Beer Festivals

We added Beer Festivals earlier this year and they turned out to be a bit of a hit. Dave does his best to keep them as comprehensive as he can and obviously anyone can add festivals they know about.

They have attracted quite a bit of traffic in, but for me they feel a bit flat.

I was wondering if there was anything anyone else had felt was lacking from them, I am a long way off having the time to improve them unless it is something very simple, but I was interested to hear any thoughts anyway.

Some thoughts I have had:
Address system is too strict - We use Google Maps to check the addresses, and it has restrictions that can be quite annoying if it can't work out the address you are typing into it. This was actually a bit of a test by us, as if it had worked perfectly it had the potential to allow us to allow pubs from any country on the site. It is not quite there yet, but certainly interesting.

Add festivals from pubs - Have a button on the pub page to add a beer festival to the pub and have it prefill most of the festival details.

Allow reviews of the festival - As it says, let people comment on the festival.

I am going to this festival button - Some sort of tool that may allow our members to meet up.

Add photos to the festival - Again, just like the pubs add pictures to the festivals.

Recurrances - If it is a regular festival allow links to the old occurences on our system so that they can be compared.

Anyway, just to open that one to the floor :)

Hi Eddie86,

how did the Kilverts go?

I'm really happy with it!

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/SNC00074.jpg

I'll be putting video and better pictures up on the festival website later (I'll link to it once I've updated)

The target was to break even - Hay on Wye had never had a beer festival before (except our 10 ale mini fest last year) and we'd spent quite a bit on advertising, live music and our own branded glasses, which we now use in the bar (oversized and line marked). I still haven't mastered getting a decent picture of the glasses, but the proof is here:

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...sesProof-1.jpg

We sold around 100 glasses, and just under half the beer, resulting in a slight profit, which has been put to one side for extra advertising next year (I'm thinking What's Brewing and the local CAMRA rags)

Ferret Racing was a huge hit, and we'll now be doing that throughout the year, as well as on festival weekend. Plenty of CAMRA cards flashed for 10p discount, and feedback on comment cards was very good - quality of ale, speed of service etc. A group of locals came in, not to drink at the festival but to say thankyou for getting people into the town on a normally quite weekend - there was quite a buzz around down apparently!

I was relieved, as the week before the festival I'd been in hospital having all sorts of head scans and what not (a few more tests and I'll be all clear I'm happy to say)

But great fun, a few things to change next year - might not have all 5 ales on in the main bar as quite a few people thought that was the beer festival - having 5 on at a time!

Sorry for going on a bit - I'm still writing my diary up with notes for next year - hence the details. O, and we raised just under £100 for the Brecon Mountain Rescue team, which is nice.

Ed

Well done, Squire, looks like it went well and i take it the picture suffered from camera shake not the photographer having shakes!

hope the tests go well, i didn't realise you hadn't been well

When i pop down i will let you know, so we can have a few mins chat as i sample your ales!

Hi Ed,

I notice that you have seperate accounts on the forum and the main PG web site, just let me know if you want to merge them and what your preferred username is on the forum (If they are merged a user can click through to see your PG contributions from the forum, and we may add more features in the future).

Also feel free to leave a review detailing any information you want to against your pub, it would be sensible to mention you are the publican in the review to show you are biased, but you can chuck your guest ales in there and just update it whenever necessary (or reference your main site to check for ales and room availability).

Good luck with the test results as well, I don't know about you, but I find the act of just visiting a hospital traumatic enough.

Conrad

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Originally Posted by The Archivist

Well done, Squire, looks like it went well and i take it the picture suffered from camera shake not the photographer having shakes!

hope the tests go well, i didn't realise you hadn't been well

When i pop down i will let you know, so we can have a few mins chat as i sample your ales!

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I take my responsibility as publican to ensure every beer sold is up to scratch very seriously ;)

I've got some better pictures from a camera that isn't an add-on to a phone as well as a local film crew putting a video together for me, so when I finally get round to updating the website that should be good advertising for next year!

Let me know before you pop down - I'm quite often in the cellar/kitchen/office or down at Breconshire Brewery getting some work experience - the only part of becoming management I don't like is spending less time behind the bar. I'll make sure I'm around for it - customer satisfaction research is also vital to the business ;)

Hi Ed

It looks like i should be down on Saturday, but i cant be sure until the day, as there are a few complicating factors - so hope to see you if you are working in the bar, or floating around

I'm back from Devon (lovely couple of pubs - reviews soon) on Friday night so Saturday I'll be around. Technically not working, but that doesn't mean much these days :D

Bostin'

As i say, i dont know if i will actually get there - the missus says we can go, but its my birthday on the Sunday, so she may have something planned - and i said i was only going for the books - didnt want her to think it was beer too - not that i am addicted you understand.

