Celebrating Great British Beer....

A new location has just been announced for the Great British Beer Festival for 2025 which takes it away from London for the first time for many year, and whilst we are now in the midst of the festival season here's a look back at the history of large scale beer events....

So the Great British Beer Festival is to leave its longstanding home at Olympia in London, and is moving to the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, making it the first change in its location since 2012, when it moved back after a five year period when it was based at the older and more characterful Earl's Court, having first taken place there in 1992.

The planned 2024 festival was advertised to take place in August at Olympia once again, but was cancelled a few months earlier as due to the venue being refurbished they couldn't accommodate CAMRA on the requested dates. Whether this was what prompted the organisation to seek pastures new, I don't know, but it marks a welcome return to the regions for an event that has been based in London 35 out of the 44 times it has been held. The first festival was held at Alexandra Palace in 1977, with the next 3 also taking place there, before it moved to the former Queens Hall in Leeds for 1981 and 1982. It took place the following year at Bingley Hall in Birmingham, there was no festival in 1984, before it returned in 1985 at the Metropole in Brighton. The festival stayed there for 1986 and 1987, and returned to the South Coast venue in 1990, having moved back to Leeds for 1988 and 1989. And then it was back to the capital in 1991 for the first time in 11 years for a year at the long-demolished Docklands Arena, before taking up its residency at Olympia next time around.

The home of the 2025 CAMRA Great British Beer Festival

In moving to the NEC, CAMRA are heading to the UK's premier purpose-built exhibition and event space. It hosts countless trade exhibitions every year, such as the Horse of the Year Show, the Winter Good Food Show, Crufts, the Motorhome and Caravan Show, as well as music, sport, and loads of other events across its huge campus. It was opened by the Queen in 1976 when there were just 7 exhibition halls. Today there are 18, plus 32 conference and meeting suites, and the Arena, plus open spaces for outdoor-themed events. Within these there is the scope and flexibility to configure to a scale to suit the event, so there is plenty of room for CAMRA to hold its festival and welcome thousands of thirsty drinkers. It is unlikely however they will aim to rival the size of the world's biggest beer festival, the legendary Oktoberfest in Munich, which has just concluded on the traditional date of the first Sunday in October after serving beer for 16 days. With over 7 million visitors, and 6.5 million litres of beer consumed, it would have to go some distance!

I have been to the NEC numerous times over the years, mainly for trade shows when I was working as a buyer, cutting my teeth treading the miles in the cavernous Hall 5 and the rest, so I am well aware of its capability to put on a show. I do however have some slightly reservations, mainly to do with its location. Not because it's moved from London, as I think that is a good thing, but due to its situation in a bespoke and soulless out-of-town site on the fringes of the Birmingham-Solihull borders, rather than being in a city with pubs, restaurants, with plenty of atmosphere and life. For a typical trade show, with its fantastic motorway and road links being close to the M42, M6, M40, and the A45, plus its extensive on-site car parking facilities with a large fleet of shuttle buses providing a park-and-ride service, it is extremely well-geared to catering for those coming by car. And whilst the facilities will obviously benefit those breweries who have their own stands, those delivering beer, minibus and coach parties, and car drivers where one of them is Des, road will not be the main means of arrival for the majority of visitors. Fortunately, Birmingham International Station is right next to the site (as is Birmingham Airport!), and whilst the majority of trains go to Birmingham New Street, there are direct services to varied places across the country such as Manchester Piccadilly, London Euston, Bournemouth, Shrewsbury, Holyhead, the North West and Scotland. One drawback for those that are staying over in the vicinity rather than Birmingham, whilst there are several hotels on site, is the lack of decent beer on offer. Although you could argue that as there is going to be plenty of beer available at the Festival this is a secondary consideration!

And once there, as at any beer festival the visitor will no doubt find banks of handpumps disappearing into the far horizon; ever-present views of the crowds of enthusiastic beer lovers enjoying their drinks; photos taken with friends, maybe the odd selfie, groups of tickers jostling for a taste of a previously-unseen beer, the look of joy as a beer hits the spot, handshakes exchanged with someone from years ago; people of all ages and from all walks of life united in a love of beer and/or cider enjoying themselves in perfect harmony, a collective hum of contentment ringing in the air. Programmes studied, new beers tried, beers and breweries ticked off, recommendations proffered. Maybe a pie or samosa? A chance to talk and drink beer all day. What could be better than that?

