Breweries battling a 'tsunami' of challenges, CAMRA warns, as 14 close across Yorkshire in just one year

Many in the pub and microbrewery sector have struggled since Covid hit, chairman Nik Antona said, with a slow return to socialising and many people still working from home. Now, amid spiralling costs with rising energy, fuel and transport bills alongside hefty taxes, profit margins for many have declined or vanished altogether.

The Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide, in its 51st edition, charts a "barometer" of the local beer scene. It notes a net loss of 13 breweries, from Leeds' Nomadic Beers to Malton's Bad Seed, and with just one new brewery opening.

"We've had an economic tsunami," Mr Antona said. "The pandemic has inflicted a lot of harm on small microbreweries. A lot of them are closing because it's just not economically viable."

The Guide, compiled by thousands of volunteers, helps identify significant industry themes and is acknowledged as the nation's definitive report on pubs. Surveying 4,500 across the UK, it covers 396 of the very best in Yorkshire. And nationwide, while it found there have been 82 new breweries, 142 have closed including 14 in the region.

Grain costs for the sector have risen "through the roof" with little barley getting out of Ukraine, while shipping and fuel costs have risen astronomically.

Mr Antona said he has seen stories of pubs' energy bills going from £5,000 to £30,000 or £40,000 a year, and brewery costs - in an energy intensive industry - could be even higher. When pubs struggle, he added, breweries struggle as they cut costs accordingly.

CAMRA is calling for Government support for the sector, which it argues faces too hefty taxes. Recent reforms are a "small step" but more can be done, said Mr Antona, and he called for a business rate reduction to be extended and for 'takeaway' reforms to be eased.

"Unfortunately if nothing is done to help the industry get through this period, we are going to see even more breweries close," he told The Yorkshire Post . "We are going to see more pubs closing.

"Our pubs in this country are iconic businesses - nobody else around the world has pubs like we do," he added. "It's sad to me that the current Government has let a great industry wither, to an extent. Particularly pubs and breweries, that have declined as a result of Government inactivity in that area.

"We want to see the Government step up and protect the industry. We know they can't throw money at it. They can do it very easily by rebalancing things."

A Government spokesperson said: "We recognise that pubs are key drivers of local economies, but no national government can control the global factors pushing up the price of energy and other business costs.

“We are supporting hospitality businesses and those in the supply chain across the UK with 50 per cent business rates relief, freezing alcohol duty rates on beer, cider, wine and spirits and reducing employer national insurance. This is in addition to the billions in grants and loans offered throughout the pandemic.”