Indie Beer Week set to return this Spring

By Oliver Catchpole

Published: 19 January, 2026

Returning for its second year, Indie Beer Week 2026, a UK-wide series of events promoting "independent beer, pubs and people” is due to take place from 10-19 April.

Across that time period, pubs, breweries and beer retailers will run ‘meet the brewer’ events, ‘tap takeovers’, beer festivals and more all around the UK.

At the end of 2024 Indie Beer Week was launched by the Indie Beer campaign as part of its drive to help consumers to identify beers from genuine independent breweries, instead of from global beer giants.

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This came after a YouGov survey found that there is confusion among consumers around which beers are independent.

This polling discovered that 75% of people feel consumers are being misled when purchasing beer from once independent craft breweries, including Beavertown, Camden and Fullers, which are now owned by global beer giants Heineken, Budweiser and Asahi respectively.

Among beer drinkers, this percentage is even higher, at 81%.

Neil Walker, spokesperson for Indie Beer, said: “The response to the first Indie Beer Week last year was great, with a massive lineup of beer events happening across the UK and independent breweries of all shapes and sizes getting involved.

“It’s all about celebrating Indie Beer, grabbing the attention of new customers or offering something fun and engaging to your existing ones – getting involved is as simple as submitting your event via the website.

“If you’re a brewery, pub, bottle shop or venue selling independent beer and want to get involved, drop us a line and we can make Indie Beer Week 2026 even bigger and better.”

In the first Indie Beer Week, 118 breweries ran events across the UK.

Currently, there are 667 independent breweries actively enrolled in the campaign, which has also achieved high consumer awareness – 31% of 18–24-year-old beer drinkers know of Indie Beer Week.

Indie Beer Week is run via the Indie Beer website and its social media channels. Any UK brewery, pub or beer venue can apply to have an Indie Beer Week event added free of charge here.

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