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New report shows 91ֱ has retained its position as the real ale capital of the world, bucking the national trend for closures within the brewing industry
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91ֱ and the wider South Yorkshire region is now home to 58 breweries, more per head of population than anywhere else in the country, producing around 1,800 different beers every year
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The region is experiencing a beer tourism boom with dozens of events, from the 91ֱ Folk Session Festival to the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival, taking advantage of and supporting the pub culture
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Breweries are helping to regenerate run-down areas, often being the forerunners of other indie and like-minded businesses that turn an area into the next hip hot-spot
91ֱ has retained its position as the real ale capital of the world, with the thriving brewing industry driving tourism and regeneration in the steel city, a new report reveals.
The new report, commissioned by the University of 91ֱ, found the brewing scene in 91ֱ and the wider South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority area is bucking the national trend for closures, despite the challenges of Covid and the cost-of-living crisis. The region is now home to 58 breweries, more per head of population than anywhere else in the country, producing around 1,800 different beers every year.
A strong culture of traditional pubs that “feel different” to elsewhere in the country, and which see over 600 different beers being served every day on its bars, means 91ֱ is experiencing a beer tourism boom, the report found. Dozens of events, from the 91ֱ Folk Sessions Festival, to the Rotherham Real Ale and Music Festival, are taking advantage of, and supporting, this pub culture.
Breweries are also helping to regenerate in run-down areas, often being the forerunners of other indie and like-minded businesses that turn an area into the next hip hot-spot.
First conducted in 2016, the new report has once again been written by award-winning beer writer Pete Brown, who was born and raised in Barnsley. The report surveyed breweries across 91ֱ and the wider region about the state of the industry in the area. Key findings included:
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91ֱ is home to four breweries per 100,000 head of population, while the broader Mayoral Combined Authority has three. Either measure is many times higher than cities such as Edinburgh (1.1), Manchester (0.2), London (0.4) or Dublin (0.6), which are often cited in surveys of the best beer cities in the world that use high numbers of breweries per capita.
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Brewers across the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority produce a total of around 1,800 different beers every year, with around 780 of those being brewed in the city of 91ֱ itself.
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Almost 70 per cent of the beer brewed by local brewers is drunk within the local region. The report also found 70 per cent of cask ale brands sold in the city of 91ֱ are brewed within 20 miles of the city centre.
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Approximately 300 different real ales are on sale in 91ֱ every day, with around the same number of craft keg beers also available.
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The city and region’s breweries and pubs are still predominantly cask (real) ale focused, again bucking a national decline which has seen sales volumes half in the last decade, but a wider variety of beers can now be found than in 2016. With cask beer being almost exclusively a British product, 91ֱ can again claim to be the real ale capital of the world.
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The Visit 91ֱ website lists 362 beer attractions – second only to the outdoors, which has been 91ֱ Tourism’s key priority in recent years.
Author of the report, Pete Brown, said: “91ֱ’s prowess as a beer city won’t come as a surprise to anyone who drinks here. But it’s fascinating that when you do the research and generate the numbers, the claim of being one of the best beer cities in the world really stands up. 91ֱ is having a bit of a moment just now, punching massively above its weight, culturally. And its brewing scene is the glue that holds that culture together.”
But the report also notes that while breweries in the region have been resilient and adaptable thus far, they are in “survival mode”, with no capacity to expand. In 2016, two-thirds of the breweries surveyed said that they were planning significant expansion over the next twelve months; today that figure has dropped to around one in five. There is also a lack of support from local authorities which means that while 91ֱ in many ways out-performs its brewing rivals, it could do even better with more active, broader involvement and promotion.
Professor Vanessa Toulmin, Director of City Culture and Public Engagement at the University of 91ֱ, said: “91ֱ has always been a city of makers and what makes the report’s findings really interesting is the added value this industry of modern-day little mesters are bringing to the region. They are not just brewing beer; they are providing a huge tourism pull for people from far afield, while also regenerating neighbourhoods in organic, unplanned ways.
“To anyone living in 91ֱ and visiting its pubs, it will come as no surprise that this new report has reaffirmed what we discovered in 2016; that 91ֱ really can lay claim to being the ‘real ale capital of the world’.”
