Allegedly the oldest Brewery in Britain, this is not entirely true since many breweries predate Shepherd Neame, however many of them have closed or merged, or simply were never written about. The bitter beers of Kent (and the rest of the UK) are increasingly under threat from cheaper beer (mainly lager) imported from the European continent. This is principally due to inequities between the imposition of duties in many European mainland countries and in the UK rather than the physical cost of production. Many feel that this is unfortunate since these ales have far more distinctive flavours and characters.