ONE of the UK oldest breweries has gone into administration in West Cornwall, it was confirmed today.

Five people have been made redundant after Redruth Brewery, which employs 26 workers, was put into administration.

The firm brews specialists beers and carries out contract bottling and canning but the administrators were called in after the firm encountered financial difficulties.

Ian Walker, a spokesman for insolvency specialists Begbies Taylor, said he hoped that the company could be made viable.

'The reason we have gone for an administration procedure, rather than liquidation or something more terminal like that, is I desperately want to try and save the company,' he said.

'I am not interested in just selling it on to another owner. I want to try and make it viable and I am very positive about it at the moment.'

Founded in 1742, the brewery is now owned by a Hong Kong-based company.

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