The British boozer, that shared social space with its sticky carpets and hardened locals, is under threat. Last year, the Office for National Statistics reported that, since 2001, 25 per cent of the UK’s pubs had called last orders for the final time. Much like the clientele after 11pm, the scale of the decline is, well, staggering. But it’s not the whole story.

Mr Tom McKim, the director of craft beer bottle shop Clapton Craft, says the fate of the local is more complicated than the spreadsheets suggest: “While the top line figures show an increase in pub closures – especially since 2008 [the financial crash] – there’s been a big increase in the number of pubs opening that specialise in craft beer.”

In five years, Mr McKim’s shop has grown from a single site in Hackney, east London, to a small chain of five premises across the city. And as well as selling takeaway cans and bottles of pale ales and porters from local breweries and batch makers further afield, it provides a place for customers to sample the stock, with in-store taps and regular tasting events across its branches.

“When we set up the original Clapton Craft in 2014, there were a couple of specialist shops around, but they tended to focus more on classic Belgian and German beers, and perhaps real ale,” says Mr McKim. Along with the traditional pub, these stores perhaps weren’t prepared for the craft beer revolution that, over the past decade, has changed what we drink. “In 2010, there were three breweries within the M25 compared to more than 100 now,” Mr McKim says.

Mr Wes Anson is the co-founder of bottle shop Kill The Cat on Brick Lane. Launched in 2016, Kill The Cat now stocks more than 150 beers for the “beer curious”, something that The Queen’s Head might also struggle to match. But, again, Mr Anson argues that it’s quality rather than quantity that counts – and not just quality of beer, but of the service. “The choice is a lot greater than a typical pub, however, choice can sometimes be a negative to those who, after a hard week full of decisions, are forced to work to find something they’d like to drink. That’s why our staff are ever-present and help customers choose their perfect beer in a fun, informative way.”

“Most pubs these days are ‘tied’ to a company and ‘free houses’ are rare, especially in London,” says Mr Bradley Ridge, proprietor at Art & Craft, a beer shop, taproom and art gallery in Streatham, south London, with three further sites nearby. “This means that beers available to a landlord are from a prescribed list of suppliers – increasingly breweries that have been bought out by the huge conglomerates – and remain on the menu for long periods of time. Our environment is different. More than 350 different beers, constantly changing.”

Arts & Craft is the retail arm of The Inkspot Brewery, which is housed in a Grade II-listed garden, also in Streatham. While promoting Inkspot’s own beers is obviously a priority for the business, the shops are keen to champion other like-minded brewers – so long as the beer is good. “In addition to our beers, we support other local breweries, such as Canopy [Herne Hill] and Brick Brewery [Peckham],” Mr Ridge says. “The craft beer scene has certainly grown at an incredible pace over the past five years, but seems to show no real signs of slowing down – there is enough business for everyone.”

In fact, it’s not unusual to see players in the the city’s craft beer scene working together. “We see more and more collaborations between breweries and even bottle shops,” Mr Ridge adds. “I can truly say I have not worked in a more supportive community.”

The Douglas Fir is a “micro bar” run by south London brewer Gipsy Hill, which also has a taproom in its nearby brewery. The 45-seat pub began four years ago as a pop-up before gaining a full-time trading licence. In stocking draft guest beer alongside Gipsy Hill’s own offering, as well as numerous cans and bottles from other brewers, it points to a change of direction for the traditional public house. “Normal pubs are trying to get a line or two of craft beer or even cans and bottles,” says general manager Mr Dave Hancock.

This new wave of bottle shops is of course far from exclusive to the British capital. Brewers up and down the country – from Tiny Rebel in Newport to Boundary in Belfast to Magic Rock in Huddersfield, to name but a few – have been busy putting their towns and cities on the map, and often supporting a local craft beer scene. Likewise, beer shops such as Grunting Growler in Glasgow, Manchester’s Café Beermoth and Junkyard and Kraft Werks in Nottingham have given beer drinkers a new place to congregate beyond the traditional pub.

“We opened just over four years ago, largely because we saw places like We Brought Beer and Clapton Craft starting up in London,” says Mr Jack Cregan, co-founder of Bison Beer, which now has four shops across Brighton and Hove. “Since then, it seems like every town or city has a dedicated store selling craft beer, which is great from a consumer’s perspective.”

Mr Cregan thinks bottle shops are better placed than pubs to weather not only changes in what we are drinking, but where. Alongside the increased consumer awareness and demand for better food and drink, many punters want to experience it from the comfort of their own home. “Companies like Deliveroo and Uber Eats, which we’re on, are able to offer restaurant-standard meals to eat in,” he says. “And with craft beers now available to take away, too, customers don’t necessarily have to go out in order to find quality.”

“A very important demographic for us is young families who are less able to get to the pub regularly, so instead pick up some beers to share at home,” says Clapton Craft’s Mr McKim. “This definitely fits into the trend to eat and drink better at home – but also a renewed desire to shop local and develop a sense of neighbourhood. People want to be able to find good food and drink on their doorstep and that means supporting and maintaining a local small-business economy.”

“Wherever I go up and down the country, I always seek out a bottle shop,” says Kill The Cat’s Mr Anson. “And it’s clear the scene is growing – from a newsagents-cum-beer shop in Kendal to a craft-beer petrol station near Glasgow, bottle shops can break the mould of the traditional off-licence or pub and fulfil a more relevant need.”

Perhaps, as with many things after a few beers, the fall of the British drinking establishment has been exaggerated after all.