I will ask around for you when i pop in

where in Devon did you go?

We started in a tiny place (found it in the GBG) in Frithelstock which was nice but a bit restrictive - 6 houses, a pub and a church, 2 miles to nearest town and no public transport. I see you beat me to Topsham where we stayed last night, and we're spending today and tomorrow in West Lulworth

It's nice to be the otherside of the bar to be honest, and getting a bit of rest and try some different beers. Haven't found a mild yet though...

It turns out I may well be there for most of the day - we've got a table of 45 in the restaurant that night, booked after one of the group popped in and was impressed with the beers :D

Hi Ed,

I just edited your post, all the links were a little broken (no idea why), should be fine now.

Just to mention the Castle Inn (West Lulworth), they are really into using the Internet to promote themselves, very proactive which I always think is a good sign. Currently using their Twitter feed as a test case with the fiddling I am doing on the site.

Having added a fair few website links to PG, I too followed the link to see what they were doing and was impressed as well - an excellent website which other pubs would do well to take a look at.

I do find it frustrating that while most pub websites say they offer "real ale", very few will let on what it is they're actually selling! Maybe they've got some kind of Greene King tie going on (in which case their reticence is perhaps understandable) but, if they reckon the ale is a selling point, why not do a bit of promotion - it is free after all.

And, getting back to The Castle Inn - I see that they've had the good sense to feature beer from the superb Dark Star brewery - well done again!

Hello lads,

Happened to be looking at Google Analytics, well I do it every night!, and spotted a few referrals from here!

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Originally Posted by Conrad

Just to mention the Castle Inn (West Lulworth), they are really into using the Internet to promote themselves, very proactive which I always think is a good sign. Currently using their Twitter feed as a test case with the fiddling I am doing on the site.

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I try and use the internet as much as possible, it's one of the best ways to promote yourself and also one of the cheapest - I take a lot of pride in our website and the stats back that up!

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Originally Posted by PaulOfHorsham

Having added a fair few website links to PG, I too followed the link to see what they were doing and was impressed as well - an excellent website which other pubs would do well to take a look at.

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Thanks Paul :) :o

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Originally Posted by PaulOfHorsham

And, getting back to The Castle Inn - I see that they've had the good sense to feature beer from the superb Dark Star brewery - well done again!

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Dark Star is a superb brewery, hoping to get some more in at some point once the spotlight comes away from them after their GBBF win with their APA.

Cheers,

Alex

Greetings Alex

Drop by more often - good to get the view of people in the trade

roll on a trip to Lulworth:D

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Originally Posted by The Archivist

Greetings Alex

Drop by more often - good to get the view of people in the trade

roll on a trip to Lulworth:D

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Hey,

When I first sorted out the account on PubsGalore the forums weren't quite so used - will definitely try and get the odd comment in here and there!

Ed definitely chose the best days to come down to Lulworth, the weather has been great today! Yesterday (and the rest of the week) it's been pouring it down!

Have had a few problems with our beer quality over the last week since our cellar cooler decided to give up on us on Monday and Coors (still) haven't come out to fix it yet. One negative of being a freehold where "fizzy" sales are minimal - you get minimal cellar services support from your lager supplier!

We also had our first Beer and Cider Festival the same weekend as Eds. Couldn't have asked for better weather thankfully! We had 29 beers and 18 ciders available from the start in the Marquee - managed to shift pretty much all the cider (24 boxes and 4 polypins sold!) and only about 5 firkins worth of beer left over.

Cheers,

Alex

Alex,

You may interested to know that the Dark Star Brewery is moving sites and will be tripling capacity. They should be in the new place around about now. Hopefully, that'll mean more Hophead for all of us (go - get some in - your regulars will love you for it)!

Hi Alex,

Glad to see you here, and well done on the Analytics, that was an incredibly quick spot. I hope you find the time to regularly pop in as I am keen to get the perspective of publicans to help us improve Pubs Galore.

I should add I am feeling a little guilty now as Ed is one of the other people I would pick out as being very proactive on the web with his Kilverts in Hay on Wye web site. Although I am being a little petulant as he hasn't followed our twitter feed yet. ;) (I doubt he even knows about it).

