The full bitterness of the Morrell family feud will be out in the open on Tuesday at an industrial tribunal.

Former chief executive Charles Eld will claim he was unfairly dismissed in May, as he fought plans to sell the brewery and its 132 pubs.

Mr Eld and his mother Margie Eld, 76, the grand old lady of the Morrells family, feared that the sale would result in the brewery's closure and mass redundancies.

Mr Eld was managing director from 1988 to 1997 before becoming chief executive. Reports that Mr Eld had been escorted off the premises in May first alerted staff that the firm's days as a family run business were numbered.

Soon afterwards, the family fall-out became public as Mrs Eld dramatically quit the board after 54 years in protest at what she called the "needless destruction of the family business".

After the sale of the company to beef and burger tycoon Michael Cannon for £48m, she went on to accuse her relations of putting "greed before creed".

Until now Mr Eld has declined to comment on his dramatic departure from the company he served for 16 years. He has moved from his home at Charney Bassett and now lives in Staffordshire.

Ironically, the industrial tribunal will open just days before the closure of the 200-year-old brewery in St Thomas' Street. Morrells beer is now being brewed by the Dorset-based brewery Thomas Hardy.

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