MP Mike Amesbury next to the production line with canning area manager Scott Rylance, left, and operations manager Stewart Hancock.

Submitted by the office of MP Mike Amesbury

Runcorn East MP Mike Amesbury toured the Guinness bottling and packaging plant in his constituency following the announcement of a £16million investment.

Owners of the Diageo brand recently announced a bottling line upgrade and warehouse expansion at its factory in Whitehouse Industrial Estate, Murdishaw.

Guinness brewed in Dublin is brought to Runcorn for distribution across the UK and the world after being put into cans, bottles and kegs.

Mr Amesbury, who represents Weaver Vale, said: “It was fabulous to be able to tour 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 a huge achievement due to the popularity of the product both at home and for export to places like the US and South Korea.

“The workforce now stands at nearly 200 employees at the Runcorn site. This is in addition to approximately 50 contract employees providing support services such as catering, security and logistics.

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

Mr Amesbury, who grew up in a pub as a teenager, learned that Guinness had risen sharply in the first half of the year as the licensed retail and hospitality sector recovered from the impact economics of the pandemic.

He added: “An optimistic future awaits us, including Diageo’s commitment to achieve global carbon neutrality by 2030 in its direct operations.

“This is great news for Runcorn and for the UK economy as a whole. I even had the chance to taste a can of Guinness 0.0, an alcohol-free product which is a growth area for the company.

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