Communist North Korea has bought a traditional English brewery in a £1.5m deal.

The world's most secret state plans to re-use equipment from the Ushers plant in Wiltshire to build a giant new brewery on the outskirts of its capital Pyongyang.





Workmen are already dismantling the Trowbridge plant. It will be shipped to impoverished North Korea early next year. The news comes just weeks after Britain announced it wanted to open formal diplomatic ties with Pyongyang. The deal has been arranged by Thomas Hardy Holdings, which acquired the Ushers plant after its brewing operation closed earlier this year. Peter Ward, director of Thomas Hardy Holdings, estimated the entire project would cost North Korea in the region of £10m. Keg beer Mr Ward told BBC News Online the brewery would be producing keg beer, suggesting it was for the domestic market rather than export.



