Will two city brewery sites survive?

WHETHER either the Beamish & Crawford brewery on Cork’s South Main Street or the Heineken Ireland brewery on the city’s Watercourse Road will still be in operation in two years time is a very real question as the news is digested that the Competition Authority won’t be stopping the takeover of Ireland’s oldest brewery by Heineken Ireland.

With one of the Cork city breweries on a riverside site and the other just five minutes from the city centre and on a good road network, it could go either way.

Estate agent, Alan Burke, who works with Cork estate agents, Lucy Wolfe and Associates, has said the owners won’t be able to ignore the lucrative landbanks at their disposal.

“Beamish’s would be a very valuable site. It has everything: it’s close to town, it has the riverside aspect and there’s a good size of land,” he said.

“It’s the same at the other side of town at the Heineken brewery.”

With the economic downturn now well under way, Cork South Central Labour TD Ciarán Lynch said the Competition Authority’s decision creates huge job concerns. Both breweries have remained tight-lipped on this issue since the takeover was first unveiled.

“Cork city has two unique brands in Murphy’s and Beamish, both with a long history, and both of which have created huge employment in the city,” said Deputy Lynch.

“There is a responsibility now on Heineken to make a clear statement about their future plans for the brewery sites, and most importantly, the workers.”

Heineken employs 425 staff and brews Heineken lager and Murphy’s stout. It also has distribution rights for Amstel, Coors and some speciality beers.

Beamish employs 160 full-time staff and has the second-highest share of the stout market after Guinness, which has at least 85% of the stout market here.

Since the takeover was announced, Heineken has been at pains to stress that it won’t change the position of Beamish Stout in the market.

The stout market has been declining in Ireland for several years and had been seen as low priority by Heineken, whose lager has a commanding 28% market share. By contrast Murphy’s has just more than 5% of the stout market.

Beamish & Crawford was founded in Cork in 1792. Brewing on the South Main Street site had been ongoing since 1602. It sells and distributes Beamish Genuine Irish Stout, Beamish Red Irish Ale, lagers Miller, Kronenberg, Foster’s, Carling and San Miguel, and Scrumpy Jack cider.

Up to the takeover, the company was a wholly owned subsidiary of Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), the largest brewer in Britain and Ireland combined. Its estimated that the takeover is worth between €10.5 billion and €12bn.

However, a local SIPTU spokesman said anxiety was widespread amongst its members at the brewery.

“Obviously, no-one wants to be alarmist. That said, our members are very concerned about what the future holds. People are asking questions about job security, terms and conditions of employment and pensions,” he said.

SIPTU represents about 70 general workers at the brewery, which employs more than 160 people in total.