Interbrew has been blasted as "riding roughshod over British brewing" after announcing plans to close its Boddingtons Brewery in Manchester.
The Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) has pledged immediately to resurrect its Boddingtons Action Group and campaign to keep the Boddingtons (Strangeways) Brewery open.
"We are appalled at this decision," said CAMRA chief executive Mike Benner. "Boddingtons Brewery is one of the best known British breweries and to close it after nearly 230 years shows little regard by Interbrew for Britain's beer heritage or the people of Manchester."
CAMRA is worried that closing the brewery signals Interbrew's intentions to further reduce production of its real ales, and sends the wrong message to Britain's beer drinkers.
Mr. Benner said: "Only by keeping the brewery open and investing in its future could Interbrew demonstrate real commitment to the cask beer market."
Steven Prescott, CAMRA's regional director for Greater Manchester, said he intented to "fight tooth and nail to keep the brewery alive and kicking".
Steve Cahillane, chief executive of Interbrew UK and Ireland, said the decision to close the Boddingtons Brewery had been "extremely difficult".
"Following the agreement to retain both cask and non-cask production of Boddingtons at the site two years ago, every effort has been made by employees and Interbrew UK to improve efficiency and viability," he said. "With the support of the workforce at the brewery, efficiencies have been achieved and the marketing investment behind Boddingtons has helped slow the decline in sales of cask Boddingtons.
"But in a competitive environment it is not sustainable to continue brewing non-cask ales at Boddingtons and transport them to our other brewery sites for packaging when we have the production capacity available at our other UK breweries."
Interbrew UK has also announced that the famous Draught Bass is now to be brewed by Marstons in Burton upon Trent.