Kmflett's Blog

The Great British Beer Festival didn’t run in 2026. Can it return? Should it?

The start of August in nearly all years for over 50 years has seen the Campaign For Real Ale’s Great British Beer Festival. However it did not run this year and there are no immediate plans for its return.

One issue faced by anyone who organises events is that post the pandemic costs are significantly higher. At the same the cost of living crisis constrains how much prices can be raised to reflect this.

More specifically the 2025 GBBF which was held at the Birmingham NEC did not attract expected numbers and a significant loss resulted. The view, understandably, seems to be that the risk of a subsequent GBBF incurring a similar loss is not a prudent way forward.

However there are other issues. The GBBF is a flagship for CAMRA in terms of new members, income (not in 2025) and for indy brewers. It also often gets significant media coverage.

Looking at the balance sheet it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the absence of a GBBF in 2026 matters. The issue is how much does it matter?

I’m equivocal on that. The GBBF belongs in part to another age. When I attended the Covent Garden Beer Festival in 1975 there were beers on sale I had never tried before and given their availability would only be able to do so by visiting the area they were brewed in.

This has changed. Wetherspoons of course promote cask beers from across the UK on a quarterly list. In addition while the activities of Big Beer make it difficult for indy brewers to get their beers on bartops that often also means that they look across a wider distribution area than previously. In more recent times, many beers can be ordered in bottle or can direct from breweries, another pandemic impact, this time positive.

There are wider issues. 50 years ago there were in most cases only a very small number of pubs that sold a subset of the kind of beers and beer styles the GBBF promoted. That has changed (not enough). There are more indy bars, the rise of the micropub being important here as well as brewery taprooms.

In that context do I really still want the travel and the hustle and bustle of a big beer festival? In my case yes, and I plan a visit to Peterborough Beer Festival later in the month.

If the GBBF is to return it likely needs a remodel to provide a beer and beer related experience that is not available elsewhere and of course one that works commercially.