According to latest figures released by beer market specialists Plato Logic, the beer market in West Europe fell by 1.7% in 2010. Ian Pressnell, Director of Plato Logic, commented: "Although this was a slightly better result than 2009, the West Europe market has now shed around 25m hectolitres since 2003." Plato Logic also found that the on-premise beer market declined by almost 5% in 2010.

Plato Logic have also released a new league table of West Europe’s top beer brands, showing Heineken retaining top spot, ahead of Carlsberg, Carling and Amstel. "Our data goes back to 1988 and the Heineken brand has retained top spot throughout the 23 year time series," said Ian Pressnell.