[Official
Press Release Number 1]
The Sussex CAMRA
Branches 17th Beer & Cider Festival
will be held at the Hove
Centre, Norton Road, Hove, from Thursday
8th to Saturday 10th March 2007.
The Festival has a new organiser for 2007
- Mike Lockyer, whom regular visitors will
know from previous festivals as the bearded,
balding chief steward (and bets are already
being taken on how much balder he's going
to be by the end of the Festival!).
The 2006 festival featured over 200 beers
from 133 breweries around the country -
our best yet. It was also our best in terms
of attendance, with nearly 4,000 visitors
over the five sessions. For 2007, we are
aiming to offer at least as great a variety
of draught beers, plus the usual excellent
selection of ciders, perries, English and
foreign bottled beers and English Country
Wines. The majority of these will be served
from the bars in the Main Hall, where there
will also be musical entertainment on the
Friday and Saturday evenings (TBC on Friday
and Zen
House on Saturday), whilst the Quiet
Bar will again feature Sussex ales, plus
speciality beers. On the Balcony, the Festival
caterers, (we have managed to secure the
services of The Splendid Meat Company),
will be providing food, including vegetarian
options – real food to accompany real
ale.
The Festival charity
will again be The Martlets Hospice, Hove,
and plans are afoot for a special beer to
mark this association.
Unfortunately for those Festival fans who
like to partake of the evil weed with their
pint, there will be no smoking
permitted anywhere in The Hove Centre in
2007 - we were allowed to have a smoking
room in 2006 only because our booking had
been made before the ruling was brought
in.
Opening times for the Festival together
with the ticket prices are as follows:
Thursday evening |
5 pm - 11 pm |
£3.50 |
Friday lunch time |
11 am - 3 pm |
£3 |
Friday evening |
5 pm - 11 pm |
£6 |
Saturday lunch time |
11 am - 3 pm |
£3 |
Saturday evening |
5 pm - 10 pm |
£5 (£3 concessions) |
Tickets for
the Festival - on sale from January
- will be available at the usual outlets
(Brighton & Hove: the Hove & Brighton
Centres, The Evening Star, The Sir Charles
Napier; Shoreham: The Buckingham Arms; Lewes:
The Gardener's Arms; Worthing: The Selden
Arms), or by post from SCBCF Ticket Sales,
14 Clover Lane, Ferring, Worthing, BN12
5LZ (Tel: 01903 504409). For postal applications,
please state the session(s) for which you
require tickets, and enclose an SAE with
your payment, which should be by cheque
or Postal Order made payable to “CAMRA
Sussex Beer Festival”. To avoid disappointment
on the day it is advisable to buy tickets
in advance particularly for the very popular
Friday and Saturday evening sessions. The
ticket price includes a souvenir programme
and, for CAMRA members, beer tokens worth
£2 on presentation of their membership
card. For the Saturday evening, a £2
concession will be available to students
buying tickets at the Hove Centre on production
of a Students Union card.
If you need to get hold of Mike, he can
be contacted on 01273 386659, or at mikethepipe@ntlworld.com,
or go to www.sussexbeerfestival.co.uk for
further information.
Mike Lockyer
Festival Organiser
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