Chancellor makes big changes for small beer

“Fans of indie beer will be toasting the Chancellor’s big pledge for small breweries tonight as he delivers on expanding access to pubs and improves the generosity of Small Producer Relief. This relief is used by small independent breweries to invest in their businesses, expand and compete against the global brewers that dominate the sector and today’s announcement will give them a vital boost.

“Thanks to the Chancellor, pub goers will have a better choice of beers at the bar, including those from local independent breweries. The right to a guest beer will permit landlords in large pub company pubs in England and Wales to sell what customers want, which is a great tasting local beer.

“Accessing the local pubs has been a barrier to growth for independent brewers who say they can’t sell to around 62% of the pubs in their local communities because of restrict market access. This is despite 80% of beer drinkers wanting to see local beers on the bar.

“It was a previous Labour Chancellor who kickstarted the indie beer revolution by launching Small Breweries’ Relief nearly 25 years ago which has now become Small Producer Relief. This new right to a guest beer and the extra relief support will hopefully supercharge this revolution, helping them to grow and thrive.

“Lastly it is welcome to see positive changes to Small Producer Relief as it applies to lower strength beer. Small breweries were previously largely locked out of the growing market for lower strength beers because of a quirk of the alcohol duty system. By improving Small Producer Relief for them too, it will enable brewers to respond to changing tastes and produce more lower strength beers that don’t compromise on flavour.”

Andy Slee, SIBA Chief Executive

Notes to Editors

Relevant changes mentioned in the statement above are highlighted below, as detailed in the Red Book: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ae1ec57bdb574cf1c9b3f12/E03668986_HMT_Budget_2026_ELAY__2_.pdf

3.29 Small alcohol producers make an important contribution to the economy and local communities. To provide further help, the government will make Small Producer Relief in the Alcohol Duty system more generous, providing £10 million per year of support to over 2,000 small alcohol producers across the UK, based on the government’s Alcohol Duty Evaluation report published alongside the Budget. The government will implement a more generous discount taper for products below 3.5% ABV – strengthening incentives to produce lower-strength products – and uprate the marginal discount for products between 3.5%-8.4% ABV by RPI+10% from 1 February 2027. To further support brewers, the government intends to introduce a ‘Guest Beer’ provision in the Pubs Code, covering England and Wales. This will support brewers to continue to gain access to the market, whilst giving consumers a greater choice of beers available at the pub.

6.228 Guest beer – The government intends to legislate to introduce a ‘Guest Beer’ provision to support brewers to continue to access pubs covered by the Pubs Code in England and Wales, building on existing voluntary action taken by Pub Companies in order to offer tied tenants greater flexibility on the range of beers they stock.

Note the above Guest Beer right will cover publicans covered by the pubs code only.

For further information please contact SIBA Press Office via neil.walker@siba.co.uk.

Third-party news items are published as received for informational purposes. Publication does not imply endorsement by the Guild. Please use the contact details within the post for any enquiries.