THE two men at the helm of Devizes brewery Wadworth have pledged that despite redundancies and reorganisation the business is not being prepared for sale and they are totally committed to the town.

Chairman Charles Bartholomew, who is the great-grandson of John Smith Bartholomew, who was in partnership with brewery founder Henry Alfred Wadworth who created the firm in 1875, and chief executive officer Chris Welham who arrived in 2015 say they have big plans for the business.

Mr Bartholomew said: "We love Devizes and we are totally committed to the town as an independent brewery." Mr Welham said: "I can understand that when we make changes people do get worried but we are very excited about the future and our core business of brewing and running pubs."

"Having to make people redundant was horrible as we are very close knit team but we had to restructure." A total of 16 people were made redundant in January as the wine and spirit warehouse closed, the cellar service was contracted out and a new customer service team was set up.

A major update to the outside of The Bear Hotel costing more than £100,000 is about to get underway and this will be followed by extensive work to the bedrooms and bathrooms.

The flagship hotel in the Market Place now has Adrian and Jacqui Bartels at the helm following the departure of manager Lee Senn and the decision by former tenant Gordon Straker to step away. Mr Bartels is a chef and already has foodie events including a visit by celebrity cooks Tom Kerridge and Glynn Purnell.

Mr Bartholomew's son Toby has joined the business and is learning the trade from the bottom up and Rob Jacobsen has been appointed as new head brewer.

Mr Welham also apologised for the upset caused to regulars of The Cavalier pub in Eastleigh Road when the brewery put in plans to knock it down and replace it with homes.

He said: "It was always just a speculative application but when we realised the strength of feeling we withdrew it. We want people to know that it is now here to stay and we will be looking at how it is managed."

In the past two years the brewery has spent nearly £2 million on updating eight pubs in Devizes including total revamps of the Bell By The Green and the Three Crowns.