Others are trying to breathe life into Britain's market. Heineken has just launched its first TV campaign in the UK in over two years. Almost 35 years after the slogan "Heineken refreshes the parts other beers cannot reach," the new ad features a woman "inappropriately" using a lobster in a bath.
There has been a spate of brewery closures in Britain and family-owned brewers have either closed or been sold to bigger players such as Greene King.
The Chinese beer market is booming along with the economy. As in Russia and India, there has been a big shift from spirits to beer and all the big brewers are battling it out. Carlsberg wants to make Asia its second growth region after Europe and Russia.
But Anne Nugent, global alcoholic drinks manager at Euromonitor, noted that distribution to China's far-flung regions remains a problem. She said it is going to take some time before Chinese per capita consumption catches up with western countries.
In Russia, consumption per head jumped to 69 liters last year from 18 in 1997 while China only moved from 14 to 24 liters in the same period, she said.
In India, people drink less than 1 liter of beer a head a year, so the potential for growth is huge. However, foreign investors face problems such as electricity shortages and delays in transporting products, as well as differences in drinking laws and taxation between states.
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