Where can you find the UK's best bevvy?
July 13th 2021
Is there any institution that is more beloved within the United Kingdom than the Great British boozer? You need look no further back than the nationwide lockdown to find evidence of the UK’s unwavering affection for pubs. Brits were counting down the days until they could pop into their best-loved local for a swift half.
But while the promise of a cold beer in a warm pub was one of the things that helped Brits through the pandemic, Covid has had a devastating impact on independent pub culture - thousands have closed down across the country and the industry is fighting for its survival.
To support the great British pub, Bionic has worked out the UK’s top locations for craft beer and independent boozers. Using data collected from reviews of pubs across the UK, we’ve judged each location on the number of independent pubs in the area, their average star rating, their unique beers, the number of breweries and their ratings on untapped.com.
These six unique metrics were then used to score each city out of 100 to discover which tops our Brewdex!
From London to Portsmouth the top 10 UK cities for craft beer and independent pubs
We found that the best UK city for your perfect craft pint is none other than Newcastle. This popular university city has a whopping 1,276 pubs in total, with 343 unique beers from it’s top four breweries also on offer. This, along with a location score of 7, gives the North East hub a mighty impressive total index score of 80 out of a possible 100.
Birthplace of the UK’s longest-running TV pub, the Rovers Return, Manchester comes in second place with a total score of 77. Manchester is home to over 1,600 independent pubs serving 781 unique beers. Similar to Newcastle, Manchester also has four top-rated breweries with an average brewery score of four. This North West city also holds a very respectable average 6-star rating for pub location.
Although it largely serves pints at a higher price, London comes in third place. As the UK’s capital, it’s no wonder they have more pubs than any of the other cities analysed, with a staggering 5,800 boozers. Offering up to 260% more pubs than the Northern cities of Newcastle and Manchester, London is also home to four top-rated breweries. On offer in those pubs are 52 unique beers and an average star rating for pub location of 5, leaving for a total index score of 71.
Keep scrolling for the full list for craft beer and independent pubs.
| Rank | Location | Number of top-rated breweries | Total number of unique beers | Average Brewery score | Average number of ratings per brewery | Number of pubs in location | Average star rating for pub location | Total index score out of 100 |
| 1 | Newcastle | 4 | 343 | 4 | 136915 | 1276 | 7 | 80 |
| 2 | Manchester | 4 | 781 | 4 | 387268 | 1613 | 6 | 77 |
| 3 | London | 4 | 552 | 4 | 69202 | 5800 | 5 | 71 |
| 4 | Ipswich | 2 | 195 | 4 | 75927 | 1148 | 7 | 70 |
| 5 | Gloucester | 2 | 209 | 4 | 158809 | 831 | 6 | 69 |
| 6 | Truro | 2 | 149 | 4 | 263972 | 475 | 7 | 62 |
| 7 | Bristol | 3 | 286 | 4 | 70177 | 1096 | 6 | 60 |
| 8 | Leeds | 2 | 479 | 4 | 773865 | 976 | 6 | 59 |
| 9 | Nottingham | 1 | 159 | 4 | 134962 | 1311 | 6 | 59 |
| 10 | Portsmouth | 5 | 247 | 4 | 16949 | 997 | 6 | 59 |
| 11 | Derby | 1 | 139 | 4 | 54751 | 1102 | 7 | 57 |
| 12 | Stockport | 1 | 202 | 4 | 733763 | 874 | 7 | 46 |
| 13 | Birmingham | 1 | 85 | 4 | 24403 | 1643 | 6 | 46 |
| 14 | Worcester | 1 | 278 | 4 | 46377 | 445 | 7 | 44 |
| 15 | Sheffield | 1 | 80 | 4 | 25533 | 1875 | 6 | 44 |
| 16 | Brighton | 3 | 78 | 4 | 10768 | 881 | 6 | 44 |
| 17 | Preston | 2 | 166 | 4 | 12873 | 713 | 6 | 44 |
| 18 | Leicester | 1 | 44 | 5 | 1312 | 990 | 7 | 44 |
| 19 | Colchester | 1 | 97 | 4 | 20751 | 810 | 7 | 43 |
| 20 | Bradford | 1 | 29 | 4 | 1512 | 779 | 7 | 41 |
The UK’s most Instagrammable craft beers and independent ciders
From capturing pub garden lights to videoing the live band, it’s not uncommon for us Brits to share our evenings on social media. And the same can be said for a perfectly poured pint. But we wanted to see just which pint was the most photogenic and popular on the ‘gram.
Topping the list of most Instagrammable pint isn’t actually a British pint at all but an American Beer, Bell’s. The family-owned craft brewing company has gained a massive 105,000 Instagram hashtags for their beer.
It seems that Instagram isn’t just for the Millennials, as old-time favourite Warsteiner takes second place with 105,000 Instagram hashtags - proving that Instagram is not just for newer brands.
