Leeds Beer Festival Returns this June

Leeds Beer Festival is back, returning to the great new venue of Leeds Beckett University in early June. The festival is held in the student union bar of Leeds Beckett University, it’s on two levels but don’t worry, it’s fully disabled accessible for those who find stairs difficult. We are sited just across the road from the Dry Dock pub. So it is just a short walk up from Millennium Square with multiple bus routes passing the door.

As usual, Leeds CAMRA are organising the beer festival over three days this year, starting from Thursday 6th June. There are sessions in the afternoon and evening on Thursday, plus all day opening on both Friday and Saturday. Yes, all day opening on Friday as well as Saturday! In total that’s 35 hours of drinking time, why not pop in for an hour or two and give it a go?

There will be a great selection of real ale from near and far, at prices which are affordable to all. As usual we’ll try to get beers from every brewery in Leeds, some of which are rarely seen away from one or two specific places. With all this choice we think it’s sensible to drink in thirds, but accept that some want to drink in larger measures so we have a choice of glasses. This year there will be three glass sizes, giving drinkers the choice of all four of the legal measures for draught beer, that is thirds, halves, two thirds and pints.

The recently introduced craft beer bar has been a runaway success, we’ll of course be keeping that, and don’t forget craft can be real and real can be craft, hopefully you are as confused as we are! Moving away from real ale, but not totally, we have the Global Beer Bar featuring bottles and cans from all over the world. Some will be real ale, some will be traditional beer styles from the country which produced them, all will be great value for money. Leeds Beer Festival just would not be Leeds Beer Festival without Cider and Perry. As usual there will be a great variety of these traditional drinks with a selection from the driest of dry to sweet and flavoured cider. Cider and Perry will be not just from the West Country but from other producing areas, including Yorkshire. As the festival is in June all beer, cider and perry will be cooled to keep it at optimum temperature and ensure that you get maximum enjoyment out of it.

Do you like the idea of guaranteed entry by purchasing tickets in advance? Well you can do that too! The website leedsbeerfestival.co.uk has full details of how to purchase tickets. The purchase price of tickets may seem high but it does include £10.00 of beer tokens and a glass which is worth £3.00. If you don’t use all your beer tokens you can get a refund on the unused ones. Plus if you don’t want to keep your glass just return it for your £3.00 back, look after it though as we can’t refund on broken or lost ones. The full list of prices is shown below; don’t forget these include the refundable £13.00 for glass and beer tokens. At the festival you will pay for beer using the beer tokens which will be in the

form of ‘bingo cards’. Don’t know what we are talking about? Well come along to the festival and find out!

Tickets are on sale now. Simply follow the link on the website and they will be sent to you immediately via e-mail. Don’t worry if you haven’t got web access or don’t want to commit until the day of the festival, there will be more tickets available on the door than we sell in advance for every session. But with the prospect of about 100 real ales, 20 ciders and countless bottles and cans it’s probably going to be quite busy at times.

WHERE Leeds Beckett Students' Union Bar (The Hive), ex Met Uni / Poly, Opposite The Dry Dock, Portland Way, Off Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS1 3HE

WHEN Thursday 6th June 11:00 – 16:00 & 17:00 – 23:00 Friday 7th June 11:00 –23:00 Saturday 8th June 11:00 –23:00

HOW MUCH

· Thursday 11:00 – 16:00 £13.00, no discounts as it is effectively free entry

· Thursday 17:00 – 23:00 £16.00, £3.00 off for CAMRA members / students

· Friday 11:00 –23:00 £18.00, £3.00 off for CAMRA members / students

· Saturday 11:00 –23:00 £18.00, £3.00 off for CAMRA members / students

WHAT YOU GET

· Entry to the session

· Programme / Beer List

· Commemorative glass, £3.00 refundable if returned intact

· £10.00 of Beer Tokens, refund on any unused token

HOW TO GET THERE

Train: 15 minutes walk from Leeds BR Station, direct and connecting services from all over the country

Buses: 20 minutes from Leeds City Bus Station, loads of bus services from all over Leeds within 5-10 minutes walk

FOR MORE INFO: visit leedsbeerfestival.co.uk