THE MANCUNIAN company chief who decided to move Boddingtons away from Manchester today admitted it was the hardest moment of his career.
Flixton-born Stewart Gilliland confessed he found it hard to propose moving Boddies production out of the city where it has been brewed since the late eighteenth century.
But he insisted that there was no alternative because the running costs of the historic Strangeways brewery are too high.
Mr Gilliland is UK chief executive of Interbrew, the Belgium-based corporation that owns Boddingtons.
Interbrew plans to cut the workforce from 107 to under 40 and move keg ale production of the Mancunian beer to its plants in Preston and South Wales.
It plans to keep cask ale Boddies production in Manchester.
The chief executive, a Manchester City season ticket holder, said Interbrew had looked at alternative proposals. But Interbrew could not find any way of keeping Boddingtons in Manchester while making the £3.5m saving it would achieve by brewing Boddies at the other plants.