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Boris Johnson, then candidate for the post of Prime Minister, campaigning on July 10 at the Wetherspoons Metropolitan Bar in London with the boss, Tim Martin. REUTERS / Henry Nicholls / pool

The Brexit uncertainty continues to worry British small and medium-sized businesses, and even the kingdom's beer brewers. RFI met at the Great British Beer Festival in London.

With our correspondent in London, Marina Daras

Around 200 new breweries are born each year in the UK. A small revolution for the country's brewing industry, which is now threatened by Brexit. The latter has skyrocketed the cost of imported ingredients and equipment.

Marc Bishop, from St Austell Brewery, is a worrier. " Most of the malt we use comes from the UK, " he says, " so I hope the malt will not be affected. But hops certainly. Our hops come from Europe. We might be affected one way or another, but we do not know yet how. "

" Our beers have specific varieties, so yes, we could be sourcing from the US or Australia, but that would not necessarily be the right hops for the flavors we're looking for. It is very important for us that we can continue to supply ourselves in Europe, "adds the brewer.

The Siren Craft Brew Brewery, for its part, was born in 2013. It is currently in full expansion, but is already suffering the repercussions of Brexit. " The devaluation of the pound has had a huge impact on us because we just bought a canning line ," says the boss.

He too is worried: " Exports represent about 20% of our turnover, so there is something to worry about. Will we still be able to? How will it work? We do not know anything. We have just made a beer called "cashew cake with Castilian lemon" and we have imported all our lemons from Naples, will it be possible in the future? We do not know anything. "

The exit of the European Union may be an opportunity to seek out new partners, such as China for example, which in 2018 imported more than 50 billion euros of British beers.

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