Ian Walker, partner at the Exeter office of business recovery and insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, and Administrator for Redruth Brewery, said in a statement to the Packet yesterday: "It is with great regret that I have to announce that I will be taking steps to wind down Redruth Brewery. This means that all its employees will have to be dismissed, and the brewery plant will be mothballed. There simply is not enough profitable business to cover the cost of manufacture and trading, at what is traditionally a slow time of year."

Mr Walker said he had been engaged in "some very encouraging talks" with people who were interested in buying the plant and the business.

"These discussions will be moved forward as a matter of importance," he said. "But these things always take time, and I would urge everyone to be patient."

The 300-year-old brewery, which was the oldest in Cornwall, was in recent years owned by a Hong Kong registered company and at one time also operated a number of public houses in the county.

At the beginning of January the brewery was placed into administration, despite having contracts with national supermarket chains, after creditors were said to be "knocking at the door" for payment.

Despite the intervention of Falmouth and Camborne MP Candy Atherton the company, which was taken over by the Hong Kong company in 1995, failed to attract a buyer.