The summer Cambridge Beer Festival is the longest-running

CAMRA The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, cider and perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With just under 155,000 members, it is the ...

beer festival A beer festival is an event at which a variety of beers are available for purchase. There may be a theme, for instance beers from a particular area, or a particular brewing style such as winter ales. Asia * Singapore holds an annual Beer Festiva ...

in the United Kingdom, having started in 1974. It is held at the end of May just before the

Whitsuntide Whitsun (also Whitsunday or Whit Sunday) is the name used in Britain, and other countries among Anglicans and Methodists, for the Christian High Holy Day of Pentecost. It is the seventh Sunday after Easter, which commemorates the descent of the H ...

Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

. The winter beer festival is a smaller, indoor event at the University Social Club, and since 2018 has been held in November. Both festivals are run by

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

& District CAMRA. The 2020 festival was canceled due to the

Covid-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Summer festival

The summer beer festival began at the

Cambridge Corn Exchange Cambridge Corn Exchange is a concert venue located in Cambridge, England with a capacity up to 1,681 people. Construction The site, on the corner of Wheeler Street and Corn Exchange Street, was earmarked for a new Corn Exchange in 1868 to repla ...

in 1974 and remained there until 1982. After skipping a year in 1983, it moved between the

Guildhall A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

and

Midsummer Common Midsummer Common is an area of common land in Cambridge, England. It lies northeast of the city centre on the south bank of the River Cam. The common borders the River Cam and houseboats are often moored on the common's bank. The boathouses ...

before returning to the Corn Exchange in 1988 (the 14th festival). In 1992, it moved to the Cambridge City Football Club ground just off

Milton Road Milton Road is an arterial road in Brisbane, Australia. It is currently signed as State Route 32 for its entire length. Milton Road is a major corridor for traffic between the Brisbane central business district and the western suburbs. It car ...

where it became an outside festival in huge marquees. During its residency at the football ground time it grew (helped by not being limited by a fixed building) and settled into its now established time of year at the end of May (having previously been held in August). In 2001 (the 28th festival) it moved to

Jesus Green Jesus Green is a park in the north of central Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, north of Jesus College. Jesus Ditch runs along the southern edge Jesus Green. On the northern edge of Jesus Green is the River Cam, with Chesterton Road (the ...

where it has remained ever since. Since moving to Jesus Green it has grown significantly. The location attracts a lot more passing trade than the football ground. The festival is now the second largest in country in terms of visitors (behind the

Great British Beer Festival The Great British Beer Festival (sometimes abbreviated as GBBF) is an annual beer festival organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). It presents a selection of cask ales, and the Champion Beer of Britain awards, and is held in August of e ...

). In 2006 it had over 170

real ale Real ale is the name coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) for beer that is "brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous car ...

s, 50

cider Cider ( ) is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermented juice of apples. Cider is widely available in the United Kingdom (particularly in the West Country) and the Republic of Ireland. The UK has the world's highest per capita consumption, ...

s and perries as well as a large range of foreign beers and country wines. 2007 was another record-breaking year, with 30,384 visitors, who drank 494

kilderkin Capacities of brewery casks were formerly measured and standardised according to a specific system of English units. The system was originally based on the ale gallon of . In United Kingdom and its colonies, with the adoption of the imperial system ...

s (about 70,000 pints) of beer and 194 tubs (about 7,700 pints) of cider and perry. The 39th festival in 2012 set another new record, with around 41,000 visitors drinking around 560 kilderkins (80,000 pints) of beer and 330 tubs (13,000 pints) of cider. The 43rd festival in 2016 was also a record year with around 41,000 visitors drinking 86,000 pints of beer, 13,000 pints of cider, 9,300 pints of foreign beer and 1,600 bottles of wine and mead. The beer festival is also famous for its cheese stall which, unlike many food stalls at beer festivals, is run by the CAMRA branch themselves. The stall sells a wide range of traditional cheeses and breads as well as

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

pickled egg Pickled eggs are typically hard boiled eggs that are cured in vinegar or brine. As with many foods, this was originally a way to preserve the food so that it could be eaten months later. Pickled eggs have since become a favorite among many ...

pork pie A pork pie is a traditional English meat pie, usually served either at room temperature or cold (although often served hot in Yorkshire). It consists of a filling of roughly chopped pork and pork fat, surrounded by a layer of jellied pork stock ...

scotch egg A Scotch egg is a boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and baked or deep-fried . Origin The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives the first instance of the name as of 1809, in an edition of Maria Rundell's ''A New System of ...

s, etc. One tonne of cheese was sold during the 2016 festival. The Licensee for all the events up until 2011 has been David Short, Landlord of The Queens Head in

Newton, Cambridgeshire Newton is a civil parish and small village in Cambridgeshire, England. Situated around 7 miles to the south-west of Cambridge, it lies on the old coaching road between London and Cambridge. Its population in 2001 was 401, falling to 378 at the 2 ...

. Since 2011 the festival organiser has taken on the role. The organisers and staff are all unpaid volunteers. As a thank you for their effort they receive lunch and dinner (when working), together with free or discounted beer. Each year the festival gives a charity the opportunity to raise funds during the event. In 2018, Stars, who provide specialist bereavement support and counselling for young people in Cambridgeshire, raised over £18,500. The 2020 festival was canceled due to the

Winter festival

The Winter Beer Festival is held in November at the

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Social Club, Mill Lane, Cambridge CB2 1RX. It began in 1997 as a January event at

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

, and subsequently moved to the University Social Club. Another beer festival, the Octoberfest, was also held annually at the University Social Club from 2007 to 2017. After the winter festival in January 2018, the two festivals were merged into a single Winter Beer Festival held annually in November, six months after the summer festival. The change meant that there were two winter beer festivals held in 2018.

References

External links

*
Cambridge & District CAMRA

{{coord, 52.2121, N, 0.1238, E, display=title, region:GB_type:landmark Festivals in Cambridge Beer festivals in the United Kingdom Festivals established in 1974 May events November events