Stout becomes the fastest selling cask beer in British pubs
Its turnover grew by 6.4%, compared to the 4.4% decline of the conventional lager.
Monday, September 21, 2026
Stout was the best-performing cask beer style in UK pubs during August. Data from Market Watch, Oxford Partnership's monitoring of bar and restaurant sales, shows this category with a year-on-year increase of 6.4%, while traditional lager saw a decline of 4.4%.
The difference between the two styles thus reaches 10.8 percentage points in the same period and in the same consumption channel. This gap reflects a shift in market share within draft beer: some styles are gaining popularity at the bar while others are losing it. Along with stout, international lager also finished August on a positive note, with a 4.4% increase. On the other hand, ale fell by 3.9%, in addition to the decline in conventional lager.
Oxford Partnership measures the so-called rate of sale, an indicator that captures the speed at which each category is sold in establishments. This data allows for tracking product turnover and comparing its performance against the same month of the previous year, but it does not equate to the total market volume. In this case, pints, hectoliters, and economic value per category have not been published, so the analysis focuses on the relative performance of each style in British pubs.
This distinction is important for interpreting the figures. The fact that stout sales rose 6.4% doesn't automatically mean it has a larger market share than lager, but rather that its sales pace was better than a year ago. Similarly, the 4.4% decline in conventional lager sales doesn't, on its own, allow us to calculate how many liters the category lost, although it does show lower tap sales than in August 2025.
The August snapshot thus reveals two distinct groups. On the one hand, stout and international lager are gaining ground. On the other, ale and conventional lager are declining. This division points to a shift in consumer choices within the draft beer market, at least in the UK's hospitality sector and for the period analyzed.
Meanwhile, Oxford Partnership reports a 3% year-on-year decline in overall keg beverage sales during August. This figure also includes cider, so it shouldn't be interpreted as solely reflecting beer performance. A more accurate picture of beer sales is provided by style-specific data, which shows a favorable August for stout and international lager, and a weaker August for ale and traditional lager.