Orders up for British beer in China after president photographed enjoying a pint with David Cameron in Buckinghamshire pub

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

When David Cameron invited one of the world’s most powerful men for a swift pint last month, he was hoping to seal a “golden era” of relations between London and Beijing.

But Xi Jinping’s trip to the prime minister’s local pub had another unexpected consequence: it transformed China’s red emperor into an unlikely poster boy for British brewery Greene King.

Sales of Greene King IPA, a pint of which Xi was pictured sipping during his recent visit to The Plough at Cadsden pub in Buckinghamshire, have reportedly soared in China following last month’s state visit to Britain.

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“It has just gone berserk. It’s unbelievable,” said Peter Bloxham, a Beijing-based British businessman who imports Greene King beers into China.

“Within two days of the great bar scene … people from all over China were ringing: agents, restaurants, bars, hotels. They wanted this beer.”

“You couldn’t pay for the promotion. It would cost you a fortune,” added Bloxham, who said orders were now coming in “from north, south, east and west.”

“We are now completely out of stock in our warehouse in Beijing of everything to do with Greene King,” he said.

Xi’s pub trip was a major coup for Communist party spin doctors who have been trying to portray China’s leader as an approachable man of the people.





But it has also proved a boon for Chinese bars. In recent weeks at least one Beijing watering hole has started using images of the Xi-Cameron drinking session to draw in customers.

“Come and drink beer here. We have the same Greene King beer that Xi Dada drank,” reads its sign, using the president’s nickname, which means Uncle or Big Daddy Xi.

David Moser (@david__moser) Xi Dada beer endorsement! pic.twitter.com/OCpiKqaETq

Nor is the boom limited to China’s political capital. Newspapers from as far afield as Xinjiang, a sprawling desert region more than 2,000 miles west of Beijing, have reported a spike in the beer’s consumption.

Xi’s pint immediately ignited the “passion and curiosity” of drinkers in Xinjiang, according to Tianshan Net, a government-run news website. “Before, we were selling about 100 litres each day. Now we can sell as much as 200 or 300 litres,” the landlord of one pub in Urumqi, Xinjiang’s capital, was quoted as saying.

“Bring me another glass of IPA beer – the one that Big Daddy Xi drank!” a customer was heard demanding, according to the website’s correspondent.

Xinjiang beer aficionados said the IPA’s “floral aftertaste” meant it compared favourably with the local lager, Dawusu. “The first bite is a little bitter but it gets better and tastes a bit like the smell of flower,” Tianshan Net reported.

The city of Tianjin, about 100 miles south-east of Beijing, has also been caught up in the craze.

Alcohol retailers there have been swamped with requests for Greene King, the Tianjin Daily reported. “My stocks are nearly all gone,” said one local businesswoman, noting that some customers had even offered to pay twice the normal price.

China’s infatuation with Greene King could prove lucrative for the Suffolk-based brewery, which was founded in 1799 and now owns 1,600 pubs.

China is the world’s leading producer and consumer of beer, with some expecting annual consumption to hit 61bn litres by 2016.

Bloxham, who is from Shropshire but has lived in Beijing since 2000, said his company, PFB Associates, normally imported 6,000 bottles of Greene King IPA into China each month.

To keep up with demand he plans to bring in at least 80,000 bottles next month. A single Chinese buyer recently commissioned a 20ft container of the beer, holding about 12,000 bottles. “They are desperate for it,” Bloxham said.

A Greene King spokeswoman said the company’s Suffolk brewery already had some Chinese tourists among its visitors, and was now expecting more. She said: “We are thrilled that more people in China are enjoying Greene King beers following President Xi Jinping’s recent visit to the UK. We are working hard with our distribution partners in China to meet the current demand, by increasing shipments out to China.”

Steve Hollings, who has owned and run The Plough with his wife Sharon for almost 17 years, said the Greene King IPA, which he always stocks alongside some local ales, was the best-selling beer at the pub.

Cameron, whose official country retreat, Chequers, is nearby visits regularly with his wife, Hollings said. “When they come here it’s just Mr and Mrs Cameron, not the prime minister. He’s not working. You couldn’t wish to meet a nicer person.”

The IPA is the prime minister’s pint of choice, Hollings said, which is why Xi also tried it: “He absolutely loved it, really, really enjoyed it. The president wanted another one, but he was told they didn’t have time – they were on their way to Chequers for a big banquet.”

Additional reporting by Luna Lin

