Beer Festivals

Southern Hampshire CAMRA has been running Southampton Beer Festival in its current format since 1997. The first 20 events were at Southampton Guildhall and in 2017 Southampton Beer Festival moved to St Mary's Stadium.

In 2010 we added to this by organising an Autumn Festival, in Woolston, appropriately called Woolston Beer Festival. We repeated this the next year and it has become annual event.

In 2011 we held Winchester Real Ale and Cider Festival at the end of March, returning a CAMRA beer festival to Winchester Guildhall after a gap of 28 years. This was another big success and remained so up until 2020 when it was the last CAMRA beer festival before the Covid lockdown. Since then we have been unable to return to the Guildhall but 2024 is looking good for a new venue 7th & 8th June, more details soon.

All the staff at our beer festivals are volunteers. Many members of Southern Hampshire CAMRA also volunteer their time to work at the Great British Beer Festival each year.

Some of our aims in running beer festivals are:

• To serve customers quality cask conditioned real ale.
• To promote real ale to the local community, therefore increasing its popularity.
• To promote membership of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.

If you'd like us to email you and let you know when we're holding beer festivals then join our "beerfests" mailing list and we'll keep you informed!

Listing policy

For CAMRA beer festivals we list those within 50 miles of our branch area. Please check the individual websites for details. We to research non-CAMRA festivals as best we can and list those within 25 miles of our branch area. Inevitably we will miss a few, some aren't well publicized, so if you know of more please drop us an email and let us know. In any case you should check with the venue for any last minute changes before attending.

CAMRA Beer Festivals

• 46th Farnham Beerex – 18th, 19th & 20th April 2024
  Farnham Maltings, Bridge Square, Farnham, Surrey GU9 7QR
  Jointly run by Farnham Lions Club, Farnham Maltings, CAMRA Surrey/Hants Borders Branch, and a number of enthusiastic volunteers, and famously running for 46 years in the same venue. Expect around 60 real ales and 30 ciders & perries. Food and entertainment each session. Open Thursday evening 18:00 – 23:00, and Friday & Saturday 11:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 23:00. All sessions £14 except Friday lunchtime £10. Saturday lunchtime tickets are already sold out.
   
• Yapton Beerex – 17th, 18th & 19th May 2024
  Yapton and Ford Village Hall, Yapton, West Sussex BN18 0ET
  Always a good festival, especially if the weather is fine, and this year is the 32nd Yapton Beer Festival. Fri 15:00 – 23.00; Sat 11:00 – 21:00; Sun 12:00 – 15:00. Tickets £8 Friday, £8 Saturday (£4 from 17:00) and free entrance Sunday. Tickets available online and from selected pubs. There is now a scheduled bus service (Stagecoach 500) to & from Barnham so the vintage bus service has been retired. Run by Western Sussex CAMRA.
   
• Kingston Beer & Cider Festival 2024 – 23rd, 24th & 25th May 2024
  Kingston Workmen's Club & Institute, 25 Old London Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT2 6ND
  12:00 – 22:30 Thursday; 12:00 – 22:30 Friday; 12:00 – 18:00 Saturday. Last year tickets were £5 Thursday & Friday, £2 Saturday. Run by Kingston & Leatherhead CAMRA.
   
• 11th Winchester Beer & Cider Festival – 7th & 8th June 2024
  University of Winchester Students Union, Sparkford Road, Winchester SO22 4NR
  Four sessions Fri 11:30 – 16:00 & 18:30 – 22:30, Sat 11:30 – 16:00 & 18:30 – 22:30. Each session £10, tickets on sale soon. Up to 75 cask ales plus a range of real ciders and perry, a key keg bar and a selection of bottled beers. Run by our own Southern Hampshire CAMRA branch.
   
• 11th Maidenhead Beer & Cider Festival – 5th & 6th July 2024
  NMCC Sports Bar, Summerleaze Park, off Summerleaze Road, Maidenhead, Berks, SL6 8SP
  12:00 – 23:00 Friday & 12:00 – 23:00 Saturday, tickets price £tba in advance, £tba discount for CAMRA members. Run by Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead CAMRA
   
• 23rd Devizes Beer Festival – 13th July 2024
  The Wharf, Devizes, Wiltshire SN10 1EB
  One day only 11:30 – 22:00. Tickets £15 in advance only. Mainly an open air festival, with some under canvas, beside Kennet & Avon Canal. Over 100 real ales and cider; food also available. Family orientated, with live music. Run by Devizes CAMRA.
   
• Woolston Beer Festival – 1st & 2nd November 2024
  Pear Tree Church Hall, Woolston, Southampton SO19 2HA
  Advance notice of the dates. Expect 26 real ales, 5 real ciders, plus craft beers, bottled beers & food. Open Fri 18:00 – 22:30; Sat 11:30 – 16:00 & 18:00 – 22:30. Tickets £tba – includes glass & programme. £tba beer tokens to card carrying CAMRA members. Entertainment both evenings. All details will be on woolstonbeerfestival.camra.org.uk once confirmed.
   

For CAMRA festivals over the whole of the UK see the main CAMRA website
 

Non-CAMRA Beer Festivals

Many beer festivals take place in our branch area, or nearby, that are not CAMRA beer festivals. Despite being unable to endorse these events, we believe that any beer festival that sells quality cask-conditioned real ales should be supported (see you there!). The information given here is purely for the benefit of readers, and is accurate to the best of our knowledge.
To get your beer festival listed here send an email to beerfestivals@shantscamra.org.uk

If you know of any more non-CAMRA beer festivals in our branch area then please email the details to us.