Great British Beer Festival
The Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) is an annual beer festival organised by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). It presents a selection of cask ales and other alcoholic drinks from the UK and beyond. The festival is also home to the Champion Beer of Britain awards. GBBF's sister festival, the National Winter Ales Festival concentrates on beer styles such as porter and stout, and is held in January of each year.
Description
GBBF is styled as the "biggest pub in the world" and offers around 450 beers from British breweries, as well as around 200 foreign beers from countries including Belgium, Germany and the USA. Traditional British cider and perry is also available. The festival is staffed by unpaid volunteers, around 1000 of whom work at the festival.
The festival is usually held during the first full week in August and runs from Tuesday to Saturday. The Tuesday afternoon session is only open to the trade and press, with the Champion Beer of Britain award winners being announced mid-afternoon. The general public are admitted to afternoon and evening sessions from Tuesday evening until Saturday evening. CAMRA figures show that in 2006, over 66,000 people visited the festival over the course of the week and consumed some 350,000 pints of beer — one pint sold in less than half of every open second. Part of the huge improvement on 2005 (ticket sales were up 40%) was attributed by the festival organiser, Marc Holmes, to the move from Olympia to Earls Court, a much larger and easily accessible venue.[1] Since 2012 the event has returned to Olympia and remains massively popular.
As well as the beer, the festival offers entertainment such as live music and traditional pub games, as well as a variety of food stands. The 2014 festival was held from 12th to 16th August. The 2015 festival is scheduled for 11th to 15th August.
Event history
CAMRA held their first large beer festival in Covent Garden, London in September 1975. It was a 4-day event that attracted 40,000 people who drank 150,000 pints of real ale.[2] Strictly speaking it was not a GBBF, but it has been considered the forerunner of the festival. The first "proper" GBBF was held in 1977.
- 1977: Alexandra Palace, London
- 1978: Alexandra Palace, London
- 1979: Alexandra Palace, London
- 1980: Alexandra Palace (in tents after the Palace burnt down)
- 1981: Alexandra Palace right hand side up to where organ was situated, left side was tea and biscuits. Day before Diana and Charles wedding. Free membership badges were given away. About fifteen separate booths.
- 1982: Queens Hall, Leeds
- 1983: Bingley Hall, Birmingham
- 1984: No event
- 1985: Metropole, Brighton
- 1986: Metropole, Brighton
- 1987: Metropole, Brighton
- 1988: Queens Hall, Leeds
- 1989: Queens Hall, Leeds
- 1990: Metropole, Brighton
- 1991: Docklands Arena, London
- 1992: Olympia, London
- 1993: Olympia, London
- 1994: Olympia, London
- 1995: Olympia, London
- 1996: Olympia, London
- 1997: Olympia, London
- 1998: Olympia, London
- 1999: Olympia, London
- 2000: Olympia, London
- 2001: Olympia, London
- 2002: Olympia, London
- 2003: Olympia, London
- 2004: Olympia, London
- 2005: Olympia, London
- 2006: Earls Court, London
- 2007: Earls Court, London
- 2008: Earls Court, London
- 2009: Earls Court, London
- 2010: Earls Court, London 66,900 people attended
- 2011: Earls Court, London 62,446 people attended
- 2012: Olympia, London[3]
- 2013: Olympia, London
- 2014: Olympia, London[4]
- 2015: Olympia, London
See also
- Champion Beer of Britain
- National Winter Ales Festival
- Champion Winter Beer of Britain
- Campaign for Real Ale
References
- ↑ Marc Holmes, festival organiser, speech in the Volunteer's Arms, Great British Beer Festival, 5 August 2006
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External links
Media related to Great British Beer Festival at Wikimedia Commons- GBBF website
- CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale
- Festival of Beer: Search for Beer Festivals around the World
- GBBF for tourists
