'Sad day' as 154-year-old brewery relocates

Liberation Brewery is set to relocate to Somerset in October

A 154-year-old brewery has announced it is moving its brewing operations to the UK.

Liberation Brewery will stop production at its St Saviour site in October due to rising costs, but will continue to run pubs in Jersey and Guernsey, and sell beer in both islands.

Managing director Tim Hubert said it was a "sad day" and a "difficult decision" to close the brewery and relocate brewing operations to a site in Somerset.

A spokesperson for the business said some jobs could be affected but the firm was confident other roles would be made available for those employees.

'Difficult decision'

A statement issued earlier said: "The costs of brewing beer, operating the brewery and other well documented business expenses have dramatically risen over the last few years.

"To make sure we can continue to run a viable brewing business, including brewing a range of Liberation beers, we have evaluated the current effectiveness of the brewery in Jersey and made this difficult decision to shut the brewery at Tregear House in October."

Head brewer for the Liberation Brewing Company Pat Dean is set to transfer to the Somerset site.

The statement also said the Liberation wholesale and distribution business would remain unchanged and would continue to operate from Longueville Road.