The historic link between Kilmarnock
and Johnnie Walker whisky has come to an end after 192 years.
On Friday 23 March 2012, the last Red Label whisky was bottled at the Hill Street premises.
Of course it was no longer a family or even a local company. The world-famous brand had been taken over by the global drinks company Diageo which has no emotional ties to the town that gave the world the "walking man". Perhaps their next "restructuring" will take Guinness production away from Dublin??
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These emotive photgraphs were taken by Graham Boyd at Sandy Stoddart's statue of Johnnie Walker in Strand Street.
I remember many people asking is Diageo would take Guinness production away from Dublin at the time of the announcement.
ReplyDeleteI would imagine the Irish Government would step in to prevent that. Pity the UK Government didn't have the courage to save Walker's in Killie despite the income it generates world wide.
That said, significant investment and change in practices was very much required.