MP Mike Amesbury impressed by Guinness site in Runcorn

This is the view of Weaver Vale MP Mike Amesbury as he was given a tour around the Guinness bottling and packaging plant in Murdishaw.

Brand owners Diageo recently announced a bottling line upgrade and warehouse expansion at its facility on Whitehouse Industrial Estate – an investment of £16million.

Dublin-brewed Guinness is brought over to Runcorn for distribution across the UK and the world after it has been put into cans, bottles and kegs.

Mr Amesbury, whose constituency includes east Runcorn, said: “It was fabulous to be given a tour of the site and meet operations manager Stewart Hancock and the rest of the team.

“There is a real sense of pride in the business, which is huge success story because of the popularity of the product both at home and for export to places like the US and South Korea.

“The workforce now stands at almost 200 employees on the Runcorn site. That is in addition to around 50 contract staff delivering support services like catering, security and logistics.

“I was impressed by the investment in plant, as well as in people, and really enjoyed meeting the apprentices.”

Mr Amesbury, who grew up in a pub in his teens, was told Guinness grew strongly in the first half of the year as the licensed trade and hospitality sector recovered from the economic impact of the pandemic.

He added: “An optimistic future lies ahead, including Diageo’s commitment to achieve carbon neutrality globally by 2030 in their direct operations.

“It is all great news for Runcorn and the UK economy as a whole. I even got the chance to sample a can of Guinness 0.0 – an alcohol-free product that is a growth area for the business.”