A pint of success: How beer is revitalizing cities and local economies in the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the numbers of breweries have increased significantly since the 1980s, with many small and micro businesses successfully able to diversify their offers and to expand their operations well beyond their local areas. While the implications for the industry derived from this growth have been investigated by a number of studies (Carroll and Swaminathan 1991; Swaminathan 1998; Tremblay and Tremblay 2005), more recent research has focused on the impact of new beers and brewing on local economies and on the development of business strategies targeting a growing demand for diversified artisan beers (Cabras and Bamforth 2015; Danson et al. 2015; Moore et al. 2016). This chapter contributes to ­ these studies by investigating how the revival of microbrewing has influenced, and is currently influencing, the beer scene in the United Kingdom. I use primary and secondary information, collected between 2009 and 2015 and related to British breweries and pubs, to explore and examine how patterns and growth and decline of­ these two types of businesses have affected and still affect local economies and communities. In addition, I use in-­depth interviews with brewers, representatives from industry organizations, beer festival organizers, and publicans to analyze and further evaluate the social and economic effects associated with changes in the brewing industry.