A MAN who has worked at Wisbech brewer Elgood & Sons for 50 years mashed his final brew yesterday.

Cambs Times: Elgoods Brewery, Wisbech. Keith Armstrong retires after 50 years working in the brewery.Elgoods Brewery, Wisbech. Keith Armstrong retires after 50 years working in the brewery. (Image: Archant)

Keith Armstrong, 67, of Wisbech, joined on July 15 1963 and has worked there since.

Family, friends and co-workers came together at the North Brink brewery to say farewell.

Mr Armstrong said: “To be honest I’ve never done anything else. I have lots of happy memories and have worked with smashing people over the years.

“I don’t have any major plans for retirement but I’m looking forward to the lie-ins.”

Company chairman Nigel Elgood said: “It is wonderful to have had such a loyal person in the company.

“Fifty years continuous service is remarkable although I suspect the fact workers were until recently given a beer allowance of three pints per day had a fair share to do with it.

“I would like to wish him a long and happy retirement and thank him from all of us. He should make sure he does some quality control today.”

During his time at Elgood’s Mr Armstrong covered most jobs from bottle-washing to moving beer from fermenting vessels to conditioning tanks.

He moved to the brewhouse in 1967, first as a labourer preparing raw materials, shovelling out spent grains and hops and performing cleaning duties in the fermenting department, before becoming brewhouse supervisor in 1990.

He and his wife Sandra have two children, Neil and Roxanne, and five grandchildren.

Head brewer Alan Pateman, who has worked with Mr Armstrong for 20 years, said it would be strange not having him around.

“It’s incredible that he has stayed loyal for so long,” said Mr Pateman. “He is the kind of guy who keeps his head down and gets on with the job but he had a very dry sense of humour and you could always rely on him for the occasional witty comment.”