The Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork is to close with the loss of 120 jobs. Making the announcement, Heineken Ireland said the brewery would shut its doors for the last time next March after which production operations would transfer to the company's Leitrim Street brewery, also in the city.
The closure announcement follows a review of both individual brewing operations with particular focus on capacity, expansion capability and future investment.
"This, combined with the high costs of operating two breweries in the city, difficulties associated with expansion at the Beamish & Crawford facility and excess brewing capacity at Heineken Ireland, makes the future of the Beamish & Crawford plant Unsustainable," the company said in a statement
“This has been the most difficult decision we have had to make since we began operations here in 1983 when Heineken acquired Murphy Brewery,” Mr Gerrit van Loo, the managing director of Heineken Ireland said.
“We have genuinely made every effort to identify as many employment opportunities as possible for Beamish staff. However, retaining two breweries is not sustainable and the loss of so many jobs remains a sad but unavoidable outcome.”