The firm claims it is not sustainable to keep the brewery open

Discussions were organised after owners Interbrew decided to shut the famous Strangeways brewery last week.

The site is set to shut in 2005, with the loss of 55 jobs, because bosses said it will reduce distribution costs.

Workers and unions spent the weekend in Manchester rallying support for their bid to keep the brewery open.

Staff are supported by the likes of the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra), which has pledged to fight plans to close the brewery.

Camra has revived a campaign it launched in 1989 to fight take over plans of the brewer by Whitbread, which was then taken over by Interbrew in 2000.

Interbrew is planning to keep its cask ale production in Manchester after the closure - moving it to Hyde Brewery, Moss Side - but the main production work will be moving to Lancashire, Scotland and Wales.

Its chief executive Steve Cahillane said on Thursday: "It is just not sustainable to continue brewing keg ales at Boddingtons and then transport them to our other brewery sites for packaging when those sites already have the brewing capacity in place."

Boddingtons has been brewed in the city since 1778 and its brewery in Strangeways, just north of the city centre, is one of Manchester's best-known landmarks.