A BITTER whiplash tore into brewery chiefs today after they closed Matthew Brown, Blackburn, with the loss of 140 jobs.

Feelings were summed up by a worker who said: "The lion's heart has been ripped out."

Owner Scottish and Newcastle was condemned by everyone from the Government's Department of Trade and Industry to the ordinary customers at the bar. "An act of treachery," said the town's MP Jack Straw.

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