Conrad

Just looking through this weekend's list, and find it hard to believe that Padwell Arms (Seal, Kent) wants to charge £11 (adv) or £14 (on day) seemingly just to get in!!! http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/beerfest...al.php?id=1071
If I lived nearby I'd be swerving that in protest, probably with a gesture from Agincourt.

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Originally Posted by trainman

Just looking through this weekend's list, and find it hard to believe that Padwell Arms (Seal, Kent) wants to charge £11 (adv) or £14 (on day) seemingly just to get in!!! http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/beerfest...al.php?id=1071
If I lived nearby I'd be swerving that in protest, probably with a gesture from Agincourt.

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It apparently includes 5 pints though! http://www.ukcalendars.com/cgi-bin/c...oth&Type=Block

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Originally Posted by trainman

Just looking through this weekend's list, and find it hard to believe that Padwell Arms (Seal, Kent) wants to charge £11 (adv) or £14 (on day) seemingly just to get in!!! http://www.pubsgalore.co.uk/beerfest...al.php?id=1071
If I lived nearby I'd be swerving that in protest, probably with a gesture from Agincourt.

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This is something I feel quite strongly about. If I was relatively new to ale, and wanted to go to a festival to learn a bit more I wouldn't pay that much admission! That's why we offer free admission but customers will only be served in a festival glass (£5, £4 CAMRA). So people not-to-sure can still come in and get a feel for the festival, and if they think it's not for them it hasn't cost them a penny. If they do like it, they buy their glass and that's their admission then for the entire weekend (plus they can keep it as a souvenir.

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Originally Posted by RogerB

It apparently includes 5 pints though!

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Aah, that makes it quite different - a crucial piece of info that I think needs adding asap to the PG 'fest listing.

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Originally Posted by Eddie86

...plus they can keep it as a souvenir.

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Hmm, I don't mind paying for a glass, usually £2/£2.50, but prefer an option to return it for refund when leaving - chances of getting it home unscathed are often dramatically reduced by then anyway. I realise this may sometimes mean an adverse balance of 20p or so on a pint. I certainly wouldn't want to pay a non-refundable fiver for a glass then, say, £3.20 per pint.

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Originally Posted by trainman

Aah, that makes it quite different - a crucial pice of info that I think needs adding asap to the PG 'fest listing.



Hmm, I don't mind paying for a glass, usually £2/£2.50, but prefer an option to return it for refund when leaving - chances of getting it home unscathed are often dramatically reduced by then anyway. I realise this may sometimes mean an adverse balance of 20p or so on a pint. I certainly wouldn't want to pay a non-refundable fiver for a glass then, say, £3.20 per pint.

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Sorry, should have said - option to return it for £2 return, making 'entry fee' £3. Ales all £3 pint, except for 1 or 2 (Otley O8 8% barley wine springs to mind)

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Originally Posted by trainman

Aah, that makes it quite different - a crucial piece of info that I think needs adding asap to the PG 'fest listing.

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.. it's there now! Was it added, or did I just completely miss it first time round?

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Originally Posted by trainman

Aah, that makes it quite different - a crucial piece of info that I think needs adding asap to the PG 'fest listing.

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Thanks for that, I've updated the info and added a link to the local CAMRA page that mentions the festival too. I guess I just didn't have all the info available when I added that one, I remember thinking the admission price was a bit steep.

The comments about someone new to festivals was discovered by my lager drinking son when he decided to try Darlington's main festival. He went to the bar and ordered a half - Wheres your glass? Queued and bought it. Went back for his half - Where's your token? Joined token queue. They wanted £5 off him and £5 off his wife. He said he hadn't done a festival before and just wanted to try a half before driving home. No good- its £10 if you want beer. He took his glass back and left with a bad feeling about beer festivals. There should be someone to look after newbies really.

We are taking him to the Darlington fest on Thursday so we can show him the ropes and hopefully let him see how good festivals are, and the beer of course. Bought him a GBG and he uses it when going to away footy matches to find a good pub. Shamefully to drink lager, but has hit on one somewhere with no lager!! He will learn.

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Originally Posted by gillhalfpint

The comments about someone new to festivals was discovered by my lager drinking son when he decided to try Darlington's main festival. He went to the bar and ordered a half - Wheres your glass? Queued and bought it. Went back for his half - Where's your token? Joined token queue. They wanted £5 off him and £5 off his wife. He said he hadn't done a festival before and just wanted to try a half before driving home. No good- its £10 if you want beer. He took his glass back and left with a bad feeling about beer festivals. There should be someone to look after newbies really.

