The real ale industry is maintaining its growth, says food guide

10th September 2009, 8:30am

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has released new figures showing the fastest-growing real ale areas in the UK.

Total beer sales in the beer and pub industry may be at their lowest since the Great Depression, but the Good Beer Guide can happily report that the real ale industry is maintaining its rapid growth, with more brewers in operation than at any time since the Second World War.

CAMRA has also found that 71 new breweries have started production in the UK in the last 12 months, taking the total to 711 breweries nationwide.

According to the guide, West Yorkshire has been revealed as the most prolific brewing area, followed by Norfolk in second and Derbyshire in third position. Other regions to make it into the top 10 included Derbyshire, North Yorkshire, Devon and Cumbria.

Roger Protz, Good Beer Guide editor, said: "For the first time since the 19th century, Britain is the undisputed top brewing country in the world. It has over 700 breweries and has more small craft breweries per head of population than all other major industrialised countries; but it also offers tremendous choice."
 
"While most other countries offer mainly mainstream lagers, Britain has enormous diversity: milds, bitters, strong ales, porters, stouts, barley wines, old ales, Xmas ales, spring beers, golden ales and harvest ales to name just a few. And some craft brewers are even producing lagers in the true Continental style."

In its latest Annual Industry Report, SIBA, The Society of Independent Brewers, revealed that their members had experienced a 7% year on year volume growth throughout 2007 and 2008; a record that is unlikely to be matched by any other sector of small and medium sized businesses. Further to this, new companies brewing through 2008 added a further 3% to year on year volumes, marking a total volume growth of 10%.
 
As for community pubs, the industry-led Intelligent Choice Report revealed how research from one national pub company showed well-kept beer to be a true indicator of success. Findings showed how pubs that obtained an award from Cask Marque, a quality accreditation body and sponsor of the Good Beer Guide 2010, were experiencing sales growth of 14%, while those without saw a decline of -2.5%.

Related Articles:

• 07 Sep 2009 - Win a copy of the Good Beer Guide 2010
• 04 Aug 2009 - More women drinkers opt for real ale, says CAMRA
• 04 Aug 2009 - CAMRA reaches 100,000 members
• 29 Jul 2009 - CAMRA hosts coeliac-friendly beers next week at festival
• 28 Jul 2009 - CAMRA launches petition to save historic pub
• 23 Jul 2009 - CAMRA declares National Pub Design Awards open

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