City's historic brewery to close

There has been a brewery on site in Leeds since 1822

Drinks giant Carlsberg has announced plans to close its historic brewery site in West Yorkshire with the loss of 170 jobs.

The company blamed falling consumption and higher duties for the decision to shut its Leeds site by 2011.

Consultation with the workers has started and Carlsberg said it would seek to redeploy staff.

There has been a brewery on site in the city since 1822 when it used to produce just Tetley beers.

The brewery now produces Tetley and Carlsberg and is one of two owned by Carlsberg. The other site is at Northampton.

'Difficult decision'

The company said it needed to maximise efficiency to remain competitive in the face of increasingly challenging market conditions.

Nick Webb, supply chain director of Carlsberg UK, said: "We are announcing the closure proposal more than two years in advance so that our employees are able to prepare for the future.

"We have to consider difficult decisions to remain competitive in the current environment and we regret the risk to the jobs of our employees.

"Although the business has remained robust in tough market conditions, this proposed move is vital to ensure Carlsberg UK remains a strong and sustainable business in the future."

Carlsberg marketing director Darran Britton said the beer market had been falling for a number of years but sales had slumped by between 7% and 8% recently.

'Very disappointing'

He said the company would continue brewing Tetley beer, preferably elsewhere in Yorkshire, if not somewhere in the north of England, but "definitely" in the UK.

The company gave no details of what it would do with the city centre site and could not say how many workers would be redeployed either to its other brewery or distribution sites.

Mr Britton added that the Leeds brewery was less efficient than Northampton but said the closure decision was no reflection on the workers.

Tim Roache, regional secretary of the GMB union, said the news was "very disappointing" and that they would be seeking talks with Carlsberg to see if anything could be done to change the decision.

Beer consumer group Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) also said it was seeking a meeting with Carlsberg UK bosses to discuss a way forward for the brewery.