CAMRA can, unfortunately, become Real Ale Nazis, but the fundamental point they made back in the 1970s is still as valid. Variety and quality of beer and pub service is under threat from homogenisation of the brewing industry and legislation which seems designed to target pubs and breweries.

The (British) government's knee-jerk reaction to, say, binge drinking among teenagers, has been to attack pubs, which they do not frequent, and impose ever-higher duties on draught beers and ales, which they do not drink, while leaving city centre bars which offer ridiculous deals on strong liqours, off-licences (corner shops which sell bottled and canned drink), and importers and distillers of ersatz vodka to flourish.

Many of the former tied pubs were acquired by "pubcos"; companies which manage chains of public houses. These pubcos seem determined to make every pub in Britain a carbon copy of some mock-Tudor template. They also have an unfortunate record of leaving the fabric of some pubs for which they cannot find tenant landlords willing to accept usurious terms of occupancy, to decline to the point where demolition is the only option.

Mercifully, some of the microbreweries are not only continuing to operate, but to flourish, with customers attracted by word of mouth and local interest.