Great news.... again!

Beer from Britain's local breweries has had a spectacular year, with a growth in sales of almost 11 per cent, according to the Local Beer Report 2008 published this week by SIBA, the Society of Independent Brewers.

The report says: "Against the background of the most challenging year for beer retailing for decades, the continued strong growth of demand for local beer is spectacular. Counter to the trends of a market which saw consumption decline across many beer types, the average volume growth in sales of local beer was 10.7 per cent."

It adds: "Business confidence is unsurprisingly generally good . . . The majority of local brewers are as confident or more confident about trading in 2008 compared to last year."