Other than in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of small breweries had grown significantly since 2002, when Gordon Brown, as chancellor, introduced tax breaks for small brewers, leading to a “craft beer revolution”.
Breal has since renamed its beer operation Keystone Brewing Group and snapped up North Brewing Co from Leeds earlier this year, after the company was rescued from administration in January 2024.
While Siba’s UK brewery tracker is only in its third year, the data it uses is comparable to figures from the real ale group Camra, because they both count only companies that are actually producing beer.
This trend led Siba and its members to ditch the “misleading” craft beer tag last year, adopting “indie beer” instead.
The UK had 1,715 breweries at the end of 2024, 100 fewer than at the start of the year, according to the data released by Siba, which represents independent brewing companies.