The Warsteiner Brewery was founded in 1753, and is one of the largest privately held breweries in Germany, yet is still proving popular on social media. Securing the final top third space, is St Austell, with 65,100 hashtags. Like Warsteiner, this British brewery is over 100 years old, starting back in 1851 and still gaining popularity on social media.
The UK’s most popular independent pints across the generations
After looking further into these Instagrammable pints we were also able to find the generational popularity, from the camera snapping millennials to the baby boomers. But no matter how large the age disparity between millennials, generation Xers, and baby boomers - it seems that they can all agree on their favourite poured pint.
Despite holding 40% overall popularity, the somerset cider, Thatchers Gold, is the most popular throughout the generations. Its overall fame by our estimation is 40%, four times more than Bell’s in the top spot, popular with 61% of millennial drinkers, 47% of Generation Xers, and 45% of Baby Boomers.
Keep scrolling for the full list of UK’s most popular independent pints across the generations.
| Rank | Beer | Overall Fame | Overall Popularity | Millennials Popularity | Gen X Popularity | Baby Boomers Popularity | Independent Beer | Instagram Hashtag Volume |
| 1 | Bell’s | 36% | 10% | 2% | 12% | 14% | Independent | 105,000 |
| 2 | Warsteiner | 28% | 13% | 21% | 11% | 10% | Independent | 105,000 |
| 3 | St Austell | 46% | 23% | 18% | 22% | 26% | Independent | 65,100 |
| 4 | Shepherd Neame | 29% | 17% | 12% | 20% | 28% | Independent | 23,500 |
| 5 | Thornbridge | 24% | 10% | 15% | 8% | 1% | Independent | 16,900 |
| 6 | Great Lakes | 24% | 13% | 12% | 16% | 15% | Independent | 16,700 |
| 7 | Foam Brewers | 14% | 4% | 7% | 1% | 0% | Independent | 13,900 |
| 8 | Thatchers Gold | 78% | 40% | 61% | 47% | 45% | Independent | 11,000 |
| 9 | Samuel Smith's | 34% | 16% | 17% | 9% | 22% | Independent | 10,200 |
| 10 | Black Sheep | 33% | 19% | 27% | 18% | 13% | Independent | 8,400 |
| 11 | Hook Norton | 18% | 9% | 8% | 8% | 18% | Independent | 6,100 |
| 12 | Bath Ales | 27% | 14% | 15% | 17% | 6% | Independent | 5,300 |
| 13 | Sierra Nevada | 30% | 13% | 17% | 12% | 4% | Independent | 5,300 |
| 14 | Wadsworth | 28% | 15% | 13% | 11% | 19% | Independent | 4,800 |
| 15 | Bishops Finger | 55% | 30% | 29% | 36% | 31% | Independent | 3,600 |
| 16 | Tanglefoot | 35% | 19% | 17% | 24% | 22% | Independent | 3,200 |
| 17 | Old Peculier | 54% | 26% | 18% | 28% | 31% | Independent | 2,700 |
| 18 | Fursty Ferret | 28% | 17% | 18% | 27% | 9% | Independent | 2,300 |
| 19 | Badger Ales | 35% | 18% | 21% | 16% | 17% | Independent | 1,700 |
| 20 | Marz Community | 13% | 5% | 6% | 8% | 1% | independent | 1,600 |
| 21 | Brains | 31% | 12% | 10% | 14% | 16% | Independent | 1,100 |
| 22 | Otter Ale | 29% | 11% | 12% | 5% | 14% | Independent | 665 |
| 23 | Purity Brewery | 20% | 11% | 14% | 9% | 9% | Independent | 331 |
| 24 | Chimay | 20% | 12% | 16% | 17% | 4% | Independent | 325 |
| 25 | Otter Bitter | 26% | 14% | 16% | 14% | 10% | Independent | 222 |
| 26 | Timothy Taylor | 30% | 12% | 14% | 14% | 12% | Independent | 148 |
| 27 | Bellerose | 21% | 9% | 11% | 12% | 4% | Independent | 104 |
| 28 | Spitfire Kentish Ale | 45% | 24% | 18% | 32% | 29% | Independent | 100 |
| 29 | Yuenging Lager | 22% | 8% | 13% | 10% | 1% | independent | 22 |
| 30 | Brakspear Triple | 22% | 9% | 9% | 15% | 10% | independent | 14 |
What's your favourite pint and where do you like to drink it? Send us a picture on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram with the hashtag #BionicBredwex
Methodology
Data was collected from pubsgalore.co.uk on the number of pubs in each area as well as their average reviews. This data was then used alongside brewery information from untapped.com to create an index from 6 metrics, The metrics were scored from 1-27 (27 being the best figure) before adding each metrics index scores together. The total scores were then converted to a result out of 100 by dividing the total score by 162 and multiplying by 100.
The definition of a brewery from untapped.com: "A brewery must have at least 1,000 ratings and at least 5 beers in their portfolio to qualify for this list"