Vaux brewery looks certain to close on July 2nd, unless by some miracle common sense should prevail. 700 workers will be thrown on the scrap heap, and outrage is the mood on Wearside, as demonstrated at a recent Sunderland FC home game where 40,000 red cards were waved in a protest against the football club's sponsors. Such is the anger felt by the supporters that it is unlikely that the Lambton's name will appear on Sunderland kit next year.

The Swallow Group, owners of Vaux, Wards and 670 pubs, rejected a management buy-out attempt in April when the £70 million offer was dismissed as "inadequate" as it fell short by just £2.5 million And so, 150 years of brewing tradition is to be demolished at the huge Vaux site

Even the eleven dray horses, five Percherons and six Gelderlanders, have had to be found new homes. After years of pulling Vaux brewery wagons, 22 year-old Nanno is going to a farm, and will be used for weddings and promotional work. Four bay Gelderlanders have gone to the Beamish Museum in County Durham, but the Percherons have gone to different homes around the country.

Unfortunately, the Vaux management buy-out is becoming typical of the struggle that old fashioned socially-aware managements are having with short-termist City institutions out for a fast buck. One thing is for certain, the Wearside people will not forget how they have been betrayed.

It is believed that some Potteries Vaux pubs will receive their beer from Bass.

The on-off-on £8 million management buy-out at the Swallow Group's other brewery, Wards of Sheffield, may have fallen through. Everything looked fine at one stage, then the rug was pulled, and then things got better again. Let's hope this brewery, and the honey beer "Waggle Dance" is not another casualty of the City.

CAMRA is outraged that on 13th May, Scottish Courage announced of the closure in November of the 297 year-old Bristol brewery, with the loss of 71 jobs.

The company blamed "severe market declines in cask ales" as the reason, and is switching production of Courage Best and Director's to its Tadcaster brewery in North Yorkshire. The company said that the Bristol brewery, which has been in operation since 1702, was only operating at 60% capacity. CAMRA claim that the decline is due to £3.6 million being spent advertising nitrokeg John Smith's, but just £5,400 being spent on Courage!

Formerly owned by the George family, the brewery came under the Courage aegis in 1961, and the local best bitter is still known as George's.

Brian Revell, TGWU national officer has stated: "A workforce is being thrown on the scrapheap to appease the shareholders in the City." A S&N spokesman has stated that the brewery was not being offered for sale as uncertainty may upset the workforce!

CAMRA, however, has promised to go all-out to force S&N to sell the brewery as a going concern by pressing the Office of Fair Trading to refer the closure to the Competition Commission.

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