Beer sales are showing signs of recovery as the industry starts to claw its way out of the downturn, according to the British Beer and Pub Association.

After two years of sliding figures, the organisation’s latest figures show sales of beer in the last three months of 2009 were down just 3.6 per cent, the lowest fall for pubs and supermarkets since 2006.

Association chief executive Brigid Simmonds said today: “These figures show a sector starting to claw its way out of a recessionary slump. They also signal the most significant driver of problems in the pub sector over the last 12 to 18 months has been the downturn in the economy and the slide into recession, along with duty increases of over 20 per cent.

“As the economy moves into recovery, so will the beer and pub sector. In fact, as in previous recessions, it may emerge first and fastest.”

The figures will provide a major boost to Wolverhampton-based beer and pubs group Marston’s. Last month chief executive Ralph Findlay said the company’s five breweries, including Park Street, Wolverhampton, which makes Banks’s, had increased production by eight per cent at time when the UK beer market was down five per cent.

Mr Findlay said: “There is definitely a growing trend among customers towards more tasty and regional beers, including Marston’s Pedigree and Banks’s, which has always been so popular in its homeland of the West Midlands. We now have what is probably the best beer portfolio in the UK.”

The portfolio includes Marston’s Pedigree, Hobgoblin, Jennings Cumberland Ale, S Oxford Gold and Ringwood Old Thumper. Latest figures show sales up 13.2 per cent to £101.5 million in the first six months of Marston’s financial year.

Today the BBPA’s latest UK Quarterly Beer Barometer showed sales for the whole of 2009 fell 4.2 per cent compared with a drop of 5.5 per cent in 2008.

Pubs, bars and restaurants took the biggest hit in the fourth quarter, with sales down five per cent on the same three months the previous year.

Supermarket beer sales were down 2.1 per cent for the final quarter compared to a 6.4 per cent fall the previous year. Pub sales for the whole of 2009 were down 5.2 per cent while supermarket sales were down 3.1 per cent, the largest fall since records began in 1978.

Ms Simmonds added: “It’s too early to say whether these indicators of fragile recovery will turn into a trend, particularly when we await to see the impact of shocks such as the VAT increase and big freeze of this month.

“What is certain is that any recovery could be thrown off course and destabilised by Government intervention on tax or regulation.

“What is equally certain is that any move by Government to increase beer tax further this year would be very damaging and place pubs and jobs at greater risk,” Ms Simmonds said.