From Big Brewing to Local Brewing: What Place Does Sheffield’s Beer Industry have in the City Today?
Dr Nick Groat and Prof Phil Withington from the University of Sheffield give an update on their project, Place, Craft and Alcohol in Historical Perspective, which is exploring the many histories and meanings of alcohol in the city with the help of CAMRA members.
We’re developing a picture of the changing place and importance of alcohol in Sheffield both historically and since the emergence of new trends in brewing and beer marketing often labelled with the term ‘craft’. A key feature of this work is discussions with brewers, distillers, retailers, and consumers about their own experiences of – and views on – the city’s alcohol economy, including their take on the ‘craft’ alcohol movement.
We’re in the process of building a collection of about 20 longform oral histories, and at SC48 last October we recorded the thoughts of 62 visitors and spoke to many more curious enthusiasts about what they thought ‘craft’ means today and what they would like to see change in the city to support the industry.
We also hosted two events – Craft in Conversation with broadcaster Pete Brown and Pints of Interest: Pubs as Social Landmarks with a panel of landlords and pub-goers – which provided plenty of opportunity to hear views on these matters. The conversations highlighted that while there is some consensus that ‘craft’ is now a controversial label in the context of the brewing industry, the term nevertheless represents an ethos that values attentive, experimental, skilful, and locally orientated brewing practices. Moreover, many people still used ‘craft’to describe brewers in Sheffield offering beers that they regarded as distinct from other major breweries. Others suggested ‘independent’ as an alternative label, emphasising the importance of beer producers that position themselves outside of large corporations. By sheer coincidence, YouGov published the results of a survey the week after SC48 which overwhelmingly showed how consumers felt “misled” by seemingly small, independent ‘craft’ brewers which were really owned by multinational brewing conglomerates such as Heineken, Anheuser-Busch InBev, and Asahi. The survey suggests that ‘independent’ is an equally contentious identifier and it will be interesting to see how much of an impact that new initiatives such as the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates’ (SIBA) “Indie Beer mark” will have on how these terms are used in the future. For now, it seems that ‘craft’ is one term among several which people use to identity high-quality and skilfully brewed beer outside the monopoly of the global corporations.
This issue, unsurprisingly, extends to where alcohol is bought and consumed. In our conversations to date, local independent establishments have been repeatedly noted as a valued asset in Sheffield (and more generally across the country), with several pubs in the city repeatedly mentioned as ‘good’ places to spend time buying and drinking exceptional beers and ‘craft’ alcohols. Indeed, there seems to be a growing, albeit dispersed sense that the proliferation of micropubs and bottle-shops, together with independent and quality breweries and eateries, plus the unique heritage of the city and region, are distinctive and attractive enough to be a driver of the city’s service and tourist economy and a key feature of Sheffield’s image nationally and internationally. This is not to say, of course, there isn’t also room for big chain-owned pubs selling well-kept ‘real ales’ at affordable prices – people felt that in a city as large and diverse as Sheffield the one was not exclusive of the other, with many people appreciating the basic reliability of craft-orientated chains. It was clear from talking to people that locality and independence in brewing, and the values often associated with craft, do not necessarily translate to where beer is drunk.
The other main component of our project has been mapping Sheffield’s pubs, breweries, and other alcohol establishments to better understand the place and impact of the industry on the city’s many neighbourhoods over time. To date we’ve recorded 1022 ‘historic’ pubs in Sheffield: it’s exciting to map such a large and important feature of the city’s heritage and to visualise its changing dimensions. We’re also mapping Sheffield’s contemporary ‘alcohol topography’ to see where and how it sits alongside the historical geography, paying especial attention to places which align themselves to a ‘craft’ ethos. We hope the maps will serve as a useful tool for Sheffield’s growing independent alcohol sector, linking it to the city’s rich and powerful heritage, and to this end we plan to use the dataset to produce a series of maps and trails targeted to specific areas of the city. The datasets and maps will be available digitally later this year.
Place, Craft, and Alcohol is a collaborative project by and for people interested in beer and Sheffield. We’re always on the lookout for people to speak to about the place of alcohol in the city and its neighbourhoods (past and the present) and what that place will or should be in the future.
If you’d like to talk to us about your experiences and memories of Sheffield’s intoxicating history and/or your views on alcohol’s role and place in the city today and in the future please contact n.groat@sheffield.ac.uk or scan the QR code below to get in touch.
