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Welcome to Cheltenham CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. We are a voluntary organisation campaigning for real ale, community pubs and consumer rights.The Cheltenham Branch has around 850 members in the GL50, GL51, GL52 and GL53 postcode areas.

Next 5 Diary Events
17th October, 2019 - Visit to the Great Welsh Beer Festival
18th October, 2019 - Reopening Event
23rd October, 2019 - Ale Amble - October
23rd October to 26th October, 2019 - Swindon Beer Festival
24th October to 25th October, 2019 - Ale Extra - October - Oxford Beer Festival
Full Branch Diary

CRAF 2019 – Volunteers required

Posted Jul 2019 Ian Scott

Planning is well under way for the 4th Cheltenham Real Ale Festival (CRAF), to be held once again, in the magnificent surroundings of the Princess Hall within Cheltenham Ladies’ College.

We are now seeking volunteers to help us make the festival a success. For the event itself, which takes place on the 1st and 2nd November, we’ll have positions behind the beer and cider bars, as well as general non-bar duties and the food serving. But that’s not all. The set-up and clear-down are important too. These take place on 29th-31st October and the 3rd November respectively. So, if you’d like to help please email crafstaff@gmail.com

There will be a post-event get together for to thank volunteers, details of which will follow. For the latest festival information, please CLICK HERE.

Vegan Friendly Beer for Cheltenham Real Ale Festival

Posted Oct 2019 Rob Coldwell Leave a comment

This year’s Cheltenham CAMRA festival will have a vegan flavour. Breaking with the common practice of choosing real ales from a specific UK region or county, Cheltenham CAMRA will instead showcase the growing vegan beer sector.

Veganism, and an interest in vegan food and drink, is taking off particularly in places like Cheltenham, said festival committee member Grant Cook. So this year we have decided to make things easier by having a specific bay dedicated to vegan beers. This will give more focus on vegan beers and save people having to hunt round the hall to track down compatible ales from among the eighty or so available.

Vegan hot food will be provided by Hogless Roast.

Why is vegan beer different?

The majority of real ale in the UK is fined, producing the bright and clear beer we see in every pub. However, traditionally this has been achieved by adding Isinglass to beer casks. Isinglass is made from the swim bladders of fish and, although it sinks to the bottom of the cask and is not consumed, its use in producing real ale breaches vegan ethical principles.

Vegan compatible real ale can be produced in two ways. The first is to use a vegetable fining agent, either Irish Moss (an algae), seaweed or pea protein.

The alternative is simply not to fine the beer at all. This usually produces a haze in the final product, but the popularity among craft brewers for unfined beers has made this more mainstream in recent years.

All vegan friendly beers will be clearly marked in the programme, and we will have vegan street food vendor Hogless Roast to complement the beers, said Grant.  We will also have twenty plus real ciders and perries, which are all naturally vegan-friendly.

If there are any vegans who would like to volunteer to man the vegan beer section, or to help promote and explain vegan beers and food, then please contact crafstaff@gmail.com with your contact details, and we’ll get back to you.

Once again the venue is Cheltenham Ladies’ College, with the wonderful Princess Hall as the centrepiece. Festival dates are Friday 1st and Saturday 2nd of November. Friday will see the festival open from 4pm to 11pm, Saturday will be 11am to 11pm, and there will be live entertainment on both days.

With 80 casks of real ales, 20 unique ciders and perries, wine, live entertainment, and hot and cold food, we expect this to be a popular festival in our great festival town.

More detail about CRAF19 will appear on the Cheltenham Branch Website – www.cheltenhamcamra.org.uk/craf

It’s that time of year again

Posted Oct 2019 Rob Coldwell Leave a comment

Following the launch of the 2020 Good Beer Guide the process has now begun to select the entries for the 2021 Good Beer Guide and we need your help.

With around one hundred venues in Cheltenham eligible for just eight places, it is important that a robust and transparent selection process is put in place to ensure that only the best make it into the Good Beer Guide. The venues which are recommended for inclusion in the guide should be ones that we are proud to recommend, and are included primarily due to the high quality of the real ale served. It is vital that all Cheltenham CAMRA members are given the opportunity to help in the selection process.

