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Membership of the Campaign for Real Ale fell to an eight-year low of 143,038 in the year to 30 November 2025, and the organisation ended the period almost £800,000 in the red before tax.
Writing in the accounts, Camra’s chairman, Ash Corbett-Collins, said it had been “one of the most challenging years Camra has faced”, pointing to a restructuring in which “a number of roles were sadly made redundant”.
Camra is one of Britain’s most enduring consumer groups, founded to protect traditional cask-conditioned ales and campaigning on behalf of brewers and drinkers for more than half a century. It earns its money in several ways, with income coming from membership fees, publishing, and national and regional beer festivals.
Festival income rose last year, growing 14 per cent from £4.9 million to £5.6 million, but the other sources of revenue slipped and administrative costs rose. The accounts filed at Companies House cover the 12 months to the end of November.
Last September the group cancelled its Great British Beer Festival, formerly the largest event of its kind in the UK, for the foreseeable future because of financial pressures.
Melissa Cole, a beer writer and expert, said: “I think a huge problem they have is that memberships to things like Camra are the first to go when economies hurt.”
She also pointed to the decision to move the Great British Beer Festival from London to Birmingham last year, a move she called “catastrophically awful”. The festival made a significant loss following the change of location.
Cask volumes keep falling
The struggles at Camra come alongside a decline in the number of Britons drinking cask ale. The volume of these beers sold in the nation’s pubs fell by 7.1 per cent in 2025, according to data from the research firm NielsenIQ, following an 11.2 per cent drop the previous year.
The venues that sell them are under pressure too. More than 300 pubs, bars and restaurants have closed since January, about three licensed premises a day, according to CGA by NIQ, as operators absorb higher wage bills, energy costs and business rates.
As volumes have fallen, some big brewers have shifted away from producing cask beers, which are unpasteurised, unfiltered, typically lower in alcohol content and served at a cellar temperature of about 12C, in favour of lagers and craft beers. Drinkers have been moving too, with Britons on course to sink more than 200 million pints of low and no-alcohol beer this year, a rise of 19 per cent on 2024.
Seeds of hope in Gen Z
There could still be a silver lining for fans of cask ale. According to the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (Siba), a growing number of younger drinkers are now choosing them, despite the drink being regularly stereotyped as a favourite of bearded old men in sandals, not least by Viz magazine, which has long ridiculed Camra’s members in its cartoons.
“There are some seeds of hope in that it does appear Gen Z is starting to embrace cask,” Cole added. “There’s an element of [them] wanting to get unplugged … What’s more unplugged than a pint of old man’s beer in a boozer?”
While brewers of all types have been hammered by soaring costs and weaker demand in recent years, a recent Siba report found that independent brewery closures had slowed to a rate of one per week in the first half of 2026, compared with about three a week in 2025.
Some big names in cask ale continue to trade well. Timothy Taylor has enjoyed three years of sales growth in the wake of the pandemic, with its Landlord pale ale currently Britain’s biggest ale brand. AB InBev, the multinational brewing giant, is attempting to revive Bass, once the UK’s bestselling ale, in an attempt to cash in on social media-fuelled nostalgia for the drink.
Camra points to office move
Ian Hill, Camra’s finance director, told The Sunday Times that its most recent accounts did not include proceeds from the sale of its previous office, the campaign having recently moved to a new site in Luton, Bedfordshire.
He added: “We are no different to many other membership organisations, which have seen a sustained reduction in membership since the pandemic. However, we’ve taken decisive action to introduce new membership incentives, such as free entry for members to our festivals, which is proving a success.
“We still have more than 140,000 members and a high retention rate, representing the entire UK, dedicated to campaigning to protect our beloved pubs and pints.
“We previously had separate office and warehouse spaces, which were simply no longer meeting the needs of a UK-wide organisation. Our new premises, including a much larger office and warehouse, means an improved service to our 120 plus volunteer-run festivals.
“Our relocation also meant we were servicing multiple buildings during this transition, which had a short-term, yet budgeted for, impact on our finances. I am confident in a bright future for Camra, building on our 55 years of campaigning and championing pubs, pints and people.”
