Drinks giant Diageo is to make a "significant" anno-uncement on the future of its flagship Guinness brewery in Dublin tomorrow, it emerged last night.
The firm refused to comment on speculation that it plans to relocate part of the St James’s Gate premises to a greenfield site in the west of the city.
Diageo employs 2,500 staff at plants in Dublin, Dundalk, Kilkenny and Waterford.
As well as
Guinness, the firm manufactures other popular drinks such as Smithwicks, Kilkenny and Harp.
Diageo chief executive Paul Walsh will be in Dublin tomorrow for a news conference at St James’s Gate at 9am.
“There will be a significant announcement at the news conference,” a spokesman said.
“It relates to a year-long assessment of the firm’s brewing operations.”
The Guinness Storehouse on the St James’s Gate site is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the country and has huge historical importance to Dublin.
The 60-acre site on the south side of the River Liffey is estimated to be worth more than one billion euro (£789 million) to property developers.
Guinness was first brewed on the premises by Arthur Guinness in 1759. Up to four million pints of the stout are now produced there each day.
Fears over the future of the St James’s Gate brewery first emerged last year after Diageo announced it had begun a review of its brewing facilities in the Republic.
Diageo, which was formed in 1997 by the merger of Guinness and Grand Metropolitan, said the assessment would run until sometime this year.
The full article contains 271 words and appears in News Letter newspaper.
