Thwaites to cut brewery jobs

DANIEL Thwaites has placed 16 jobs at risk of redundancy due to “ongoing uncertainty” over its move to a new site.

The move is in response to the loss of “a number of significant and long standing contracts” on the packaging side of the business.

Thwaites has said it is currently in talks with union representatives about the plans and added that it hopes to minimise job losses through retraining, redeployment and by offering voluntary redundancy packages.

The company has been planning a move away from its Blackburn town centre site for a year, with a deal lined up for Sainsbury’s to take its existing site.

When announcing recent full-year results which saw sales increase by 8% to £137.8m in the year to March 31, chairman Ann Yerburgh said that it was working with Sainsbury’s and Blackburn with Darwen on an application for the city centre site and that a search for its new site “has entered its feasibility stage”.

However, she also warned that the project would take up to four years to complete.

Steve Magnall, managing director of Thwaites Beer Co, said: “These continue to be incredibly tough times and as a result we are forced to look at how we respond to market conditions.

“We are taking these difficult steps to not only remain competitive, but also to put ourselves in the strongest possible position to grow and develop our business.”

He added that the restructuring “allows us to continue to play a part in the canning market”.