No doubt CAMRA members out there will have seen emails about the forthcoming Great British Beer Festival ( GBBF).
Ive got my train tickets so will be heading down to London on 13th August. I will be meeting up with ex colleagues and friends , most of whom I only get to see once a year ; so its in effect a ritual reunion, as we have been doing it since 2004.
Now GBBF was first held in London in 1977. since then the event has been in Leeds, Birmingham , Brighton, settling in London from 1991. The present venue is Kensington Olympia.
Recently CAMRA issued the real ale list, which can be found here. http://gbbf.org.uk/beers/beerfinder
A quick scan reveals nine breweries from the North East represented which, out of 370 cask ales , seems to me to be on the low side.
There will always be live music on and in 2004 we were treated to the
North East band, Lindisfarne. Can you imagine, Lindisfarne !! Other
bands over the years have included the Strawbs and an ABBA tribute band.
For the latter, I have memories of a load of guys pressed up against
the stage just oggling and drooling, and that was at just the two male performers !!
Click here for episode 2 :- GBBF Episode 2
