This autumn festival makes a most welcome return. The first night (Thursday) of the festival will be a preview night with access limited to OLC and CAMRA members only. Doors open at 18.00. Don’t forget your CAMRA membership card as it is required for entry. Bromley CAMRA will be having a social at the preview night. The festival proper then opens at noon on the Friday & Saturday, closing at 11pm on both days. It then concludes with an afternoon session on the Sunday from noon to 16.00. Visitors who are not members of the OLC or CAMRA must buy entrance tickets for each day in advance. They cost £1.00 per person and may be purchased from 1st October either over the bar or online. Entrance tickets are NOT required for CAMRA members at any time – provided that they have their membership card available for inspection. Note [.....]
A return visit to Kent’s largest Beer & Cider Festival, which this year will feature over 160 real ales, plenty of which are Green Hop and 50 plus ciders. The festival is held in association with West Kent CAMRA, and runs from the 17th to the 20th. Our plan for this popular event is to meet at Orpington Station at around 10:25 in order to take the 10:40 train to Tunbridge Wells (arrival 11:08). From there a few minutes walk is needed to get to the main Beer Festival venue at Tunbridge Wells West Station, which is located off Neville Terrace, TN2 5QY. Please use this link for more details of this festival, including the special trains which will be running during the day on the preserved Spa Valley line to Eridge.
This social begins at The Bull Inn – a venue which we haven’t visited for some time. To get there use the high-frequency bus route 51 (Orpington Station to Woolwich), alighting at The Broomwood. The pub is about 250 metres walk from there, on the other side of the River Cray. The pub was grade II listed in 1973 – one of only three in the borough to have this accolade. The cask ale offerings usually include Landlord and London Pride. Arrival time is 19:30. From there we continue to the Cricketers Knoll which offers a changing range of two cask ales. We plan to arrive at about 9:15, using the 51 bus to travel between the two venues. For anyone joining the social here, the pub is a short walk from Orpington High Street. Alternatively use bus routes 51, 61, 208 or 353 and alight at High Street/Church Hill. The [.....]
The Brewery Tap for the Southey Brewery is a small and cosy bar, close to Penge High Street but rather hidden away. The pub is about 10 minutes walk from Penge East or Penge West stations. Alternatively, bus routes 176, 197, 227 and 354 all pass close to the pub – alight at High/Street/Maple Road. Usually two cask ales from the brewery are available, alongside a larger range of keg beers. Bromley CAMRA members who are not on the committee are always welcome to attend committee meetings. Non-committee members planning to attend a meeting may request the Secretary (secretary@bromley.camra.org.uk) to prepare and print a pack of relevant committee papers to be made available at the meeting.
A return visit to this long-running annual festival, held in the traditional village hall close to Merstham station. Our plan is to meet at East Croydon station at 11:00am, and then to take the 11:17 or 11:26 train for the 15 minute journey to Merstham. Note that the new “Superloop” bus service provides a quick and frequent service between Bromley South and East Croydon stations. Full details of the festival can be found here (links to local branch website).