UK beer imports 1950 – 1952

I chanced upon a table in the Brewer’s Guardian which sheds some light on the British beer market in the 1950’s.

I say an interesting table. Actually, there were two of them.

UK beer imports 1950 - 1952
	Month ended December			Twelve Months ended December
	1950	1951	1952	1950	1951	1952
Bulk- Barrels	92,432	110,068	114,488	1,053,293	1,056,240	1,064,788
Value	£439,952	£533,341	£657,494	£4,941,434	£5,168,840	£6,138,665
Source:
Brewer's Guardian 1953, 1953, February page 80.

Looking at the bare figures, it seems that the UK was importing a considerable amount of beer – around four times as much as it exported. But the figures aren’t what they at first appear. That becomes obvious when you see the imports broken down by country of origin.

UK beer imports in November 1952
Country whence consigned	Quantity Bulk Barrels	Value £
Australia		6
Canada		3
Irish Republic	80,473	454,488
Germany (Western)	125	1,818
Sweden	5	85
Denmark	1,873	22,398
Netherlands	666	6,478
Belgium	107	1,931
Czechoslovakia	51	383
Total	83,300	487,590
Source:
Brewer's Guardian 1953, 1953, February page 83.

The overwhelming majority of the imports came from the Republic of Ireland, presumably almost all in the form of Guinness Extra Stout. Multiplying the November figure by 12, gives a rough idea of the figures on an annual basis. You’ll see that the total is pretty close to the real figure for 1952:

UK beer imports in 1952
Country	bulk barrels	%
Irish Republic	965,676	96.61%
Germany (Western)	1,500	0.15%
Sweden	60	0.01%
Denmark	22,476	2.25%
Netherlands	7,992	0.80%
Belgium	1,284	0.13%
Czechoslovakia	612	0.06%
Total	999,600
Source:
Brewer's Guardian 1953, 1953, February page 83.

The only countries that were exporting any sort of volume to the UK, other than Ireland, were Denmark and the Netherlands. This time in the form of Carlsberg, Tuborg and Heineken Pils. The total of European imports I get to be just under 34,000 annually. Presumably pretty much 100% Lager.

That gives you some idea of the small size of the UK Lager market at the time. Only a handful of British breweries produced Lager at this date: Wrexham, Tennent, Red Tower, Barclay Perkins and the Alloa Brewery. Total sales couldn’t have been more than a couple of hundred thousand barrels a year. At a time when consumption totalled almost 26 million barrels:

UK beer production 1950 - 1952 (bulk barrels)
UK	1950	1951	1952
Production	26,513,997	24,891,746	25,156,489
Consumption	27,311,390	25,597,793	25,850,381
Exports	221,210	275,433	267,390
Imports	1,018,603	981,480	961,282
Production Irish Republic	2,304,668	2,279,655	2,339,224
Sources:
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 50
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p. 57
Brewers' Almanack 1955, p.107-110

You can see that getting on for 40% if the Republic of Ireland’s output of beer was exported to the UK. Impressive. Especially as Guinness had a brewery in London churning out almost 1 million barrels a year.