UK-brewed Lager after WW II

The small number of UK breweries producing Lager carried on pretty much where they had left off before the war. As a mostly bottled product, Lager would have suffered during the war when shortages of bottles and crates limited production.

When restrictions such as these were removed, the sales of Lager although still very small, continued to increase. It seems to have reached a tipping point at the end of the 1950s when many regional breweries jumped in with Lagers of their own.

There was steady growth in Lager sales throughout the 1960s, but they really took off in the 1970s. As Lager sales increased, the number of Lagers available tended to decline, as national brands pushed aside the versions from regional breweries.

UK Lager sales 1960 - 1989
Year	%	Year	%	Year	%
1960	1.0	1970	7.0	1980	30.7
1961	1.0	1971	9.9	1981	32.0
1962	2.0	1972	11.7	1982	33.0
1963	2.0	1973	14.9	1983	35.9
1964	2.0	1974	16.4	1984	38.9
1965	2.0	1975	19.7	1985	40.9
1966	2.0	1976	23.5	1986	43.4
1967	3.0	1977	24.5	1987	46.6
1968	4.0	1978	26.9	1988	48.8
1969	6.0	1979	29.1	1989	50.3
Source:
“The Brewers' Society Statistical Handbook 1990” page 17

The type of Lagers being brewed immediately after war’s end hadn’t all quite become the style that marched to domination. There were still some examples with above-average gravities, such as Graham’s Golden Lager (rebranded as Skol later in the 1950s) and Black Label. By the 1960s, few UK-brewed Lagers would have an OG much over 1030º.

The beers in the table below, with the exception of Black Label and the Steel Coulson beer, were ones which had been around before WW II. Though beers like Red Tower and Barclay Perkins, which had been big brands before the war, weren’t to last very long. The Barclay Perkins Lager brewery finished its days brewing Harp for Courage, Barclay’s London Lager having been dropped.

UK-brewed Lager after WW II
Year	Brewer	Beer	Price per pint	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1947	Barclay Perkins	Draught Lager	26	1033	1006.4	3.46	80.61%	8
1950	Barclay Perkins	Lager	30	1036.1	1008	3.65	77.84%	11
1950	Barclay Perkins	Lager	31	1036.1	1008	3.65	77.84%	11
1950	Red Tower	Lager	30	1035.8	1008.2	3.58	77.09%	13
1947	Unknown	Pilsner		1035	1010	3.24	71.43%
1950	Alloa Brewery	Light Lager		1043.4	1009.1	4.46	79.03%	7
1950	Alloa Brewery	Graham's Golden Lager	30	1040.6	1010.6	3.89	73.89%	9
1952	Carlings (Brewed in Sheffield)	Black Label	32	1042.3	1009.9	4.21	76.60%	10
1954	Steel Coulson	Lager Beer	30	1032	1004.3	3.60	86.56%	11
1955	Tennent	Lager	30	1036.1	1007.7	3.69	78.67%	9
Sources:
Thomas Usher Gravity Book document TU/6/11 held at the Scottish Brewing Archive.
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.