A survey of 1,000 London beer drinkers carried out by Bermondsey craft brewer, Fourpure, found the average Londoner enjoys two and half pints a week with Croydon residents being the capital’s biggest beer lovers, drinking an average of three pints a week.
When it came to beer styles, the majority of London drinkers (65%) can be found sipping on a mainstream beer brand, but over a third (35%) said a craft beer would be their brew of choice.
South Londoners prefer drinking craft beer (39%) over North Londoners (33%) and out of the capital’s 32 boroughs, those in Merton – the home of Wimbledon Tennis - were the most likely (75%) to name craft beer as their favourite style.
The people from the North East London borough of Redbridge were the most likely (88%) to name a mainstream beer as their top pick down the pub.
The capital’s five favourite beer styles were lager (50%), IPA (11%), Pale Ale (6%), Bitter and Stout (6% respectively).
Trendy Lambeth residents – with Waterloo Station and The London Eye on their doorstep - were the biggest fans of a Gose style beer (5%) and while Camden dwellers were most likely to plump for a Double India Pale Ale (DIPA) (6%).
Meanwhile, the more traditional folk from Merton, including those in Wimbledon and Morden, were the biggest fans of stout by far with 38% naming it as their favourite beer style.
Rebecca Crotty-Jones, Head of Brewing Operations at Fourpure Brewing Co, said, “London’s long been referred to as the home of craft beer in the UK and we wanted to carry out a census of the capital’s beer drinkers to better understand the latest trends and behaviour.
'It’s interesting that while lager has long been a favourite beer for Brits, London drinkers seem to be shifting towards different options with one in five (20%) now naming a style of Pale Ale as their brew of choice.”
She continued, “It’s great to see residents of Southwark, where Fourpure’s taproom is based on the Bermondsey Beer Mile, are the biggest craft beer fans with over 5% having had a pint in a taproom!
'Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) data shows the borough of Southwark has the highest number of taprooms by postcode too, so they’re spoilt for choice [CAMRA Active Independent Breweries, 22 May 2022].”
A trendsetting 7% of London beer drinkers like to choose new beers they’ve never seen before, while those from South East London’s Bexley are the most likely to pick a beer to impress their mates or date down the pub (10%).
Those in riverside borough Hammersmith and Fulham – home to Fulham FC, Chelsea FC and a bevvy of high end restaurants - are the most concerned about the calorie count of their pint (15%) as well as being the most likely to choose a beer based on the artwork on the can or bottle (15%).
People living in the South West London borough of Kingston Upon Thames are the most likely to play it safe, with over two thirds (73%) saying they decide what beer to have based on what’s familiar.