Robinsons Brewery is to move from its historic home in Stockport town centre after nearly 200 years.
The much-loved family business plans to relocate its brewing and head office operations from Lower Hillgate to its packaging centre in Bredbury.
The £12m project, expected to be completed by 2025, includes the installation of a new brewhouse together with purpose-built office accommodation.
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It means that everything the firm does - from brewing, cask racking and kegging, to bottling lines and logistics - will be housed at one site for the first time since 1949, fulfilling a long-held ambition of the Robinson family.
Directors William and Oliver Robinson acknowledge it has been a difficult decision to take.
In a joint statement, they said: “It will be a wrench. The business has a long history in the town centre and we are very respectful of the company's role in the Lower Hillgate area.
“But the economic and logistical limitations of the site were impossible to ignore. Moving everything under one roof gives us the ability to provide a more modern, flexible and greener brewing and packaging operation, while reflecting the company’s heritage.”
Around 50 employees will make the move from Lower Hillgate to Bredbury. Robinsons famous shire horses will also be moving to a new home.
There will be no compulsory job losses and the firm says the move will support its wider recruitment plans, linked to the acquisition of new pubs. It also plans further investment in its ‘230-strong tenanted pub estate’.
The pair added: “This announcement demonstrates our commitment to writing a new chapter in our history in Stockport, continuing to brew, deliver and package award-winning cask, keg and bottled beer under 100pc family ownership.”
The brewery is currently working on proposals to reopen The Bull’s Head in Market Square later this year, following substantial renovations.
And it is also liaising with Stockport council to explore the opportunity that freeing up the present brewery site could provide for further regeneration of the historic town centre.
Stockport council leader Elise Wilson said: “It is great to see Robinsons continuing to invest in Stockport where they have been doing business for many years.
“This is also really good news for jobs within the borough. We look forward to seeing their future plans for the town centre site as they are developed over the coming months.”
Robinsons packaging operation has been based in Bredbury for more than 40 years.
