The bitter battle to save Vaux 25 years ago, with 600 Sunderland jobs on the line

Twenty five years have passed since Sunderland was facing the loss of about 600 jobs and its brewing industry.

Talks to secure the future of Vaux looked to have failed in 1999.

Talks had ended with the buyout team

The Swallow Group, the parent company of Vaux brewery, announced that it had ended talks with the management buy-out (MBO) team, led by Frank Nicholson.

It meant the axe hung over the livelihood of hundreds of Wearsiders, the Sunderland Echo reported in March 1999.

City MP Chris Mullin called for a Commons debate in “this long fiasco” and he hit out at the “scorched earth policy” which could bring ruin to the workforce.

Mr Mullin said: “I have written to the Speaker requesting a debate so that the issues can be raised by this long fiasco can be properly explored.”

A reasonable offer on the table

He said the rejection of the MBO was a “classic case of the triumph of City greed and myopia over the public interest.”

He added: “It cannot be stressed too strongly that Vaux is a viable company. There is a reasonable offer on the table.”

In the same era, another landmark was disappearing from Sunderland.

Another landmark facing its final days

The bulldozers moved in to demolish a footbridge connecting Crowtree Leisure Centre and The Bridges.

It was removed to make way for the £1million development under way at Crowtree.

Crowtree’s massive facelift was expected to include a new ground level entrance and a state of the art reception area.

City council chief executive Colin Sinclair said at the time that the new-look Crowtree would fit in perfectly with the other city centre developments.

‘A great asset to the city’

“The whole image of the city centre is changing with all the new developments currently underway, ” he said.

“Crowtree Leisure Centre is already a great asset to the city as it is the most popular leisure centre in the country.

“We decided to build upon this popularity and prestige to make it even more accessible to all.”

While the development work was going on, the footbridge was used as the main temporary access point to the centre.

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