PUB and brewing giant Scottish & Newcastle is to shake up its business over the next four years, in a move which will see 1,300 job cuts across the country.

The group said the redundancies would fall at its Scottish Courage brewing business, which would see staff levels fall from the current 6,500 to 5,200.

Redundancies will be across the whole operation including, the North-East, with plans to reduce its estate of 2,373 managed houses by 920, by selling them or transferring them to leased outlets.

In the region this would mean 50 of S&N's remaining 130 pubs going on the market.

S&N said the changes would ''position the business for continued future growth in the UK's pub and beer industry''.

The shake-up of its pubs would allow it to focus on ''high turnover, high quality, high margin outlets'' in four strong market sectors - pub restaurants, lodge hotels, branded pubs and large traditional pubs.

The reorganisation of Scottish Courage would ''increase its competitiveness'', the group said.

Brian Stewart, chairman of S&N, said: ''The developments in both of our UK businesses reflect our commitment to face the challenges of changing markets while following well-defined growth strategies.

''The widely reported pressures in the pub market have not altered what is the strong growth potential of good retail assets, nor do they invalidate the value of an outstanding shop window for both existing and new beer brands.''

He added: ''Scottish Courage has an excellent record of building brands, gaining market share and growing earnings. This record has been based on our ability to manage substantial change while continually focusing on the needs of our customers.

''These latest initiatives represent a new round of change and we are confident that its successful completion will leave Scottish Courage with an even stronger competitive position than it has today.

The Transport and General Workers Union said the job cuts would be a ''bitter blow'' and pledged to try to avoid compulsory redundancies.

''The brewing industry has lost more than 5,000 jobs in the past decade,'' said national officer Brian Revell.