UK Beer Statistics
Production - Consumption - Breweries - Brands


Introduction
These are a few statistics on the UK brewing industry. I have compiled them because I found the sources available to me (for example Brauwelt) were incredibly inaccurate with regard to certain aspects of the British brewing industry. I have seen the number of breweries in the UK consistently cited as 60 - 70, when in reality there are more than 400.

Style fashion
I hope that these statistics provide an overview of the process of brewery concentration and the control of public houses, first through brewery ties, then through giant pub chain leases. Sadly, the figures on beer production also illustrate the decline of Britains indigenous beer styles and the relentless growth of lager.

It's frightening to see how quickly the change from a predominantly ale culture to a lager culture took place. In a generation, the 20 years form 1978 to 1998, the proportion ale to lager changed from 73:27 to 40:60. A disaster, in my opinion. Many aspects of traditional British beer are under threat. A great shame. Cask-conditioned ale is a thing to be treasured, along with Franconian Kellerbier or Düsseldorf Alt.

Cask beer now only accounts for around 9% of UK beer production. If cask's share of the UK beer market declines much further, then we may have to worry about its survival as a mainstream pub product.

Born to be mild
These statistics also tell the sad story of mild. It's rapid - and perhaps terminal - decline was as spectacular as lager's meteoric rise. I confess to being a mild lover. I'm one of those saddoes that drone on about need to preserve this ancient part of our beer culture. A beer brewed for centuries by British brewers. The hopelessly nostalgic part of me looks dreamily back to a paradise of handpumped dark mild, drunk in friendly corner locals set in a sea of brick terrace. Like the Rovers Return, but with no idiots leaving their pints less than half finished.

Of course, this eden never actually existed, except in my fantasies. Modern mild (as delicious as sometimes can be) is a pathetic shadow of the ale in its glory years around 1900. Desperately hugging the bottom of the scale of gravities capable of generating a serious beer, they are the progeny of a very specific set of circumstances. One of its most distiguishing features - a very low original gravity of 1030-34 - is the direct result of emergency legislation, enacted during WW I. It's hard to conceive that before 1914 it was usually stronger than bitter.

How's business?
UK beer consumption peaked in 1979 at 69.5 million hectolitres. Since then consumption has declined gradually to its current level, below 60 million hl. Excess brewing capacity is another threat to what remains of Britain's regional breweries. Beer production has followed consumption, though there has been a slow but steady increase in the market share of imported beer. Now that large parts of Britain's brewing industry are in the hands of multinational industrial brewers, it's easy to see why more beer could be shipped in from Europe in the coming years. UK beer exports have underachieved as long as anyone can remember. Exports in 1860 and were a little more than they were in 1980, around the 800,000 hl level. But in the last 15 years exports have risen to well over 3 million hl a year. I regret to report that little of this export beer is of the highest quality

The impact of the loss of Guinness to the UK brewing industry's export figures can be observed in the numbers for 1910 and 1924. The UK shifted dramatically from a net exporter to a net importer, which is what it has remained ever since.

You may be as surprised as I was to see that the total number of pubs in the UK had increased significantly in the last 40 years. All I can remember are pub closures and derelict boozers on every other corner. Just shows the value of subjective observations.






Number of Breweries in the UK

Number of breweries in the UK by division and by type (independent brewery, brewpub, national brewery)
Division 1927 1985 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Com Oth Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat Ind Bp Nat
England

149 65 34 129 68 35 120 65 35 120 55 34
137
43
34
136
51
31
152
50
28
180
51
26
262
26
205
108
26
226
140
22
250
147
21
256
139
21
Total England
588


246

232

220

209

214

218

230

257
288

339

388

418

416
Wales

7
4
3
6
2
4
8
1
3
7
>1
3
7
0
3
5
0
3
5
1
3
7
0
3
11
3
7
3
3
9
4
3
8
6
3
9
5
2
Total Wales
45


14

12

12

11

10

8

9

10
14

13

16

17

16
Scotland


10
3
5
9
3
4
7
1
4
7
2
4
8
2
4
8
2
4
8
2
4
8
2
3
13
3
11
5
3
14
7
3
14
9
3
15
16
2
Total Scotland
41


