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Independent beer retailers across the º£½ÇÊÓƵ are staging an all day event similar to the famous Record Store Day in a bid to boost a sector which has been hammered by the coronavirus lockdown.

About 50 indie beer sellers have collaborated with North East brewery Donzoko to encourage drinkers to “support your local beer shop” on Saturday, July 18.

The stores will launch Donzoko’s specially brewed Indie Graft in an event which it hopes will raise the profile and gain support for beer shops in the way Record Store Day has boosted vinyl sales since 2008.

Among retailers taking part are , Exeter’s Hops and Crafts, the Crafty Beer Shop, in Barnstaple, and three from Bristol: Beercosm, Coffee and Beer, and Bottles and Books.

Stores in Manchester, Worthing, Leeds, St Albans, Ossett, Brighton, Newcastle, Sheffield, Nottingham, Bath, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Cardiff, and London, and some in Scotland, are involved too.

The idea was suggested by Sheffield-based beer shop Hop Hideout’s owner Jules Gray to a group of like-minded retailers who immediately backed it to champion the indie beer shop sector and highlight the vibrancy the businesses bring to the high street, communities, and the economy and the support they give to breweries.

Organisers of the event say indie beer shops have “ridden the rollercoaster” during the pandemic, continuing to operate within Government guidance through a hugely challenging time. They said it has been tough “emotionally, economically and physically” for many in the sector.

Some beer shops have decided to close, some have pivoted business models to completely online sales, others maximising multi-sales channel selling through online sales and home deliveries and others running forced reduced hours due to operating within shared spaces such as markets and food halls. They said this has created “significant stress and anxiety” within the sector.