Beer pressure group Camra has trained its sights on the UK off-trade in a report in which it calls for a Competition & Markets Authority investigation into the beer market.

Camra said it had “considerable concerns about anti-competitive practices in the off-trade beer market” and wanted “the government to increase the duty differential between beer destined for the on-trade and for supermarkets”.

Citing the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the Camra report claims that off-trade beer prices rose by only 27% between 2000 and 2024, compared with a 118% increase in the on-trade.

“This implies that aggressive discounting is occurring in the off-trade, at the expense of sales to the on-trade,” says the report, adding that “this would have a similar effect on excluding smaller companies from the off-trade market”.

The report claims that supermarkets sell more beer than all of the UK’s pubs put together and that “most off-licences and specialist beer outlets are part of regional or national chains, with few independently owned”.

It says that more than 80% of UK beer is produced by foreign firms, most by four subsidiaries of multinationals – AB Inbev, Heineken, Carlsberg and Molson Coors – “who distort the beer market by controlling distribution and sales” to the detriment of independent British brewers.

The report adds: “The national chains and supermarkets are almost invariably contracted to the four corporations, which distorts the off-trade beer market.”

Writing in the report, Camra chair Ash Corbett-Collins said: “Independent brewers are making some of the most interesting and exciting beers, focusing on high-quality ingredients, reviving traditional styles or exploring new possibilities, but they can’t get them onto bars or into shops.”

Report editor Tim Webb added: “Brewing is a business that competition authorities need to investigate, take apart and reassemble, so the UK can return to playing a leading role in the world of beer.”