18

16

12

13

14

14

14

13
16

19

24

26

33
N. Ireland

2
1
1
3
1
1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1
1
1

1
2

1
2

1
2

1
Channel Islands


5
0

4


4


4


4


4


3
1

3
1

5

3
2

3
1

3
1

3
1

Isle of Man


2
0

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

2


2

2

2
2


2


2
1

2
1

Offshore

9
1
1
8
2
1
6
1
1
6
1
1
6
1
1
7
0
1
6
1
1
6
1
1
8
1
6
2
1
7
1
1
7
2
1
7
2
1
Total Offshore
25


11

11

8

8

8

8

8

8
9

9

9

10

10
Total
677
1045
175
73
43
152
75
44
141
68
43
140
59
42
158
46
42
156
53
39
171
54
36
201
54
33
294
33
229
118
33
256
152
29
279
164
28
287
162
26
Grand total
1722

291

271

252

241

246

248

261

288
327

380

437

471

475


Ind = Independent brewery
Bp = Brewpub
Nat = National Brewery
Com = Commercial brewer producing > 1000 barrels per year
Oth = brewer of < 1000 barrels per year (including publican brewers)


Source:
Good Beer Guide 1985 - 1999
1928 Brewers' Almanack

For a breakdown of breweries per county go to my Detailed Statistics page.

Number of breweries in the UK
Year breweries
1690 48,280
1750 49,417
1790 28,300
1800 28,382
1870 28,679
1881 17,579
1890 12,000
1900 6,290
1905 5,180
1910 4,512
1912 4,062
1913 3,846
1914 3,647
1920 2,914
1927 1,722
1930 1,418
1932 1,286
1934 1,197
1935 1,144
1936 1,103
1937 1,027
1938 946
1939 885
1940 840
1941 810
1942 798
1943 757
1944 741
1945 708
1946 680
1947 648
1948 625
1949 602
1950 567
1951 539
1952 524
1953 501
1954 479
1955 460
1956 426
1957 416
1958 399
1959 378
1960 358
1964 295
1965 274
1966 246
1967 243
1968 220
1969 177
1970 177
1971 170
1972 162
1973 162
1974 152
1975 147
1976 142
1977 144
1978 143
1979 145
1980 191
1981 210
1982 244
1983 273
1984 311
1985 305
1986 281
1987 277
1988 277
1989 277
1990 279
1991 288
1992 306
1993 396
1994 410
1995 481
1996 499
1997 545
1998 551
1999 498
2000 500
2001 506
2002 486
2006 633
Sources:
BBPA Statistical Handbook 2003, p. 92
Brewers' Almanack 1928
Brewers' Almanack 1955 p.69
Brewers' Almanack 1962 p.67
Good Beer Guide 1985 - 2007

Notes:
1927: brewers producing >1,000 barrels
For the years 1969-1979 the BBPA figures list brewers actually brewing, for the other years the number of brewing licences


UK Beer Production

Beer production, import, export and consumption (by type: cask-conditioned, lager) in hectolitres, (by type: Ale , Lager, bottled, draught) in %

