Seeking to cut costs in the U.K. market, Anheuser-Busch InBev plans to close the famed Stag Brewery in Mortlake, which is located in west London, according to media reports.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the new company created out of the merger between Belgian brewer InBev and St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos., made the cost-cutting decision because InBev already had sufficient brewing capacity in the U.K., media reports said. About 180 people are expected to lose their jobs with the closure, according to the Times of London. 

Anheuser-Busch originally got a stake in London’s Stag Brewery (no relation to Belleville’s old Stag brewery) through a 1995 joint venture with British brewer Scottish Courage Ltd.  Two years later, A-B  acquired full control in the operations, which brewed Budweiser. It was A-B’s only brewery in Europe.

The brewery’s history reportedly goes back to the 15th century. (Hmm, maybe William Shakespeare quaffed some of the ale once made there).

The BBC quoted a brewing engineer who said the cost-cutting move was a shock. “We think we’re a lean, mean brewing outfit, and we want to be given a chance,”  Simon McGuinness told the BBC.

Bloomberg reported the company also attributed the move to a sharp rise of U.K. tax on alcohol.

For more, see the Times of London ^[1] or BBC ^[2] stories.