BREWERY bosses at Thwaites today said job losses were needed to secure the long-term future of the company as they announced 27 redundancies.

And the Blackburn firm, which said it "deeply regretted" the announcement, has cited the huge amount of cheap beer flooding across the Channel as one of the major problems behind job losses throughout the industry.

Workers were called to meetings at the town centre site yesterday after months of uncertainty.

The firm said it hoped many of the across-the-board job losses would be achieved through voluntary redundancies or redeployment.

Managing director Paul Baker said the firm had to respond to intense commercial pressure in the industry and reduce costs. We are not an island in all this. We are affected by the general state of play and as such have to respond and react," he said .

"Otherwise there will be no long term future for us in an increasingly competitive marketplace."

He said the firm, which employs 370, was investing in a new distribution depot, three new public houses in the North West and had other exciting plans.

"A profitable and secure future can only be achieved by further improving customer service and reducing operating costs," he added.

The announcement comes as the regional brewing industry is undergoing major changes with many firms pulling out of brewing or announcing major job losses.

Many in the industry blame the problems caused by the huge quantities of cheap beer flooding into the UK. Duty on beer in France is around 4p a pint compared to 32p a pint in the UK.

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