UK 1750 1860
 1890
 1910
 1924
 1938 1939 1945 1951 1951 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
Production 5,509,642 33,287,788 50,419,656 56,133,867 41,609,566 - 39,584,921 50,785,425 - 40,586,688 43,391,751 - - - - - - - - - 55,148,799 - - - - - - - - 66,280,680 64,830,688# - - - - 59,879,000 59,439,859 59,859,000 60,156,672 60,015,928 61,783,000 59,585,513# 57,617,000# 56,746,000# 58,333,000# 56,800,000# 58,448,000 59,139,000#
64,815,820+ 		56,652,000#
60,915,250+ 		57,854,000#
62,509,750+ 		55,279,000#
58,912,530+ 		56,802,000#
57,031,830+ 		54,902,000
56,672,000#
60,646,080+ 		58,014,000#
64,253,010+		 73,621,610+
Consumption - - - - - - - - - - 45,119,959 47,100,000 47,500,000 47,800,000 50,100,000 50,100,000 51,300,000 52,200,000 53,400,000 55,700,000 57,300,875 59,400,000 60,500,000 63,600,000 65,400,000 66,600,000 68,000,000 67,000,000 68,200,000 69,500,000 66,658,725 63,600,000 62,000,000 62,600,000 62,400,000 61,815,000 62,287,474 62,803,000 63,275,956 63,213,767 65,184,000 63,071,385 60,880,032 59,177,000 60,575,000 59,129,000 60,141,000 61,332,730
67,009,550+ 		58,712,140
62,975,390+ 		58,917,000
64,436, 080+		 58,200,000
60,730,480+ 		58,600,000
58,853,450+ 		58,800,000
63,025,120+ 		59,300,000
67,324,473+ 		76,300,750+
Exports - 875,276
 823,551
 934,360
 429,872 - - - - - 713,540 - - - - - - - - - 669,353 - - - - - - - - - 751,181 - - - - 984,000 1,011,394 1,145,000 1,232,330 1,335,433 1,624,000 1,842,766 2,100,000 2,100,000 3,200,000 3,019,000 3,654,000 3,290,710+ 3,853,530+ 3,713,770+ 3,636,850+ 3,193,890+ 4,149,900+ 3,390,680+ 4,313,720+
Imports - - - 83,345 2,279,034 - - - - - 2,441,747 - - - - - - - - - 2,821,429 - - - - - - - - - 2,579,219 - - - - 3,688,000 3,859,008 4,089,000 4,351,613 4,533,271 5,066,000 5,328,639 5,500,000 4,600,000 5,200,000 5,591,000 5,347,000 5,484,440+ 5,913,670+ 5,640,100+ 5,454,800+ 5,015,520+ 6,528,940+ 6,462,400+ 6,992,860+
cask-conditioned Ale - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11,100,000 10,500,000 10,500,000 10,400,000 10,500,000 10,400,000 9,800,000 9,600,000 9,500,000 9200,000 9,200,000 9,400,000 9,700,000 10,300,000 10,400,000 9,700,000 8,300,000 7,300,000 6,400,000 6,137,100 5,646,132 5,155,164 4,827,852 - -
Total keg Ale - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 26,100,000 25,500,000 23,700,000 22,600,000 21,000,000 19,600,000 18,700,000 17,700,000 17,400,000 16,800,000 16,000,000 14,800,000 13900,000 12,600,000 11,900,000 11,900,000 12,700,000 12,500,000 12,200,000 11,900,000 - - - - -
Total Ale - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 13,419,792 - -
Total Lager - - - - - - - - - - 450,000 500,000 900,000 900,000 900,000 900,000 900,000 1,500,000 2,000,000 3,300,000 3,900,000 5,800,000 7,000,000 9,300,000 10,700,000 13,200,000 15,900,000 16,300,000 18,300,000 20,200,000 20,500,000 19,600,000 20,500,000 22,600,000 24,300,000 25,300,000 26,900,000 29,500,000 31,700,000 32,800,000 33,400,000 31,700,000 31,200,000 3,100,000 31,500,000 32,600,000 33,600,000 35,100,000 35500,000 36,600,000 - - - - -
Beer type: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cask (%) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 16.7 16.5 16.9 16.6 16.8 16.8 15.7 15.3 15 14.6 14.2 15 15.9 17.4 17 16.4 13.8 11.9 10.9 11 10.2 9.1 8.8 - -
Ale & stout (%) - - - - - - - - - - 99 99 98 98 98 98 98 97 96 94 93 90 88 85 84 80 77 76 73 71 69.3 69.2 67 63.9 61 59.1 56.6 53.4 51.4 49.7 48.6 48.9 48.6 48.1 47 45.2 44.1 42.8 39.5 37.7 - 34.4* 32.4* - -
Bitter & Stout (%) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 44.9* - - - - 39.3* 37.5 - - 32.9* 31.1* - -
Mild (%) - - - - - - - - - - 25 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 9 - - - -
- - - - - - 3.7* - - - - 2.3* 2 - - 1.5* 1.3* - -
Lager (%) - - - - - - - - - - 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 4 6 7 10 12 15 16 20 23 24 27 29 30.7 30.8 33 36.1 39 40.9 43.4 46.6 48.6 50.3 51.4 51.1 51.4 51.9 53 54.8 55.9 57.2 60.5 62.3 - 65.5* 67.5* - -
Draught (%) - - - - - 75 - - 67 - 64 - - - - - - - - - 73 - - - - - 77.1 - - - 78.9 - - - - 77.2 75.8 74.4 73.4 72.1 71.6 70.3 69.3 68.2 67 65.3 65.4 65* 63.9 - - 60.3* 58.3* - -
Bottle/Can (%) - - - - - 25 - - 33 - 36 - - - - - - - - - 27 - - - - - 15.7 - - - 21.1 - - - - 22.8 24.2 25.6 26.6 27.8 28.4 29.7 30.7 31.8 33 34.7 34.5 35* 36.1 - - 39.7* 41.7* - -
All On Sales (%) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 83 81.6 80.7 80.1 79.3 78.5 77.7 76.7 75.4 74.5 72.6 72 - - 68.1 - - - - -
Off Sales (%) - - - - - - - - - - n/a - - - - - - - - - n/a - - - - - n/a - - - n/a - - - - 17 18.4 19.3 19.9 20.7 21.5 22.3 23.3 24.6 25.5 27.5 28 - - 31.9 - - - - -
Sources:
MMC Reports into various proposed (some eventually accepted, some refused) brewery mergers in the UK.
An absolute goldmine of UK brewing industry statistics. You have to dig them out, so I hope to have saved some of you
a bit of effort. It's just a pity some of the most interesting stuff - brewery capacity and actual production, dicscount per
barrel offered to various "free trade" customers - was blanked out in their website documents.
* British Beer and Pub Association
+ UK Government statistics
# Brauwelt Brevier 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005



