Welcome to Reading CAMRA
The Campaign for Real Ale in Reading & Mid-Berkshire
WELCOME TO THE NEW WEB SITE of Reading CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale in Reading and Mid-Berkshire. CAMRA is the pub-goers champion, we promote fine beers in great pubs and defend the rights of the drinker. If you drink beer or like pubs CAMRA is the place for you!
Reading Beer Festival 2009
This Years' Festival took place at King's Meadow, April 30th - May 3rd.
The 2009 festival was another record-breaker, with 15,601 people coming through the doors (up 5.9% on 2008). An amazing 61,200 pints of real ale and 12,800 pints of cider and perry were sold, along with 2,976 litres of foreign beer and 1,404 bottles of wine and mead. 113 new members were signed up to CAMRA and, more importantly, everyone had a good time.
Ale Trail
The run-up to the Beer Festival was again marked by the Ale Trail. Participants earnt free entry to the Festival and King's Meadow in May. See here for more information.
Watch out for our new free guide to Real Ale Around Caversham. The guides we produced last year to real ale around Woodley and Twyford proved very popular, so we decided to tackle a larger area this time. Caversham was ideal as it contains a wonderful mix of traditional and modern pubs serving a wide range of locally-brewed beer.
Loddon Brewery of Dunsden Green features in the guide and sponsored the printing cost so you can obtain your copy for free.
Pictured left: The Three Chrises. Our LocAle launch at the Nags Head was well supported and we had the unusual sight of three brewers, all from different breweries and all called Chris. Luckily they all get along! Seen here are Chris Hearn from Loddon, Chris Bingham from Hogs Back and Chris Gill from Ascot Ales. You can read more about LocAle and see a list of accredited pubs here.
Do you enjoy Real Ale in Real Pubs? Do you prefer to drink cask-conditioned ale to mass produced, mass market keg beer and lager? Does the continued threat against the unique flavours of real ale worry you? CAMRA is a national organization devoted to promoting real ale in real pubs, and Reading CAMRA, the local branch, is active both in campaigning for real ale, but also socially.
If any of these sound like you then CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, may be a just up your street. If you live in or near Reading, then Reading & Mid-Berkshire CAMRA are busy working to protect your pleasure. This web site will show you who we are, what we do and how to join us. If you don't live in this area please visit CAMRA's national website.
CAMRA exists:
- To maintain consumer rights
- To promote quality, choice and value for money
- To support the public house as a focus of community life
- To campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders and perries as part of national heritage and culture
CAMRA is a volunteer organization with over 98,000 members. CAMRA exists to promote good quality cask ales in good pubs. CAMRA has been described as the most successful consumer organization in Europe.
More importantly than all of this, though, is that being a member of CAMRA is fun. Enjoying the finest quality cask ales in Britain's best pubs is both a pleasure and a hobby. The fact that we are saving our unique heritage happens almost by accident.
CAMRA turned the tide of bland keg beer in the 1970s, when it looked likely that real ale might cease to exist. We have helped in the fight to stop breweries and pubs closing, and were instrumental in the introduction of all-day opening.
We are by no means complacent though. There are many fights still to be won - getting a full pint, or cutting the excessive UK duty on beer. You can help by joining CAMRA today. Our voice is listened to by government because we have so many members. Joining will further strengthen that voice.
If you want to carry on drinking good beer in great pubs, join CAMRA and protect your pleasure.