More than 300 new breweries launched in UK last year

The number of new breweries launched in the UK last year stood at over 300 as a boom in craft beer sales encouraged startups with specialist offers ranging from gluten-free beer to ale made from leftover bread.

Growth in craft beer sales in both pubs and supermarkets has encouraged more people interested in home brewing to raise money and open their own microbreweries.

The number of new breweries increased by 18 per cent in 2016 to 1,994, according to a report by the accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young, taking growth over the past five years to 64 per cent.

The trend continued this year, with the number of breweries increasing more than 2,000 for the first time since the 1930s, according to the company.

''The craft beer boom has reversed around 70 years of consolidation in the brewing industry and there is plenty of growth still to come,'' said James Simmonds, partner at UHY Hacker Young, The Guardian reported online.

According to the company, smaller breweries also continued to benefit from a tax break introduced in 2002 by the then chancellor, Gordon Brown, paying 50 per cent less beer duty than their larger counterparts.

Bellfield Brewery launched in Edinburgh in March 2016 as a dedicated gluten-free craft brewer, after one of its founders was diagnosed with coeliac disease and found it difficult to find a gluten-free beer that he enjoyed.

The research found that the UK has experienced a craft beer ''revolution'', as sales of artisan beers in pubs and supermarkets increase, while more microbreweries opened, the research found.

''However, the majors are beginning to make a fightback by acquiring craft brewers and launching their own artisan-style brands, Simmonds added,  Belfast Telegraph said in its online edition.

''The craft brewers can't afford to rest on their laurels – they will need to work hard to get their product into that limited shelf space and bar space.''