THE Boddingtons Brewery in Manchester, home to the “Cream of Manchester” for almost 200 years, is to close with the loss of about 55 jobs after a review of its UK operations by its Belgian owner.

Interbrew UK, which owns the Stella Artois and Beck’s brands, said that it was planning to shift production of cask Boddingtons to the rival Hydes Brewery in Manchester under contract. Brewing of non-cask ales, which accounts for 90 per cent of production at the site, will move to Interbrew’s breweries in Lancashire, South Wales and Scotland.

The Belgian brewer, which is changing its name to InBev following its merger with AmBev of Brazil, is also moving production of Bass Ale, another of its products, ahead of the ending of an existing brewing contract with Coors, the US beer company.

Bass, which has been brewed in Burton-on-Trent since 1777, will move less than half a mile to the Marston’s Brewery, where it will be produced under contract by Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries.

Interbrew UK said that the changes to its ale operations, due to come into force early next year, were partly because of the continued decline in ale sales.

The Boddingtons Brewery was originally called the Strangeway Brewery after the adjoining prison but later took the name of Henry Boddington, who first worked there aged 19 in 1832. He became the sole owner in 1853.

The Transport & General Workers Union pointed out that Interbrew had recently announced the closure of its brewery in Belfast, adding that the decisions were based on “corporate greed”.