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Diageo today added to the troubles of the Scotch whisky industry with plans to axe 900 jobs in a move to cut costs.
The J&B, Johnnie Walker and Talisker drinks giant is closing a distillery at Port Dundas, Glasgow which has been operating for nearly 200 years. An adjacent cooperage, where barrels are made and mended, will also close.
The closure will hit 100 jobs at the distillery and 40 at the cooperage.
The biggest closure in job terms will be the closure of Diageo's Johnnie Walker packaging plant in the Labour heartland of Kilmarnock, currently employing 700 staff. Local MP and former minister Des Browne said the cuts were “devastating”, adding: “Every bottle of Johnnie Walker has a label which says this whisky has been bottled in Kilmarnock since 1820.”
Diageo also confirmed it was restructuring all three of its breweries in Ireland under a previous plan to sell part of the famous Guinness brewery at St James's Gate.
In total, Diageo predicts cost savings from the measures of £120 million in the next 12 months and a further
£40 million in the following year. It said 400 jobs would be created in Fife, where a new bottling plant will be built.
