145 jobs to go at Carlsberg
Carlsberg UK has confirmed that 145 jobs will be lost following the closure of the Leeds Brewery in 2011.
The news came in a letter from Carlsberg UK chief executive Isaac Sheps to All Party Save the Pub Group chairman Greg Mulholland MP.
Production of Tetley's cask ale will move to Marston's in Wolverhampton while Tetley's Smoothflow will be brewed by Molson Coors in Tadcaster (Tetley's cask ale moves to Wolverhampton).
Sheps expressed a "clear preference for brewing in Leeds" and stressed the decision was "not arrived at easily" and was a "prudent response to challenging market conditions".
He said: "These are the harsh and painful realities, which I, as chief executive of Carlsberg UK have to take account in running the business."
Of the 145 employees set to lose their jobs, two thirds will be kept on until the brewery closes in June 2011, with the remainder leaving at the end of 2010.
Sheps said all employees leaving the company would receive support in seeking new employment.
The Carlsberg boss also warned Mulholland that his planned boycott of Carlsberg lager would put further jobs at risk.
"I must in all candour say that your advocacy of a boycott of our products could put local jobs at risk."
Mulholland said: "Carlsberg, conscious of the anger that their betrayal of Tetley's and Leeds has caused, now have the audacity to suggest that our protest could affect jobs so we should not criticise them.
"This is ludicrous but also quite sinister and deeply hypocritical. It is Carlsberg who have decided to stop brewing Tetley's and making many people redundant."
