WARNING: GLOBAL BREWERS DON’T WANT YOU TO READ THIS

This is CAMRA’s first ever report on the state of the UK beer market as experienced by the consumer. 

This report showcases everything that we are striving to be; the authoritative voice of beer drinkers and pubgoers, and a champion of independent brewers and consumer choice.  

While this report is by consumers and focused on their experience, it doesn’t mean it’s only for consumers. It’s for brewers, publicans, stockists, and the people who guide or make laws, and monitor and regulate markets. It’s also for the decision-makers who have the biggest impact on choice, availability and price of beer on the bar.  

In our opinion, the hard-won reputation of UK brewing has been trashed by big business and is unsupported by government. If nothing changes, the decline will continue and may become terminal.  

This report demonstrates that decline and the impact it is having directly on consumers. CAMRA has and will continue to campaign against what we see as the destruction of quality and choice in British beer and what can be done to save it.  

As consumers, we are angry. And that’s because we have a lot to be angry about. Evidence in the report shows in clear and compelling words what we’ve known to be true for a long time. 

Global brewers dominate the UK beer market and frequently make decisions that destroy or dismantle our rich brewing heritage. Flooding the market with uniform, dull beers and removing consumer choice, while running multi-million-pound marketing campaigns that trick consumers into thinking they’re buying an independently produced beer and not just a brand.  

Independent brewers are making some of the most interesting and exciting beers, focusing on high-quality ingredients, reviving traditional styles or exploring new possibilities, but they can’t get them onto bars or into shops. They can’t compete with the stranglehold that global brewers have on access to market, or their mass marketing campaigns. Consumers want beers from independent brewers but struggle to find them because the big four brewers dominate and dictate the status quo. Ordinary people who like beer are expected to pay up and shut up, accept the illusion of choice, all while successive governments treat beer and pubs as a cash cow.  

I hope everyone, from ordinary beer drinkers like me, to the people tasked with monitoring and regulating markets, takes something from this report. It’s a testament to the volunteers that have put it together, and we should all raise a pint of (independently brewed) beer to them.  

Together, we can get the changes we need to make this a market for the beer drinkers, instead of faceless corporations.