Troubled drinks firm Scottish & Newcastle today announced plans to close its Reading brewery with the loss of up to 362 jobs.
The brewer opened consultation with employees at the site and pledged to make “every effort” to find them all other work.
Group operations director Stephen Glancey said: “It is well documented that there is general over-capacity in the UK brewing sector, and these proposals have been put in place to address this issue.
“The nature of the Reading site, the amount of investment required to make it competitive and its relative cost compared to other UK facilities means that there is a strong business case for closure.
“We will, of course, do all we can to mitigate the effects of the closure on the people affected.”
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Scottish & Newcastle accepted a £7.8bn takeover bid from Carlsberg and Heineken last month, a move expected to lead to lead to a restructure and place HR director Frank Douglas’ job at risk.
The Reading site is not due for closure until 2010.
