Philip Malpass, a spokesman for Interbrew UK, which owns the Boddingtons brand, told Brand Republic: "The brand is synonymous with Manchester and stays in Manchester."
This is despite plans that will see 90% of brewing moved out of the city, almost certainly to facilities in Wales.
The changes have caused outrage in Manchester, where Boddingtons has been brewed for 228 years.
Manchester has been closely associated with the beer's identity in much of its advertising. Sykes made her name by appearing in the 1990s Boddingtons ads, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, using her strong Manchester accent to comic effect by delivering the line "Eh Tarquil, are your trolleys on right way round?".
The campaign featured the "Cream of Manchester" slogan, which was dropped two years ago.
The move from Manchester is being opposed by the Transport & General Workers Union.
Franny Joyce, T&GWU spokesman, said: "The brewery has always sold its beer as the 'Cream of Manchester'. Now it looks like being the sour grapes of South Wales. This is just a marketing ploy to back up a manufacturing strategy."
Joyce said that when similar plans were mooted two years ago, Interbrew had to backtrack after a local outcry. Now it had taken the same tack as Scottish Courage, which he said had implemented a similar strategy north of the border, aimed at paying lip-service to local links while moving the bulk of production away.
Joyce said that there was a deep groundswell of opinion against the plans and a local radio station was calling for a boycott of Interbrew products.
However, Malpass said that while it was true the plans were for the production of kegged and canned beer to be moved, casked beer, traditionally seen as the variety most linked to locality, would continue to be brewed in Manchester.
"We already have to transport the beer to Wales to be canned," he said. "This could actually improve the quality."
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