a swift one - Dewsbury Festival, a punters view

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I finally got chance to visit the Dewsbury festival on Friday midafternoon. As Will stated, the venue was easy enough to find, a 5 minute walk from the station and head for the white sheeted building. The inside of the building was what would expect from a Victorian council building, ornate and spectacular. That didn't stop me getting lost inside though. I finally managed to get a ticket for the festival from a ticket office downstairs to get into the festival on the floor above.

Up there the beers were on a mixture of stillage and hand pumps in a medium sized hall which was reasonably full. All the seats were taken but there was room to move about and the bars were well manned. It did seem rather warm and on a hot day became a bit oppressive as the day wore on. The system used was tried and tested, with £2 deposit for a glass,(£1 refundable),marked in pints,halves and thirds, and the old £5 beer ticket with various amounts scrubbed off for every beer you ordered. This did present a problem when drinking in thirds as most came in under £1 and caused confusion to the bar staff knowing what to scrub off. Maybe, the £1 amounts should be altered to 2 x 50p to assist. However unused portions could be refunded.


As for the beers, there was a range to suit all palettes, but the warmth of the hall did them no favours as the afternoon went on and those on the bar did not seem to be a chilled as I would have hoped. I tried 8 from various Yorkshire breweries, Yorkshire beers did predominate at the festival, all were adequate,but none were spectacular, and one was disappointing but I will not name it. There were plenty of new beers to try, Brian Moore was there and he needed around 15, so my fears about the lack of something different were unfounded. There was some confusion as to where to get some of the beers with 2 bars operating, the second bar being a 'Brewsters' bar with beer from female brewers only. Ok if you knew which beers were brewed by females, otherwise a bit haphazard.


It was a decent festival, there were issues, but nothing that cannot be ironed out if they try again, and it attracted people from far and wide, it was good to see some of the old stagers there rubbing shoulders with local drinkers. Lets hope that local Camra are encouraged for another attempt, maybe earlier or later in the year when the room would be less warm.


As an aside, those travelling from away were not helped by a signal failure which stopped trains running for 2 hours at the rush hour meaning the only escape from the town was either by service bus or rail replacement coach, not an ideal way to travel after several pints at a festival.
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