Yearly archives: 2018

MBCF on the BBC – Watch on iPlayer

 in Festival News

Julia Somerville meets visitors
Faced with complaints about OTHER food and drink festivals, producers at BBC’s “Rip Off Britain: Food” series wanted to see how a festival committed to customer service and continual improvement is run…

Presenter Julia Somerville and the BBC crew visited MBCF 2018 on Thursday 25th January, conducting interviews with brewers serving on their bars, food stall holders, organisers and of course you, our visitors.

Julia Somerville & Brass Castle BreweryThe episode aired on Wednesday 25th April and is now available on BBC iPlayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0b0w6j6/rip-off-britain-food-series-5-episode-3

Coverage starts at 16 minutes and 30 seconds in. It will be available on iPlayer until 10am on 25th May. To watch iPlayer you must be a BBC licence fee payer.

Success for the Festival Charity

 in Festival News

The 2018 Festival Charity was the North West Air Ambulance.
The festival raised a fantastic £5,860.06 for them.

Certificate showing amount raised  

As a thank you, a number of the Festival volunteers were given a tour of their base and one of the helicopters.

North West Air Ambulance will also be the charity for 2019.

New Festival Organiser

 in Festival News

Who is the new Organiser ?

My name is Adrian Saunders, and many of you will have seen me before, as I have worked in various roles at CAMRA’s National Winter Ales Festival (NWAF) and then the Manchester Beer & Cider Festival (MBCF) since 2009.

I don’t currently live in Manchester, but I spent 7 years here at Manchester University, before moving to Northern Ireland. Some of you may recognise me from 11 Belfast Beer & Cider Festivals. (more…)

Sexism is Bad for Business – What Are We Going To Do About It?

 in Festival News  tagged Discrimination / Equal opportunities / Sexism

On Wednesday 24th January 2018, Manchester Beer & Cider Festival’s trade session hosted the debate Sexism is Bad for Business – What Are We Going To Do About It?

Below is the video of the debate.

Apologies for the sound quality – we have done our best to remove as much background noise as possible but some speakers are difficult to hear.

Below are the notes on the debate compiled by Christine Cryne and Katie Wiles. These will be circulated to CAMRA’s National Executive and beyond.

(more…)

Build it and they will come

 in Festival News / Press Releases

Beer festival organisers announce a return to Manchester Central in 2019

Beer lovers flocked to the city last month when the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival took over Manchester Central’s great hall.

Organised by the combined expertise of the nine Greater Manchester branches of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), a team of 330 volunteers built the festival in four days, served a record number of drinkers in three days and dismantled the whole event in just over a day. Their efforts were recorded on a time-lapse video, now on the festival’s YouTube channel.

Although the attendance of 14,675 was just shy of 2016’s 14,804, the festival opened to the public a day less than in 2016. Organisers were delighted with the public response which reinforced the festival’s position as the biggest beer and cider festival in the North.

And drinkers didn’t just turn up. Almost every one of the 22 bars recorded an increase in consumption with a staggering 41,000 pints of cask ale supped. In line with its reputation for innovation, the festival showcased a wide range of high quality beers dispensed by keg or key-keg and 7,730 pints were enjoyed by visitors. Records tumbled at the cider and perry bar with 4,300 pints consumed, an increase of 8% from the previous year. The main international bar serving German, Czech Republic and Belgian beers shifted almost 2,100 litres (3,560 pints). (more…)