‘It all disappeared with Brexit’: Craft beer boom ends as more than 100 UK firms go bust

Pete Brown, founder of Forest Road Brewery in south London, says that in a bust, people go back to the things they recognise. Photograph: Sophia Evans/The Observer

Kimi Karjalainen and his brother Marko poured their life savings into Bone Machine Brewing Co when it opened in Pocklington, East Yorkshire, in 2017 before moving to Hull, as part of the craft beer revolution that swept Britain.

“The entire investment, not including time and labour that we gave for free, was about £70,000,” Karjalainen said. Four weeks ago, it was gone. “That was my parents’ retirement.”