Anheuser-Busch InBev has started consulting with its UK employees as part of a move, announced last week, to shed 10% of its 8,000-strong workforce in Western Europe.

The world’s largest brewer said it was consulting with UK staff and representatives on proposals to “put the business on a sustainable footing and to increase focus on our brands”.

“Implementing the proposals would be a responsible way for our business to address an economic environment that has been exacerbated by record duty rises,” said Laura Vallis, corporate affairs manager for InBev UK. The company employs 1,448 people in the UK. Although there could be a net cut of 263 jobs in Belgium, no figure has yet been decided for the UK. Job losses are expected across Belgium, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The beer market in “quite a few” Western EU countries faced structural market decline and had done so for a few years, a spokesperson for AB InBev in Belgium said.

Consumers in Belgium now drank more premium and speciality beers at home and per capita consumption had fallen almost 20% since 2000, he added.

The proposed job losses have sparked protests in Belgium. As The Grocer went to press, workers at three breweries were maintaining blockades at breweries in Leuven, Jupile and Hoegaarden, threatening supplies of Stella, Leffe and Jupiler in the country. Last week staff held about 10 brewery managers hostage for 11 hours in an attempt to force negotiations.

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