Diageo plans new Pounds 520m Guinness brewery near Dublin

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*Diageo pledged to keep on brewing Guinness at its historic site in the heart of Dublin, and also unveiled plans to spend 520m building a new brewery in Ireland. The British beer and spirits group said it would close two smaller breweries at Kilkenny and Dundalk and cut its Irish workforce by 250 from its current 450 when it opens the new brewery near Dublin in 2013. The company is also selling half of its 55-acre site in Dublin next to the River Liffey at St James's Gate, where Arthur Guinness began brewing stout in 1759. But Diageo promised to continue brewing Guinness there for the Irish and British markets. The St James's Gate site, valued at about 400m, also exports Guinness-flavour extract to 42 other Guinness breweries around the world. Diageo launched a review of its Irish brewing operations last June, after its move in 2004 to close its Park Royal brewery in London and move Guinness production to Dublin.

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