Published: Friday, 19th March, 2010 9:00am

Leader: A final toast to Berkshire Brewery

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THE closure of the Berkshire Brewery is not just the end of an era, it marks the completion of several chapters of the town's history.

Since William Blackall Simonds' original brew house moved from Broad Street to Seven Bridges House in 1790, and when Courage decided it had outgrown the town centre and created a new modern brewery at Worton Grange, the surviving beer element of the 3Bs has played its full part in the changing face of Reading.

We grew accustomed to that towering brewery chimney pumping out aromatic clouds of promise long before its iconic status faced the challenge of the young pretender wind turbine which now catches the eye of weary motorists passing on the M4.

While the closure of the brewery will inevitably spell further dramatic changes in the landscape, the far thinking efforts of the company's management has ensured that Reading will not suffer the haemorrhages suffered by areas where major employers from British Leyland to Cadbury have, for one reason or another, called it a day.

We hear this week that while the cash is there to free up the railway bottleneck around Reading, a palatial new station might have to wait. A timely reminder, perhaps, that appearances aren't everything.