WORK on a new multi-million-pound bottling plant at John Smith's Brewery, Tadcaster, has been suspended, it was revealed today.

Parent company Scottish Courage confirmed that work had been put on hold, pending a nationwide review of its "packaging capabilities" to assess future needs.

Construction of the exterior of the so-called bottling hall is almost complete, but has yet to be fitted out with state-of-the-art bottling equipment.

Scottish Courage said it had informed the 310 employees at its Tadcaster site yesterday of its decision to suspend the installation of the bottling equipment.

It said the outcome of its manufacturing review should be completed by September.

Company spokesman David Jones said they were experiencing "significant pressure" to minimise their costs and to operate their brewing sites at maximum efficiency.

He said the beer market was more competitive now than it had ever been, with Bass and Whitbread selling its brewing businesses to other companies.

Mr Jones said: "We are still the UK's leading brewers, with 27 per cent of the market.

"We aren't losing money, but we owe it to our customers, employees and shareholders to have a successful business.

"It would be rather stupid to finalise our plans for fitting out the new bottling facility before this overall manufacturing review is completed.

"We are not abandoning the plans at Tadcaster.

"It's more a question of looking at the configuration of equipment as part of our packaging needs across the country."

Scottish Courage - the brewing arm of Scottish & Newcastle - has six brewing sites in the UK, in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, Tadcaster, Reading and Masham.

Mr Jones stressed that Tadcaster remained a "key site" for the company and any rumours about the site closing were "nonsense".

He said: "Tadcaster is one of our most successful breweries and has an important role to play in our future.

"This decision does not affect other areas of the site and it's business as usual."

Updated: 10:44 Thursday, April 24, 2003