St Albans becomes the City of Ale as CAMRA hosts weekend of celebrations

A celebration of real ales featuring festivals, tastings, live talks and music events took place across St Albans last weekend.

Coinciding with the annual National Members Meeting of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) taking place in St Albans for the first time in the organisation’s 55-year-history, the City of Ale event saw beer festivals at The Mermaid, The Great Northern, The Boot, The Lower Red Lion and The Portland Arms, tap takeovers and gigs from talented performers including The Maida Vales, The Mighty Quinn and Uptown Funk.

The weekend was run by the same team who host the annual St Albans Beer and Cider Festival every September, and drew hundreds of CAMRA residents from across the UK.

One of the highlights was the unveiling of a new heritage plaque on the side of The Farriers Arms pub, location of the very first CAMRA branch meeting held anywhere in the UK. The meeting of what was then called the Hertfordshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale took place on November 30 1972.

The new plaque is funded by CAMRA and arranged by St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural & Archaeological Society (SAHAAS), with the aim of raising more awareness of the city’s heritage.

Originally a grocer’s and butcher’s shop during the 19th-century, the Farriers became a pub in the 1920s. It was tied to McMullen’s of Hertford for many years but became a free house in 2013. It is the only pub in the city never to have forsaken cask ale.

Ian Boyd, chair of South Herts CAMRA, told the gathered crowd: “CAMRA is one of the biggest consumer volunteer-led group in Europe, with something like 150,000 members across the whole of the UK, and the significance of this building is that it was the first place to form a branch of CAMRA.

“Back in those days this was the only pub in St Albans that had real ale, and now 95 per cent of our pubs are serving real ale.”

Former editor of the Good Beer Guide and legendary beer writer Roger Protz recounted memories of the pub in the early days.

“This pub was an absolute beacon because it sold impeccable beers, but the only problem with coming to The Farriers was that you had to run the gamut of George Vardy the landlord, whose reputation was to bar people.

“The first time I came here I ordered a beer and a meal, and I said, ‘Do I pay for the food now, or when you serve it?’ and he said, ‘You pay now, and if you don’t like it, you can f*** off!’ There were many stories like that about George.

“My favourite is about a choir boy in the Abbey who was going out on his first date, and he had a copy of the Good Beer Guide, and he said to his young lady friend, this pub looks good, let’s go there.

“So they walked a short distance from the Abbey to the pub, but he made the mistake of walking in carrying the Good Beer Guide, and George looked red in the face, his eyes bulged, and he said ‘You can f*** off!’

“But the good story is that of course he sold this wonderful beer and the pub was an inspiration, and one-by-one the pubs in St Albans went over to selling decent beer and became the inspiration for the beer festival. It’s a little-known fact that the very first CAMRA beer festival was the one in St Albans, a one-day festival that sold out on the day, and showed drinkers that there was a greater choice of beer available than was currently on sale in St Albans.

“So today we have this tremendous choice of real ales thanks to The Farriers, and I must thank the councillors who put an Asset of Community Value status on the pub, preventing it from being turned into private housing and remaining one of the great backstreet boozers in the country.”

One of the other opening events was the 3 Brewers: Meet the Brewers evening, hosted by David Worcester at the Lower Red Lion on Thursday.

3 Brewers owner Mark Fanner and head brewer Matt Sutton explained the principles of brewing to a mix of regulars, locals and CAMRA members.

Over the course of the weekend , hundreds of casks of beer were sold, with some pubs shifting dozens on their own.

Chair of the City of Ale organising committee Emily Ryans said afterwards: “We’re absolutely delighted with how the weekend went. It’s been a real success, with pubs across St Albans busy throughout and many even needing to restock to keep up with demand, which is fantastic to see.

“We hope everyone who joined in, locals and visitors to the city alike, had a brilliant time. It’s been a real pleasure to play a part in showcasing the very best of St Albans’ pubs, beer and cider to visitors from across the country, and the response from both publicans and punters has been overwhelmingly positive.”

Caz Kaur of The Portland Arms said : “It was lovely to see so many CAMRA members enjoying what each pub, brewery and local beer shop had to offer.”

Chair of South Herts CAMRA Ian Boyd added: “So with the dust settling after a most hectic and extremely successful City of Ale event, it’s time to thank all our fantastic hard-working brewers, landlords and staff for enthusiastically supporting our CAMRA Members Weekend.

“We’ve been inundated with praise for everyone literally ‘raising the bar’ and making our members feel so welcome. We even heard that some pubs were almost drunk dry!

“A special shout out for our ever cheery and wonderful Emily Ryans for masterminding and leading the whole show, and efficiently coordinating our industrious extended support team. Cheers all!”

A final word from David Worcester, landlord of The Lower Red Lion in Fishpool Street, who commented on behalf of the Save St Albans Pubs campaign: “Last weekend was a fantastic boost for St Albans’ pubs, and we were delighted to welcome so many visitors attending CAMRA’s AGM. The atmosphere across the city was vibrant, with pubs busy from open to close and a real sense of celebration around great beer and community.

“Many venues really went the extra mile, hosting their own beer festivals, tap takeovers and ‘Meet the Brewer’ events, giving visitors even more reasons to explore and enjoy what’s on offer.

“Events like this highlight not only the quality and diversity of our local pubs, but also the important role they play in bringing people together and supporting the local economy. We’re incredibly grateful to CAMRA for choosing St Albans and hope to see many of those visitors return again soon.”