We are taking him to the Darlington fest on Thursday so we can show him the ropes and hopefully let him see how good festivals are, and the beer of course. Bought him a GBG and he uses it when going to away footy matches to find a good pub. Shamefully to drink lager, but has hit on one somewhere with no lager!! He will learn.

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I have beer festivals to thank for getting me into Ales on a permanent basis as well as 'Spoons for allowing me to experiment without wasting (too much) money. I would suggest taking him to the next 'Spoons festival and plying him with as many "thirds" as the beer range allows. If he takes to any of the beers, get him an extra half pint of it and if he really still likes it, have a full pint. That would be as good an introduction as any and won't break the bank. Once he has sussed out that 2 or 3 are to his taste, he will be in a better position to experimemnt on his own with a few halves in different pubs and build up from there. If he doesn't like any of it, just disown him.

I was at the 2 day ascot racecourse beer festival last year a great way to combine racing & a beer festival. The only negative was the combination of large amounts of :drinkup::bemerry::cheers: & betting did not lead to many winning bets:nishelypished:

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Originally Posted by hondo

I was at the 2 day ascot racecourse beer festival last year a great way to combine racing & a beer festival. The only negative was the combination of large amounts of :drinkup::bemerry::cheers: & betting did not lead to many winning bets:nishelypished:

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I have provisonally arranged to go there for this years festival on the 24 Sept. Large amounts of :cheers::cheers::cheers::cheers: would probably enhance my chance of winning a few bob.

:lol: good luck enjoy the beer at the festival you wont get much choice in the nearby pubs

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Originally Posted by hondo

:lol: good luck enjoy the beer at the festival you wont get much choice in the nearby pubs

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I'd noticed. I think there is just 1 that even looks remotely worth visiting. Since the festival appears to finish at 6 we would be a bit lost for soemwhere to go afterwards.

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Originally Posted by RogerB

I'd noticed. I think there is just 1 that even looks remotely worth visiting. Since the festival appears to finish at 6 we would be a bit lost for soemwhere to go afterwards.

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If you're on train you could consider breaking the rtn journey at Egham, we had quite a good day there but can't update situ since Apr07.

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Originally Posted by hondo

:lol: good luck enjoy the beer at the festival you wont get much choice in the nearby pubs

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Sadly a little far for me to put a bus on:

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=d&so...e=UTF8&t=h&z=8

Been a brilliant week of beer festivals for us. Tamworth, Minehead and York all superb. Expecting the same from Darlington today. So many new breweries around. Wainstones Sandstone in particular at York could well be beer of the month, never mind beer of the week. Superb. The other 2 from the same brewery were good too. Will watch out for more of these.

Well I paid the money and the ticket price included ten half pints of beer. Infact entrance was free this was just an advance beer purchase. That is what the advertising said, and that is precisely what was delivered.

Delighted that they are running it again this year. £11 for "Friends of The Padwell" ....whatever that is and £13 for Joe Public includes five pints. Thats £2.60 a pint so I have already called Maria at the Padwell and ordered myself thre tickets , one for each day

See you there

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Originally Posted by Donny1Rovers1

Well I paid the money and the ticket price included ten half pints of beer. Infact entrance was free this was just an advance beer purchase. That is what the advertising said, and that is precisely what was delivered.

Delighted that they are running it again this year. £11 for "Friends of The Padwell" ....whatever that is and £13 for Joe Public includes five pints. Thats £2.60 a pint so I have already called Maria at the Padwell and ordered myself thre tickets , one for each day

See you there

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I think this is the place, I thought for a moment it was something to do with Doncaster Rovers:o

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Originally Posted by oldboots

I think this is the place, I thought for a moment it was something to do with Doncaster Rovers:o

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Looks like it! i reviewed it a few years back on the dark side:rather forlorn, but it could be a cracker in the orchards and nut platts of a prosperous part of West Kent. The Larkins Traditional was epic.

Our next beer festival will be Worcester. Going for the day on Friday. Haven't been since the year it got flooded out, but always used to enjoy it.

A day in Sheffield planned for 11/8 although not a beer festival will be as good as.
4 nights at Old Windsor mean we can spend a few days at Egham USC festival that runs 18-21/8. Brill in Easter and advance list for August looks terrific too.
Peterborough fest next, but just for the day on 25/8. A top fest with good prov list out.
London Midland train for London on 2/9 for the day. Want to try some of the pubs debated around here.
Harbury fest for the day on 3/9.
Tamworth fest on 8/9
Minehead fest 10/9 and 11/9.
York fest 15-17/9. Caravan up there for 5 nights so will enjoy the pubs too.