Yorkshire’s cities booming with new craft industries to fill the gap

BIG CITIES have taken the biggest hit when it comes to pub closures, the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) has revealed, but in the region’s largest urban areas it has made way for a huge resurgence in craft ale and other industries.

More than one in five pubs in Leeds has closed since 2007, new figures show, with 122 – more than 22 per cent – closing in the city in the past decade. But the region’s bars are thriving, Camra has said, as it shows how Yorkshire’s cities have adapted to a change in demand. And across the region, there has been a huge boom in the popularity of smallscale breweries.

“Sheffield had no breweries until a few years ago,” said national director and campaigns coordinator Andy Shaw. “There’s now 28, and eight micro-breweries. That’s great, it’s creating a diversity. Most of our pubs are traditional Victorian buildings, and while they still have a very real role to play, there are changing demands. The mix, and ability to adapt, has got to be a good thing.”

The Leeds scene in particular, Camra has said, is booming.

“We’ve reason to be positive,” said Richard Coldwell, from Leeds Camra. “It’s always sad when a pub closes down. But Leeds is thriving, and evolving, and changing. The statistics show the decline of pubs, but they don’t show what’s happening with bars. It’s seems that for those that shut down in Leeds, another pops up. The city is thriving. People are coming here for a drink.”