Fancy a pint? It’s not only an invitation that’s hard to turn down, it’s also been music to the ears of publicans since the age of coaching inns and ye olde tavern in the town. But in 2025, is British beer under threat?
The idea that popping into the local for a pint of Best could soon become a thing of the past is being taken seriously. And the assault is on two fronts. First there’s the battle to save pubs, clubs and bars from closure as the hospitality industry continues to struggle in the post-pandemic world. In England and Wales, 305 pubs closed for good in the first half of last year, according to the real estate data company Altus. There are predictions things could get worse this year, with the rise in the minimum wage and employer’s National Insurance Contributions making it more expensive to maintain and hire staff.
The second fight for survival is out in the fields of southern England. The hop gardens of Kent are world famous for producing the green cone-shaped flowers that are the vital ingredient in British beer, providing its trademark flavour, aroma and bitterness. Hops give life to beer and while the popular image of Kent is of a county with endless hectares of hop poles and wires stretching into the distance, heavy with vines and fragrant ready-to-harvest hop flowers, the reality today is rather different. There are far fewer farmers growing hops; recent reports suggest UK production fell by a whopping 42% between 2019 and 2023 and there are claims that the industry is in “serious crisis”.
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So what’s happening? The answer is a combination of factors. The rising price of energy and fertiliser has been blamed, along with the increase in home drinking of supermarket-bought bottled ale and the trend towards beers with citrus notes and tropical fruit flavours from hops grown in Australia, New Zealand and the Americas. But the war to save British beer is not lost. Far from it.
Saving Britain's beer
Huge steps have been made to increase the range of hop flavours and aromas, as well as expand their complexity and delicacy which are so important in giving beer its character. According to the British Hop Association there were 13 homegrown commercial varieties in 1998; that’s risen to an impressive 31 today. They include mild and lightly floral Boadicea, grassy and minty Sussex, and the deeply fruity and spicy Pilgrim.
Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Kent have been working on hop genes to protect the plants from climate-change drought while also giving the taste a boost. “Brewers want good-tasting beer, so they need their hops to produce the flavour their customers want,” researcher Dr Helen Cockerton says. “But the growers are interested in having plants that are able to produce good yields in the presence of diseases and droughts, so our aim is to give plant breeders the information they need to do both.”
Somerset-based Butcombe Brewery produces a number of ales and lagers, but it also owns more than 100 pubs and bars, so knows how little profit beer sales make; a £5 pint will earn the brewer about 10p. “With rising costs we’re seeing something of a return to UK hops in order to sate customers’ need for provenance,” says brand manager Simon Dehany. He told me that while they use some overseas hops, the brewery is proud to support British growers. “UK varieties impart a different and unique profile to our beers.”
So here’s hoping that news of the demise of British beer has been greatly exaggerated. Don’t rush to write it off just yet.
Main image: Getty
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