled out of the historic Bold Lane site, which it shares with the Thomas Hardy Burtonwood bottling plant.

A total of 25 jobs have been put at risk as a result of the proposals, with the closure expected to have been completed by the end of September 2021.

Thomas Hardy Burtonwood sold its brewery to Molson Coors in 2015, but its remaining operations on the shared site will be unaffected by the move.

If the closure does go ahead, it would bring to an end more than 150 years of beer production at Burtonwood Brewery – which dates back to 1867.

But it could yet be sold to another company, as it will be 'marketed as a going concern'.

Molson Coors says that the move will 'help to drive efficiencies' within the business, with production set to be transferred to other sites in the UK.

A spokesman told the Warrington Guardian: "We can confirm that, with regret, we have announced a proposal to close our Burtonwood Brewery by the end of September 2021.

"We are providing every support to the 25 impacted employees and have now entered a period of consultation.

"As part of this proposal, we are seeking to minimise any redundancies by marketing the site as a going concern or redeploying staff where appropriate.

"If the proposal is accepted and should redundancies prove unavoidable, there would be no redundancies until well into next year.

"This proposal is in no way a reflection of the skill and dedication of our colleagues, but is intended to help drive efficiencies in our operations network.

"Burtonwood Brewery currently produces just one per cent of our volume, and it is proposed that production would transfer to other sites across our UK network."

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