Number of Pubs in England and Wales

England and Wales Number at 30 June each year
On Licenses Total
Date Pubs Residential
& Restaurant		 Licensed
Clubs		 Total Off Licences On & Off
Licences		 Registered
clubs 		Theatres
1900 .. .. .. 102,189 .. .. .. ..
1905 .. .. .. 99,478 25,405 124,883 6,589 ..
1910 .. .. .. 92,484 24,438 116,922 7,536 ..
1915 .. .. .. 86,626 23,202 109,828 8,902 ..
1920 .. .. .. 83,432 22,198 105,630 8,994 ..
1925 .. .. .. 80,420 22,131 102,551 11,780 ..
1930 .. .. .. 77,821 22,166 99,987 13,526 ..
1935 .. .. .. 75,528 22,102 97,630 15,657 ..
1940 .. .. .. 73,365 21,884 95,249 16,463 ..
1945 .. .. .. 72,960 21,599 94,559 15,590 ..
1950 .. .. .. 73,483 23,532 97,015 19,221 ..
1955 .. .. .. 72,658 23,914 96,572 21,164 ..
1960 .. .. .. 69,184 23,670 92,854 23,773 ..
1961 .. .. .. 68,936 23,934 92,870 24,418 ..
1962 .. .. 1,153 72,000 24,644 96,644 21,459 ..
1963 67,450 4,019 1,940 73,409 25,258 98,667 20,663 ..
1964 66,931 5,036 2,045 74,012 25,838 99,850 21,010 ..
1965 66,570 5,989 2,199 74,758 26,352 101,110 21,405 ..
1966 66,373 6,853 2,318 75,544 26,590 102,134 21,872 ..
1967 65,916 7,550 2,377 75,843 26,702 102,545 22,368 182
1968 65,541 8,442 2,438 76,421 26906 103,327 22,705 146
1969 65,048 9,298 2,488 76,834 27434 104,268 23,176 149
1970 64,702 10,313 2,511 77,526 27910 105,436 23,521 143
1971 64,087 11,228 2,563 77,878 28166 106,044 23,985 150
1972 63,351 12,337 2,659 78,728 28808 107,536 24,368 149
1973 63,878 13,492 2,702 80,072 29710 109,782 24,593 159
1974 63,827 14,241 2,854 80,977 30556 111,533 24,665 153
1975 64,614 14,894 2,802 82,310 31644 113,954 24,931 182
1976 65,027 15,675 2,870 83,572 32,595 116,167 25,333 191
1977 65,543 16,688 2,919 85,150 33,758 118,908 25,835 201
1978 66,057 17,945 2,980 86,982 35,009 121,991 26,229 211
1979 66,578 19,232 3,036 88,846 36,182 125,028 26,558 226
1980 67,091 20,622 3,089 90,802 37,252 128,054 26,889 241
1980 67,091 20,622 3,089 90,802 37,252 128,054 26,889 241
1982 68,373 22,590 3,212 94,175 39,362 133,537 27,057 ..
1983 69,136 23,679 3,363 96,178 40,853 137,031 27,192 261
1985 70,331 25,263 3,552 99,146 42,646 141,792 26,725 ..
1986 71,200 26,503 3,731 101,434 43,891 145,325 26,726 311
1988 71,875 28,411 3,845 104,131 44,888 149,019 26,186 ..
1989 72,712 29,426 3,934 106,072 45,507 151,579 26,015 271
1991 74,299 31,106 3,926 109,331 47,944 157,275 25,073 ..
1992 74,053 29,787 3,798 107,638 46,063 153,700 25,073 242
1994 75,522 31,409 4,281 111,212 47,735 158,947 24,239 ..
1995 75,392 30,042 4,272 109,706 45,986 155,692 24,005 272
1997 78,098 31,223 3,951 113,272 47,753 161,025 22,836 ..
1998 77,934 29,779 3,847 111,560 45,425 156,985 22,614 270
2000 77,876 28,774 3,996 110,646 45,450 156,096 21,036 ..
2001 78,540 27,968 3,748 110,256 44,696 154,952 22,037 218
Sources:
Liquor Licensing England and Wales, July 1997 - June 1998





