The gates of the famous Tetley’s Brewery in Leeds were shut for the final time today.
The closure of the iconic 189-year-old brewery has seen 179 people lose their jobs.
Of those, 112 Carlsberg UK production staff and 67 contract workers, for companies including Gist, have lost their jobs.
A spokesman for Carlsberg UK said: “This is obviously a very sad day for the city of Leeds but also for Carlsberg UK. The decision to close the Tetley’s Brewery was not one that was taken lightly.
“It is an unfortunate reality that the beer market is facing the perfect storm of falling consumption, increasing costs and rising tax.”
And of the 114 Tetley’s staff who are set to continue to work in Tetley House, mainly in telesales and credit control, it is understood that a number of those have been transferred there from other sites.
The spokesman said: “We are pleased we have so far managed to place 35 employees in new jobs - 10 of those internally - through our outplacement programme.”
As part of the closure, historical assets from the brewery have been sold to places such as the National Brewery Centre, in Burton-upon-Trent, before a charity sale which was open to current and former Tetley’s employees.
Dave Parker, 65, who spent seven years as a drayman at Tetley’s before being made redundant, said: “I just feel sorry for the workers who have been made redundant.
“Carlsberg screwed it up from day one, everything with Tetley’s on it was destroyed, burned or demolished.”
It is also understood that current and former staff have been invited back to the site for one last get together also today.
All Tetley’s Cask is now being brewed at the Marston’s-owned Banks’s brewery, in Wolverhampton, Smoothflow has been moved to Molson Coors’ brewery, in Tadcaster, while all Tetley’s Dark Ales have been out sourced to Cameron’s Brewery, in Hartlepool.
The brewery closure will open the door to the proposed demolition of 37 buildings on the site.
Demolition could start in September, though seven buildings are set to be retained.
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