Number of new breweries opening reaches record high

Demand for craft beer helped the boom, with many entrepreneurs starting their own business, said accountants UHY Hacker Young.

New breweries jumped by 55% in 2016, with craft beer sales increasing in this country as well as overseas.

Figures suggest that craft beer now accounts for between 8% and 9% of the total beer sold in licensed premises in the UK.

James Simmonds, partner at UHY Hacker Young, said: “Craft beer has proved it is no flash in a pan. Both supermarkets and pubs realise they are going to lose sales if they do not make way for some craft brands.

“So far the pricing discipline of cult beer brands has held steady - they have been largely untouched by the supermarket wars that have savaged margins elsewhere in the food and drinks sector.

“Recent high-profile takeovers by larger breweries have given entrepreneurs and their backers proof of what can be achieved and proper benchmarks of how craft breweries can be valued.

“It is a long way from the cottage industry of a decade ago.”