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09/05/2008
Jobs To Go As Guinness 'Closes' St Jame's Gate
Plans have been revealed by Guinness' owners, Diageo, to move the world famous brewery to another site, with the loss of hundreds of jobs.
The multi-national has revealed that most of the iconic St Jame's Gate facility is to be sold for development, valued at around €3 billion at the height of the property boom.
The brewery is however planning to keep a token presence at the site after PR executives at the company advised the loss of the St Jame's gate imagery would harm export sales.
Diageo has announced it plans to invest 650m euros ($1bn; £514.7m) in its Irish beer business - its largest capital investment to date.
However, while some of the money will be spent at St James's Gate, it is building a new brewery near Dublin to replace its primary function of brewing the black stuff.
When work is completed in 2013, the firm's existing plants in Kilkenny and Dundalk will also close, Diageo said.
With its Waterford operations also affected, about 250 jobs are expected to go as a result.
It is also understood the company is also considering making its brewing operations into a separate company which might be quoted separately on the London, and possibly Dublin, stock exchanges.
This is only the second move for Guinness in its history since it moved from Lexlip to St Jame's Gate by founder Arthur Guinness in 1795, but the new plans mean it will be produced at a site at Grange Castle, Clondalkin, in west Dublin.
However, last year Dublin City Council said they would put forward a motion to prevent planning permission ever being granted for development of the site thus making it very difficult for Diageo to sell off the facility for residential development.
Guinness & Co. makes almost €2 billion annually from the black stuff, and the brand is also brewed under licence internationally in several countries, including Nigeria and Indonesia.
The unfermented but hopped Guinness wort extract, or essence, is shipped from Dublin and blended with beer brewed locally.
Diageo have arranged a press conference to take place on Friday morning to discuss the move.
See: Guinness To Shut St James Gate?
(DW/JM)(BMcC)
The multi-national has revealed that most of the iconic St Jame's Gate facility is to be sold for development, valued at around €3 billion at the height of the property boom.
The brewery is however planning to keep a token presence at the site after PR executives at the company advised the loss of the St Jame's gate imagery would harm export sales.
Diageo has announced it plans to invest 650m euros ($1bn; £514.7m) in its Irish beer business - its largest capital investment to date.
However, while some of the money will be spent at St James's Gate, it is building a new brewery near Dublin to replace its primary function of brewing the black stuff.
When work is completed in 2013, the firm's existing plants in Kilkenny and Dundalk will also close, Diageo said.
With its Waterford operations also affected, about 250 jobs are expected to go as a result.
It is also understood the company is also considering making its brewing operations into a separate company which might be quoted separately on the London, and possibly Dublin, stock exchanges.
This is only the second move for Guinness in its history since it moved from Lexlip to St Jame's Gate by founder Arthur Guinness in 1795, but the new plans mean it will be produced at a site at Grange Castle, Clondalkin, in west Dublin.
However, last year Dublin City Council said they would put forward a motion to prevent planning permission ever being granted for development of the site thus making it very difficult for Diageo to sell off the facility for residential development.
Guinness & Co. makes almost €2 billion annually from the black stuff, and the brand is also brewed under licence internationally in several countries, including Nigeria and Indonesia.
The unfermented but hopped Guinness wort extract, or essence, is shipped from Dublin and blended with beer brewed locally.
Diageo have arranged a press conference to take place on Friday morning to discuss the move.
See: Guinness To Shut St James Gate?
(DW/JM)(BMcC)
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