But the thoroughly established beer market as we’ve known it in the UK is changing. The honourable craft of brewing is coming to the fore in London with a group of new local breweries. And its swelling popularity can be aligned with a wider trend towards craftsmanship that has been spreading throughout a range of industries.

Like many a great idea, Ian Burgess’ eureka moment came to him in the middle of drinking a cold refreshing beer. He was on holiday from the UK in Australia, relaxing on a beach with a bottle of Coopers, one of the country’s finest hand-crafted ales. As he looked down at the bottle in his hand, he thought: “Why isn’t someone doing this in London? This would go down really well back in London Fields.”

And it did. Just last month, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, a crowd of East Londoners gathered at an old railway arch for the launch of London Fields Brewery, Burgess and his partner Jules Whiteway’s new microbrewery. Burgess is no stranger to the drinks industry. He made his name as the founder of London’s Climpson and Sons coffee, one of the pioneers behind the surge in local independent coffee shops. But with his latest venture, Burgess and Whiteway join a number of London-based entrepreneurs that have recently set up small-scale breweries.

There’s The Kernel, standing in a railway arch on the increasingly popular Maltby Street Market near Tower Bridge. East London Brewing Company opened this summer in Bethnal Green. Redchurch Brewery is about to launch in Shoreditch. And there's rumours of a Hackney-based brewery opening in the next six months.