UK local brewers in growth

Cask ale: 'Part of the solution'

SIBA attacks 'schizophrenic' government

Britain’s smaller, independent brewers produced a record 1 million hectolitres last year, bucking an overall trend of falling sales in the country with a 3.75% increase in volumes.

Despite the increasing strength of the country’s independent brewers, which achieved a 17% increase in turnover, the body representing them today called on the government for greater support.

“We urge whoever is elected in May to take a fresh look at the local brewing industry,” said Julian Grocock, chief executive of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA).

“Cask ale – which accounts for over 80% of our output – is a relatively low alcohol drink, served in the controlled environment of a pub, where drinking is part of a social occasion, rather than and end in itself.

“As such we deserve to be treated as part of the solution to alcohol–related harm rather than part of the problem.”

SIBA branded the government’s treatment of independent brewers “schizophrenic”, welcoming continued support for progressive beer duties, which gives tax breaks to producers of less than 60,000 hl a year, but attacking successive duty increases that have amounted to 20% in the past two years.

British Beer & Pub Association figures suggest that overall beer sales in Britain declined by 4.2% last year. Year-on-year the local brewing sector – that is, brewers of less than 30,000 hl a year – achieved an increase in volumes of 3%. The additional .75% came from new brewers. Three-quarters of local brewers recorded a volume increase in 2009.

Grocock added: “Over 60% of our members were founded after 2000, so the current recession is the most severe they have traded through. That the vast majority managed a sales uplift last year and are anticipating the same in 2010 speaks volumes about the resilience and resourcefulness of the UK’s quality independent brewers.”