BREWERS Scottish Courage and Carlsberg-Tetley have announced plans for a joint venture to ensure trouble-free pint pulling for publicans.
The pair are joining forces to give industry customers a technical one-stop shop for equipment used to transfer beer from cellar to pump.
The move will create a single company responsible for the refrigeration of beer, the running of pipes from cellars to bars, and the fitting of beer taps.
Scottish Courage, Scottish & Newcastle's UK operating division, said the venture may result in some job cuts.
A spokesman for the company said: "Our customers are crying out for a simple one-stop shop.
"Changing markets mean more and more publicans are buying beer from two or three breweries, and as a result, they have three different telephone numbers for three technical services companies."
Scottish Courage employs about 390 employees in technical services, while Carlsberg-Tetley employs about 140.
The spokesman said any redundancies would probably be among back office staff, which make up about ten per cent of employee numbers.
He said: "We are confident there will not be swingeing redundancies. We will still need a similar number of technicians to do the job."
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