Whilst I have been to both Olympia and Earls Court for work-related trade shows, I have never been to the GBBF when it has been in London. I visited the first one to be held away from the capital at the long-demolished Queens Hall in Leeds in 1981, when I was living in the city. It was a big deal, as back in those days we were used to drinking a limited range of beers dictated to us by the tied houses in the area where we lived. Leeds at that time was dominated by Tetleys, and excellent that so much of it was in those days, the opportunity to sample a wide variety of beers from all over the country - ironically in a location only a few hundred yards from the Tetleys brewery - was one not to be missed. Talk about kids in a sweetshop! The old former tram shed, with its huge floorspace and cavernous interior, which was used to hosting the likes of gigs and fleamarkets, made an excellent location for the festival, and the bigwigs at CAMRA HQ must have thought so too; the festival returned again the following year, and then after that year in Birmingham and three in Brighton, it was back in Leeds again for the 1988 and 1989 festivals, when I was back once again for several visits with mates and work colleagues.

The former Queens Hall, site of the first GBBF to be held outside London

In the wake of the early days of the GBBF, smaller beer festivals sprang up across the country, many organised by the local CAMRA branches, but there were plenty where local groups or clubs got together to raise money for a particular cause or a charity. In fact, the beer festival became almost the default choice for many local community groups to raise funds. Indeed, many a glass was raised to help a leaking church roof, or to support a sports club. The beer choices could vary considerably; inspired, eclectic, themed, localised, random, often providing an opportunity to try beers from different breweries and different parts of the country that you wouldn't normally see on the bar of your local pub. Maybe the beer itself would be a little too warm and not expertly pulled by the willing local volunteers eager to put in a shift, but they succeeded in bringing people together from the local community and often raised a lot of money for worthy causes. Never underestimate the power of a smiling face rattling a bucket of coins!

In many ways you could view the heyday of the beer festival was the 1980's and early 1990's, when beer choice in pubs were more limited than they are today. Giant companies like Bass, Whitbread, Courage, Grand Metropolitan, and Allied Tetley ruled the roost and supplied their own beer to their own vast pub estates with virtually none from anywhere else. The Beer Orders Acts of 1989 forced these huge companies to sell off thousands of pubs and set limits on the numbers they could own. This enabled other, smaller breweries to step in and buy some of the pubs, but it also enabled the growth of the previously rare free house where beers could be bought from a much wider source. The guest beer concept was also brought in to those pubs that were still tied to a brewery, so all of these factors contributed to an overall increase in the variety of beers on offer in the average pub.

Despite these changes, the appeal of the beer festival continued over the years although many previously well-established festivals have disappeared, with factors such as increased costs, lack of volunteers to help, lack of suitable venues, etc. often cited. But the beer festival has also evolved and appeared in different formats and settings, sometimes as part of a wider event, particularly in recent years. Many pubs hold their own, such as the Cross Keys in Halifax, a popular event that has drawn in drinkers over a number of years, although they too come and go; for years beer festivals were held for example at the Star in Folly Hall in Huddersfield and the Navigation in Mirfield, popular, well-run events which always seemed to draw in large numbers. By way of a change last year I visited Chorley, where they hold a Festival of Pubs across a number of venues in this small Lancashire town which punches well above its weight in the availability of good beer and pubs; basically highlighting over a weekend what they do well over 52 weeks of the year.

And so, as this is the traditional beer festival season there are a number of events going on. I visited the excellent York Beer Festival the other week, another big festival took place the other week in Shrewsbury, Nottingham Beer Festival is happening this week, whilst I am hoping to get to the Sheffield event at the Kelham Island Museum next week, all big, well-organised and professionally-run. Closer to home, the Elland Beer Festival takes place at the All Saints Church Hall this Friday and Saturday, and in the absence of this year's Halifax & Calderdale Festival I am hoping to be able to get along at some point. And in rounding things off I have to say that even in these days of guest lists and tasters in pubs with a wider choice of beer than ever there is still something to be said for going along to check out a local beer festival....

Follow me on twitter/X: @realalemusic