The formula is familiar from beer adverts across the world: cheerful music, a foaming glass of amber nectar and a working man, sweaty with toil, set to slake his thirst.

This advert, however, stands out from the rest — because it is being broadcast in North Korea, seemingly the most sober nation in the world.

The beer in question is called Taedonggang, after the Taedong River which runs through the capital, Pyongyang — but it can trace its roots to the Wiltshire town of Trowbridge, and the Usher’s Brewery that shut down in 2000 after 176 years in business.

To the surprise of the owners, they were approached by a group of North Koreans, who paid £1.5 million for the plant — and then shipped it to Pyongyang.

Taedonggang sells for about 40p a bottle in Pyongyang, but few North Koreans beyond the city’s elite will have the chance to sample it. Millions died of famine in the 1990s and today the UN estimates that nine million do not have enough to eat.

Defectors report, however, that locals have become adept at making their own home-made hooch from whatever is at hand. “We found corn flower and hops and made something that came out a weird milky colour,” a man named Jong Su Ban told reporters. “At least it was fizzy like beer.”

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