[Official
Press Release Number 2]
The 8th, 9th and 10th March sees the return,
for the 17th year, of the Sussex CAMRA Branches
Beer & Cider Festival, once again at
The Hove Centre, Norton Road, Hove. With
a new organiser, Mike Lockyer (who will
be familiar to most regulars at the festival
as the bearded, balding Chief Steward -
bets are being taken on how much balder
he's going to be by the end of the festival),
and nearly 300 beers (as many as we can
fit in!) plus a good selection of ciders
and perries, this hugely popular festival
opens to the public at 5.00 p.m. on the
Thursday. Tickets for the Friday evening
are already selling out at the time of writing,
and sales for other sessions are also going
well. Who knows? We may even exceed last
year's record number of visitors . . .
If you haven't visited this festival previously,
the majority of beers are served from the
Main Bar on the first floor, where there
is live music on the Friday and Saturday
evenings - Forever Young on Friday and Zen
House on Saturday. The balcony area
food bar will be run by The
Splendid Meat Company, serving a range
of light bites and more substantial fare;
all their meat is from traditional breeds,
raised in the traditional way, and they
also provide vegetarian options. For those
who prefer to sup their ale in peace, the
Quiet Bar on the ground floor is a music-free
zone, and hosts the Sussex Bar, featuring
local ales.
One beer to watch out for - this year is
the 10th anniversary of the festival's charity,
The Martlets Hospice,
and a special brew, Quality of Life, produced
by Custom Beers, will be on sale to mark
the occasion, with all proceeds going to
The Martlets.
We will also be open until 11.00 p.m. on
the Saturday evening; although the general
idea is that there shouldn't be much if
any beer left by then, our most excellent
Beer Organiser does have a contingency plan
if we start running out earlier than anticipated,
and it does mean that visitors will not
have to sup up and depart when there are
still a few beers to be sampled.
As ever, no Beer Festival can happen without
people to serve the beer, and the secret
to any beer festival's success is a committed
team of volunteers working to ensure that
all festival-goers enjoy themselves. That's
not to say that it's just hard work, by
any means . . . Our Staffing Officer for
2007, Alison Clark (contact her on 01903
535541 or at ali-beerfeststaff@hotmail.com),
is writing to everyone on the Sussex CAMRA
mailing list asking for volunteers to staff
the bars. If you are a CAMRA member in Sussex
and haven't had your letter, you can download
the letter and staffing form from our Help
Out page.
Two other points of interest: firstly,
this year's festival will be the subject
of a film documentary - if you ever wanted
to know what goes on behind the scenes at
a beer festival, Gareth and his crew will
be finding out; secondly, our resident artist
would welcome suggestions for the design
of next year's logo - whoever comes up with
the best suggestion will win a pair of tickets
to the 2008 festival - full details of this
competition will appear on the website and
in the programme.
Times and 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 are available at the usual outlets
(Brighton & Hove: the Hove & Brighton
Centres, The Evening Star, The Sir Charles
Napier, The Bell (Belfast Street, Hove);
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 (please
note - the Brighton & Hove Centres ticket
offices have already sold out of tickets
for Friday evening). 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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