For Phase One, which last’s until the end of November, you can get involved in two ways:

1. By recommending a venue that you believe is a strong candidate for inclusion in the Good Beer Guide. In order to qualify the venue must meet the ‘Candidate Venues’ criteria as listed in the linked document.

2. Fill in beer scores on WhatPub website each time you drink real ale at a Cheltenham pub/club.

At the end of Phase One, a short list will be compiled and distributed to members for Phase 2 to commence. Details will be available in early December.

Autumn Pub of the Season

Posted Sep 2019 Rob Coldwell

Congratulations to The Royal Oak in Prestbury which has been voted Cheltenham CAMRA Autumn Pub of The Year 2019.

The autumn pub of the year award aims to recognise pubs that make an excellent venue to visit during the autumn months. Autumn is a time for country walks enjoying the autumn colours, the start of the National Hunt season and of course enjoying a pint.  The Royal Oak is ideally situated for all these activities.

Presentation of the award took place on Saturday 28th September.  Tom is seen receiving the award from branch chair John Crossley.

GBG 2020 Launch event

Posted Jul 2019 Rob Coldwell

The 2020 Good Beer Guide will be launched on 12th September.  As usual, the branch have a number of copies for sale, at a reduced price for members, of £11 per copy.

If you would like to reserve a copy, please contact us via email at: secretary{at}cheltenhamcamra.org.uk

We will be holding a branch social and launch event, where you can pick up your reserved copies, in The Kemble, our current branch Pub-of-the-Year, from 7:30pm.

Revised Branch Procedure for GBG and POTY/COTY Selection

Posted Jun 2019 Rob Coldwell

With around one hundred venues in Cheltenham eligible for just eight places in The Good Beer Guide it is important that a robust and transparent selection process is put in place to ensure that only the best make it into the guide. The venues which are recommended for inclusion in the guide should be ones that we are proud to recommend, and are included primarily due to the high quality of the real ale served. It is vital that all Cheltenham CAMRA members are given the opportunity to help in the selection process.

Following feedback from branch members we have made some revisions to the process that we are using to select the entries for the 2021 Good Beer Guide and also determine the branch Pub and Club of the Year.  The main change has been to bring the start of the process forward by a month this will allow time between the selection of the GBG enteries and the decisions on POTY and COTY.

We have now revised the process and it can be found in THIS DOCUMENT. It details how Cheltenham Branch members can be involved at every stage of the selection process, from beginning to end. For Phase One, which last’s until the end of October, you can get involved in two ways:

1. By recommending a venue that you believe is a strong candidate for inclusion in the Good Beer Guide. In order to qualify the venue must meet the ‘Candidate Venues’ criteria as listed in the linked document.

2. Fill in beer scores on WhatPub website each time you drink real ale at a Cheltenham pub/club.

At the end of Phase One, a short list will be compiled and distributed to members for Phase Two to commence. Details will be available in early November.

Summer Pub Of The Year

Posted May 2019 Rob Coldwell

Congratulations to The Aviator which has been voted Cheltenham CAMRA Summer Pub of The Year 2019.

The summer pub of the year award aims to recognise pubs that make an excellent venue to visit during the summer.  The Aviator has a large beer garden where people can watch the aircraft landing and taking off from Gloucestershire Airport. The pub is approximately a 10 minute walk from the nearest bus stop using the 94 service – alight at Bamfurlong Lane (White Lion House).

Branch chairman John Crossley, presentated the award on Saturday 29th June.

The autumn pub of the year will be selected in August so if you have any suggestions for a great autumn venue please let us know.

Cider Pub-of-the-Year 2019: The Stable

Posted Apr 2019 Ian Scott

We are pleased to announce that The Stable has been selected as the Branch Cider Pub-of-the-Year for 2019.

Part of a growing chain, based predominantly in the south and south-west. Set over two floors in one of the town’s listed buildings, and featuring many boxed ciders and perries, they also offer an introductory cider tasting experience, sampling 10 of their current range, led by their Cider Master.

Congratulations to the team on winning the award. Branch chair, John Crossley, is shown making the presentation of the certificate to manager Ben Williams and the team.