Measuring survivorship in the SME craft brewing market: evidence from the United Kingdom

This study analyses the level of resilience in the United Kingdom’s small craft breweries, examining the impact of exogenous and endogenous factors on business longevity and survivorship. Using a unique dataset containing over 1000 breweries in a 28-year span, gathered by the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), we assess UK breweries’ resilience in the presence of several macroeconomic indicators. Exogenous factors are also applied to review the impact of small producers’ relief (SPR), estimating regional effects and examining how specific locational factors affect brewery performance. Findings suggest levels of regional and rural disparity in brewery survivorship that are fundamentally shaped around a national north-south divide. Furthermore, SPR increases regional disparities by neglecting regional differences in its design, exacerbating brewery performance differentials and further threatening business longevity.