Industry players slammed for ousting micro-brewers
The commercial director of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) has hit out at pub companies and brewing giants for squeezing micro-brewers out of the market.
Nick Stafford (pictured), who owns the Hambleton brewery in Yorkshire, claims small brewers are effectively excluded from 73 per cent of the UK's pubs.
In the latest edition of the Good Beer Guide, produced by the Campaign for Real Ale, Mr Stafford argues that small brewers cannot compete with discounts demanded by the large chains and warns many may be forced to close.
In 2001, Mr Stafford helped negotiate supply deals with two pub companies, Unique and Enterprise, but SIBA is disappointed at the lack of take-up from other pub operators.
Mr Stafford writes: "No other national pub group, such as Punch or Pubmaster, have made similar commitments to small brewers' products. The consumer does not know what he or she is missing when it comes to the real ale being produced by Britain's smallest brewers.
"Pub groups control 58 per cent of the pubs in Britain. Add to that the big brewers' national and tenanted pubs, and the percentage of pubs closed to small brewers rises to 73 per cent.
"Don't think for a moment that the inroads with Unique and Enterprise are going to change that. These two groups are making less than 10 per cent of their estates available - a mere drop in the ocean."
He also warned that the "stranglehold" of the larger operators meant prices for the consumer would continue to rise, with discounts from the brewers not being passed on to the licensee by pub operators.
