The Great British Beer Festival, organised by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, today opens its doors at London’s Olympia with the aim of reacquainting young people with their local community pub in the wake of damning new research.

This latest campaign spearheaded by the Great British Beer Festival, or the ‘World’s Biggest Pub’, begins as new findings show that since the Festival was last held at Olympia in 2005:

• The percentage of young pub goers (18-24 year olds) visiting the pub regularly – once a week or more – has plummeted from 38% to 16%.  During this period, meanwhile, over 8000 pubs have closed across the country.
• In the last 12 months, 39% of all pub goers have visited the pub less than they did a year ago, or haven’t gone at all.

Speaking in response to today’s findings, Mike Benner, CAMRA Chief Executive, said: ‘Hard working publicans have been hammered by the Government in recent times, and what we’ve seen in the past seven years is that young adults in particular have been priced out of an affordable night down their local pub.

‘The Government have encouraged people to use their pubs as community assets, yet this is a hollow message when punitive increases on the price of a pint have meant that consumers are deterred from visiting their local, causing beer sales figures in this country to fall flat.’

Consumers fight back against soaring price of a pint
With research in the same poll showing that more than 1 in 2 regular pub goers prefer to drink at home than the pub because it is cheaper, CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival is today urging pub goers to sign a beer tax e-petition to call for an end to above inflation tax increases on their pint. The petition has attracted over 72,000 signatures, and requires 100,000 to trigger a high profile debate in Parliament.

Since 2008, beer tax has been hiked by 42%, and 55% of all adults in this country agree going to the pub has become an unaffordable activity.

Real ale the ‘saviour of community pubs’
Central to reversing the decline of Britain’s historic pub industry is real ale, with CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival also today revealing how ‘Britain’s National Drink’ can offer hope to the future of community pubs. New findings show:

• In 4 years the percentage of 18-24 year olds having tried real ale has increased by 50%- from 30% in 2008, to 46% in the present day.
• In the same period the percentage of women trying real ale has doubled- from 16% in 2008, to 32%.

The real ale industry has experienced huge growth since the last time CAMRA held its Great British Beer Festival at London’s Olympia in 2005, with the number of brewers operational across the country having increased from 550 to over 850 in the present day. In addition, over 5,500 different real ales are now brewed nationwide.

Mike Benner continued: ‘The British beer industry is such a vibrant and diverse marketplace at the moment, and it has only been aided by the amount of pioneering new brewers coming into the industry. These brewers have given pubs a way of reaching out to local people through stocking local beer, and one of the most exciting aspects of this resurging interest in real ale is how accessible it is now becoming to consumers.

‘Our research shows that 38% of young real ale drinking adults agree they go for a pint of Britain’s National Drink because they want to support local businesses. This is a key indicator that the nation’s new generation of real ale drinkers are desiring quality, local products, a vital trend which offers much hope to getting more young people back into pubs and reversing this decline.’

Pubgoers can sign the beer tax e-petition by visiting www.saveyourpint.co.uk

Great British Beer Festival- Opening Times to the public-
Tuesday August 7th 
-5.00pm to 10.30pm
Wednesday 8th to Friday August 10th 
-12noon to 10.30pm
Saturday August 11th 
-11.00am to 7.00pm

Tickets- available from the official Festival website (www.gbbf.org.uk/tickets) or by calling See Tickets on 0844 412 4640.
Advance day tickets- £6 (CAMRA members), £8 (non-members)
Advance season tickets- £20 (CAMRA members), £23 (non-members)
Day tickets- £8 (CAMRA members), £10 (non-members)
Group bookings (10+)- £7 per person (CAMRA/non-CAMRA members), only available by phoning See Tickets on 0844 412 4650.