UK: Pub giants stock beer over fears of no-deal Brexit

About £6 million of Spanish lager Estrella Damm was snapped up by Marston’s pub chain ahead of the original March deadline for our EU exit – scheduled for October, the Daily Star reported on May 25.

The Wolverhampton-based firm said it had banked about three months’ worth of stock.

While most of Marston’s drinks are brewed here, the popular lager is imported from Barcelona.

Now, other pub chains say they are preparing for the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

Greene King, which runs 2,900 pubs, said it was continuing to monitor the withdrawal negotiations and had identified “key areas of risk” to its business from the feared outcome.

A spokesman said: “We’re working closely with our supply-chain partners to safeguard the continued supply of goods to our pubs and breweries, as well as the export of our beers.”

The UK’s pub and brewing industry supports almost 900,000 jobs and contributes more than £23billion to the economy.

But Brigid Simmonds, head of the British Beer & Pub Association, which represents pub chains, downplayed fears of beer shortages.

She said: “Around 82% of the beer sold in the UK is brewed here, mainly using British hops and barley. We can produce as much as 10million pints of beer per day, so drinkers needn’t worry about running out of beer.”

Earlier this year Tim Martin, the Brexit-backing boss of the Wetherspoon pub chain, banned several imported lagers including Denmark’s Tuborg and the Czech Republic’s Staropramen to show his support for British beer.

A third of EU beers are no longer on draught at its 900 pubs.

26 May, 2019