Published: Thursday, 10th September, 2009 7:55am

Jobs go at brewery

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BELHAVEN Brewery chiefs have denied that the pending closure of the bottling plant at its Dunbar HQ - and loss of 20 jobs - is the beginning of the end of almost 300 years of brewing tradition in the town.

Concerned Dunbar councillors Paul McLennan and Jacquie Bell, accompanied by East Lothian Council leader David Berry, held crisis talks on Wednesday with Belhaven bosses Euan Venters and Ian Herok after the company announced its decision to close its Brewery Lane bottling plant.

And despite Belhaven and its parent company, Suffolk-based Greene King, insisting that brewing and kegging at the Belhaven site is "absolutely safe", sceptical drinks industry experts claim the move could lead to the eventual closure of the iconic brewery.

From January, the brand's bottling will take place at Greene King's bottling plant at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.

Euan Venters, managing director of Belhaven Group since last September, stated that the transfer of bottle brewing south of the border was "purely a commercial decision".

"We have been faced for some years with the dilemma of considerably lower contract bottling volumes and the consequential effect of reduced profitability," he told the Courier.

"Our contract bottling volume has declined by two-thirds over the past two years. That aspect of the business has absolutely collapsed."

The considerable investment required to bring the plant up to modern standards also played a part in the bosses' decision, he added.

Approximately 170 people are employed at Belhaven Brewery, home of Belhaven Best and other leading brands.

Added Mr Venters: "We also now have the costly requirement to upgrade and replace necessary equipment and the surrounding working environment to keep up quality standards and customer requirements.

"It's a really old bottling plant and we have been keeping it going with minimum investment to maintain both health and safety and a quality service."

"We have saved what would have been over a million pounds needed to sufficiently upgrade the plant."

Mr Venters explained that one-to-one interviews were being conducted with all 20 employees whose jobs were now at risk and each of them will be offered voluntary redundancy.

"Whilst this action is unavoidable, both Belhaven and Greene King will do everything possible to mitigate any redundancies," he said.

"What I would say is that brewing and kegging at Dunbar is absolutely safe and remains an integral part of the business."

In November, Greene King completed a £187 million takeover of Belhaven, which brews the world-famous Belhaven Best and owns more than 330 pubs across Scotland.

The county company was the fastest growing part of Greene King's business, with revenue up 9.9 per cent to £136 million this year.

Revenue growth across the entire group was just 1.3 per cent.

In July, Belhaven reported record operating profit in the year to May 2, of £30.2 million; up 11.9 per cent on the previous year.

Rooney Anand, Greene King CEO, insisted the company were committed to Belhaven remaining a "Scottish-focused business based in Scotland".

He said: "We remain wholly committed to continuing to maintain and develop a modern efficient brewing and kegging facility for Belhaven brands at Dunbar.

"The bottling closure will allow us to focus more on the brewery.

"Our commitment to Scotland, through the brewery and headquarters in Dunbar, the continuing process of acquiring and redeveloping our pubs and our dedicated team on the ground, remains unchanged."

However, Lindsay Grant, Scotland and Northern Ireland regional director for the real ale association Camra, described the closure of the bottling plant as "worrying".

"This is a concern in that other brewers across the country are reporting that their bottle brewing is increasing.

"I suspect that this is merely a Greene King rationalisation and that the fact of the matter is that this will eventually lead to the closure of the brewery.

"I think people in East Lothian would be right to be worried."

Before the 2005 takeover, Belhaven had become the largest and oldest surviving independent brewery in Scotland.

The four-and-a-half acre Dunbar site has a history as a commercial brewery stretching back 285 years, although the wells and some of the cellar vaults date from the time of the Reformation in the 16th century.

Dunbar Community Council chairman Stephen Bunyan described Belhaven as a "Dunbar institution".

He said: "It's been an important feature in Dunbar life for a very long time and is one of the few remaining pieces of industry we have left here.

"We certainly don't want to see it reduced."

Following their meeting with Belhaven on Wednesday, Councillors Paul McLennan and Jacquie Bell said: "We are obviously very disappointed about any job losses at Belhaven and our economic development unit will work with Belhaven to assist any staff who may lose their job"

"In our discussions we enquired and were reassured that Greene King remain wholly committed to continuing and developing their strong presence in Dunbar and Scotland.

"We will continue to monitor the situation and work with Belhaven in mitigating any effects of the closure of the bottling plant"

The councillors added that further meetings would be held with Belhaven Group in future to discuss possible tourism opportunities and the creation of a local liasion group to continue talks with the company.

East Lothian MSP Iain Gray said he "felt" for the people whose livelihoods were at risk following the closure of the bottling plant.

He said: "I met Mr Euan Venters recently and he assured me that Greene King wants to grow the Belhaven business and brand.

"I emphasised to him that Belhaven is very important to East Lothian and he told me that Belhaven remained committed to the county.

"Clearly, the decision to close the bottling plant is bad news and I feel for the people who are losing their jobs in such difficult economic times."