Problems with Town Hall, shortage of volunteers and falling attendance to blame
One of the highlights of the city’s autumn calendar, the annual Beer and Cider Festival, has been called off by organisers the Oxford branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). It was due to be held from October 23-25 at Oxford Town Hall, where it had been held every year since 1998 with the exception of 2020 and 2021 due to Covid restrictions.
Now it would appear that last year’s 25th event at the Town Hall could be the last, which will come as a major disappointment to many people from near and far. Attendance has been falling for years, and even if CAMRA could overcome its problems with the Town Hall, it hasn’t enough fit volunteers to do the heavy lifting involved in setting the festival up.
Oxford CAMRA chair John Winney said: “Deadlines are upon us and we have no choice but to call the festival off, which we do with great regret. We thank the Town Hall for working with us two years ago to manage costs, at a time when cancellation of the festival was looking likely.
“But this time around we have faced a lack of communication and an obstructive attitude by Town Hall management, particularly over the cost of providing security and the refusal by their appointed events caterer, Elegant Cuisine, to allow any other kind of food into the building to feed volunteers and judges of the beer competition.
“A more positive attitude by the Town Hall might have helped, as we get the impression that they don’t really want this kind of event. We have our own challenges too, especially an ageing volunteer workforce that increasingly struggles with the heavy bar units and the Town Hall’s impressive but difficult stairs.”
CAMRA was facing a major increase in security costs after the Town Hall insisted on using Scope, its own contractors. CAMRA had been using Aphis Security, a company that actually trains Scope and many other security companies.
There has also been a dispute over an incident last year when police had to be called to remove an abusive and violent member of the public. The Town Hall felt this reflected negatively on its licence to hold events, but CAMRA said that Aphis had co-operated fully with police who had made no complaint about how the incident was handled. Changing the security provider would not prevent such an incident happening again, it added.
“It’s a sad day for us to have to cancel, and especially for our festival manager Grahame Allen who has led the event since it moved to the Town Hall,” said John Winney. “It’s a wonderful venue, but the festival has been a monumental struggle this year and they don’t seem keen to keep us.
“We would like to apologise to all those who have been looking forward to this year’s event, including the many beer and cider producers who would have supplied us, and to the independent brewers’ organisation SIBA. Without working with SIBA the festival would not have taken place last year. We were delighted that SIBA chose to work with us again in 2025, and it is with much regret that find we are forced to withdraw from that arrangement.”
He added: “Oxford and the surrounding area is now blessed with a busy calendar of beer festivals and similar events. Some are CAMRA, but many are not. Oxford CAMRA will continue to support all these events, as customers and volunteers. No decision has been made about an Oxford CAMRA festival in 2026, but the challenges are significant.
“In the meantime we will be continuing our work promoting real ale and cider, consumer choice, protecting and supporting pubs and breweries, and continuing our busy social calendar.”