News Release

Cask Ale Week helps pubs to drive sales of local beers

National Cask Ale Week proved a boost to sales of local beers, according to figures from the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA). Sales through its Direct Delivery Scheme (DDS) over the three weeks from 22 March – 12 April were up by 5.7% compared to the same three weeks – before, during and after Cask Ale Week - in 2009.

At a national level, SIBA supported Cask Ale Week for the first time this year, with an investment worth £40,000.

Much of this went into funding Cask Ale Week POS kits, sent free of charge to around 1,000 pubs purchasing through DDS, to help them make the most of the opportunity to drive cask sales.

Licensees who received SIBA-branded Cask Ale Week POS kits included Peter Whalley from the Woolpack Inn in Coggeshall, Essex, who said, "Cask Ale Week went well for us, we doubled our usual cask ale volumes. We had around six beers from East Anglia on the bar and we used the pump clips and banners from the POS kit to communicate to customers. It was a good week." Meanwhile, at The Monument, Whitstable, licensee Sarah Smith said, "We're not a big cask ale pub really, we get through between five and nine barrels a week usually. We put on more for Cask Ale Week, including some polypins from local brewers. The ales from Nelson's Brewery, in Chatham, proved popular with our customers. Our cask ale sales were up by about 50% that week, and I think we’ll be looking to expand our cask offer in future as there’s clearly demand for it."

Chris Miller at The Walter Raleigh in East Budleigh, Devon, also had a good week, "We're only a small village pub, but we've made a real effort to drive cask ale sales since we took over here. We have four handpulls on and we''re always looking for ways to convert our customers to cask ale, so we offer tasters as standard: you can’t expect people to buy a pint of something they might not like. We found the Cask Ale Week kit from SIBA very helpful, particularly the quiz sheet, which everyone enjoyed."

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