Number of Pubs in Scotland


Type of premises

Number of licences

1972

1980

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Hotel

2,609

2,959

2,612

2,562

2,524

2,491

2,455

Restricted Hotel

250

438

542

521

532

506

475

Public House

4,176

4,472

5,267

5,152

5,094

5,080

5,084

Restaurant

406

921

1,507

1,500

1,490

1,476

1,473

Entertainment


169

889

844

828

828

840

Refreshment


34

380

416

453

495

499

Off-sale

3,819

4,899

6,386

6,337

6,397

6,368

6,336

Clubs
2,125
            

All licences in force

13,385

13,892

17,583

17,332

17,318

17,244

17,162



Ownership of Pubs in the UK



1974 1983 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2003
National brewers
















 
Courage - managed           400   1,646                    
Courage - tenanted           4,600   7,282                    
Courage total (1991> inc. Grand Met) 5,921 5,300 5,012 4,960 5,013 5,017 4,920 8,928 7,101 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Grand Met - managed           1,676                        
Grand Met - tenanted           3,590                        
Grand Metropolitan total 5,946 6,500 6,222 6,164 6,419 5,266 4,780 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
S&N - managed           852   830 800         1,873        
S&N - tenanted           1,377   1,091 1,050         747        
S&N total 1,678 1,485 2,269 2,200 2,272 2,251 2,000 1,921 1,850 1,850 3,500 2,721 2,600 2,620 2,600 2,600 2,650 n/a
Allied - managed           2,326   2,621                    
Allied - tenanted           4,308   3,388                    
Allied total 7,665 7,300 6,748 6,700 6,678 6,610 6,700 6,009 5,493 4,500 4,300 n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
Bass - managed           2,871   2,967           2,782        
Bass - tenanted           4,405   2,451           1,443        
Bass total 9,256 7,800 7,405 7,337 7,190 7,048 7,000 5,418 4,788 4,550 4,300 4,327 4,200 4,225 4,200 3,050 n/a n/a
Whitbread - managed           1,851   2,016           2,178        
Whitbread - tenanted           4,777   3,968           2,146        
Whitbread Total 7,865 7,000 6,464 6,453 6,483 6,250 6,000 5,984 5,280 4,600 4,600 4,213 4,300 4,324 3,850 3,350 n/a n/a
Big 6 - managed           9,976   10,080           6,833   6,400 2,300 n/a
Big 6 - tenanted           23,057   18,180           4,336   2,600 350 n/a
Total national brewers (Big 6 only) 38,331 35,385 34,120 33814 34,055 32,442 31,400 28,260 24,512 15,500 16,700 11,261 11,100 11,169 10,650 9,000 2,650 n/a
Other brewers
















 
Other brewers - Managed           3,000                   3,600 3,948 2,600*
Other brewers - Tenanted           9,000                   6,700 5,939 5,800*
Other brewers - Total 13,800
12,080
11,794 12,758








10,400 9,400 8,400*
All brewers 52,131
46,200
45,849 45,200








19,400 12,050 8,400*
As % of UK full on-licences 72   57   57 55                   22    
Retail chains
















 
Retail chains - Tenanted                               19,500 23,000 23,800*
Retail chains - Managed                               4,000 9,000 9,100*
Retail chains - Total







6,297 17,110 15,357 17,511 19,012 18,839 20,277 23,500 32,000 32,900*
Independent pubs




16,000








15,700 16,000 18,700*
Total pubs




61,200








58,600 60,050 60,000*
Total Full on-licences 72,404
81,052
80,364 83,000 82,890 83,669 83,400 84,087 84,845 84,784


87,400
 
Sources:
MMC Reports
Good Beer Guide 1983-2001
* British Beer and Pub Association



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