Guinness to close its London brewery

Modern Brewery Age, April 26, 2004

AP--The maker of Guinness, the black stout beer synonymous with Ireland, announced plans last week to close its brewery in England, its oldest outside this country.

Diageo PLC, the British drinks giant that owns Dublin-based Guinness, said about 90 jobs will be lost when the Park Royal brewery in Brent, northwest London, closes in mid-2005. The brewery opened in 1936 and produces about 4 million kegs annually for the British market, where Irish-themed pubs boomed in the 1990s.

Guinness officials said they planned to modernize and boost production at their flagship brewery at St. James's Gate in west Dublin, one of the Irish capital's top tourist attractions, where Arthur Guinness started production in 1759. The Dublin brewery already produces 8 million kegs annually for domestic consumption and for export to continental Europe and North America.

"Between the two breweries in London and Dublin, we currently have more brewing capacity than we need," said Gerry O'Hagan, Diageo's supply director in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

"We know that it will take only a limited additional investment to build the already substantial capacity of St James's Gate to the level where it can supply the GB (Great Britain) market with the draught Guinness currently supplied from Park Royal."

Diageo said about 1,000 sales, marketing and supply workers would remain based at new Diageo offices at the 80-acre Park Royal site. A 350 million euro ($630 million) redevelopment of the site has already begun involving a hotel, a new subway station and apartments.

Diageo brews Guinness in 50 countries worldwide.