Beer: Is There a Real Ale Crisis?

Lager is the fizzy pop choice of hooligans and anarchists. Real men and women drink the hoppy brown goodness of real ale. Does this reflect London or should we call time on the stereotype? What is the future of the London pub as more pass the baton to trendy bars serving watery fizz from carbonated kegs?

How Boozy is London?

Surveys by the Office for National Statistics suggest higher earners are more likely to drink five days a week, suggesting a London pattern. But Londoners seem to be less likely to binge. While in Wales 14% of those surveyed confessed to drinking more than 14 units in a single day, Londoners had half that rate with 7%.

Drink Aware says that 14 units is six pints of 4%-alcohol beer or six glasses of fancy 13%-alcohol wine. We also have the highest percentage of teetotallers (lightweights) at 29% of those surveyed, doubtless reflecting our society of quinoa and kale-eating veganism. They might well have the last laugh, however, given the health benefits.

The question is, what are those who do drink actually drinking in London? Despite recent political events we love Europeans. But we don’t like their booze, except for Belgium and her sweet 8% brunes and blondes. Continental lager beer is a problem flooding our taverns and young people with pale, bubbly, burpy water. And it’s more expensive. And some pubs serve nothing else, as Cask Marque’s latest cask report found that only 72% of pubs sell cask ale.

Nevertheless, all is not lost. Britain remains beery. Recent reports have shown a strong revival of cask ale with more young people and women taking to the darker pint. We must hope this is not a Farage-led coup against the world power of Heineken, although you may find his pub crawl rather fun…

What’s the Difference?

Lots. Everything. But for professional reasons, I should really go into the sciency differences. With lager the yeast sinks to the bottom to ferment- producing alcohol and carbon dioxide. This takes time and a cool temperature.

The lager is kept in kegs and pressurised with added carbon dioxide. With ale, the yeast stays at the top and ferments rapidly in a warm environment.

A secondary fermentation continues in the barrel, providing its own carbon dioxide for serving. The results speak for themselves when comparing a glass of watery Stella with a glass of rich and tasty Doom Bar.

This comes with the slight complication that cask ale needs to be kept well and won’t last, whereas kegged lager tastes the same every time.

Real Ale in Crisis?

Actually, there is an increasing number of small-scale breweries opening across the capital. There are classics like Truman’s of Hackney Wick and the more modern Brewheadz of Tottenham Hale. For a full list of current London brewers see the London CAMRA website at http://www.london.camra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=1972

The real crisis is the state of the London pub. It’s no secret that pubs are closing all across the countries. Why is that a problem? Draught beer needs care and attention in a cellar. Lager can be pissed out anywhere, hence it is the only pint available in many trendy bars.

Last Orders of the London Pub

London has seen some high profile pub closures in recent years. The Black Cap in Camden was a thriving LGBT pub until it closed to become flats and a restaurant. A report by Transparency International UK published on March 3, 2017, revealed the uncertain ownership structure of this and many  other London pubs bought as ‘buy to leave’ properties.

The danger is that pubs are simply too valuable as residential property to stay in business. The report details the difficulty of measuring the use of property, since overseas investors can come and go to their property as they please without it being “unoccupied”.

About 21,000 homes in London are classed as long-term empty and 23% of prime London property is bought as a second home. The ONS is now using electricity usage data to measure occupation, with 5% of homes in Central and West London found to have incredibly low usage.

So what can we learn from this?  Pubs are precious and their specialised product of real ale should be enjoyed while it lasts. In fact, London’s pubs are falling prey to the same pressures as our residential property. So when we manage to save our pubs we will also have somewhere to sleep at night. Perhaps we might end up with slightly cheaper rent and pints too – and how nice would that be?

Stewart Vickers @VickHellfire

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