Ale over for brewers Brakspear

Ale aficionados might want to avert their gaze - I have some grave news to report. The Brakspear brewery in Henley-on-Thames is set to close at the end of the year, following more than 200 years of production.

Sales of its brews, it seems, have been in decline in recent years, so the company has concluded that the future lies in operating pubs rather than brewing the beer that supplies them.

There are already murmurs among drinking circles that Brakspear's ales will never be the same again. (Apart from their own-brand ales, it also produces Coniston Bluebird under licence - CAMRA's Champion Beer Of Britain in 1998.)

But this does not mean the Brakspear name has reached the bottom of the barrel. Brakspear's ales will continue to be produced, under licence, by a company called Refresh, that currently has a similar arrangement with the Wychwood brewery in Oxfordshire.

It's currently looking for a new site on which to locate a brewery, and is insisting that it has a commitment 'to maintaining the heritage and products of Brakspear'. Traditionalists will probably be crying into their pint pots on hearing this news, but cruel commercial decisions need to be taken to ensure the survival of our long-established brews.