I'm a CAMRA member and I used to go every year when it was in Manchester city centre. I haven't bothered since the move up Oldham Road. Off the top of my head, I know about a dozen people who haven't been since either. I feel a bit sorry for people coming from outside Manchester having to find the venue.
Yeah, it was a bitch to find. Five minute walk from the Marble Arch to a bus stop. Three minutes on a bus to right outside the venue.
As much as I want it to be in Derby - twenty-three quid more I can spend on beer rather than trains - I have the sneaking feeling that a little bit of the passion will be lost. There's good people involved at the moment. I'd hate to see that lost.
Simon, you obviously know your way round Manchester. Others have written on blogs about wandering around North Manchester looking for the place.
As a Mancunian living in Stockport, I cannot claim to be that familiar with the area, for outsiders it's even more of a challenge.
Of the dozen people I know who stopped going after the move, most are from Manchester. I know the CIS opposite Victoria station became unavailable but since then SIBA have held a couple of beer festivals, one opposite Oxford Road station and the other a stone's throw from Piccadilly.
Matt - You are talking unmitigated nonsense frankly. Fortunately 9500 or so people from all over found the place with ease. Can't find Oldham Road? Then you probably couldn't find your own arse in a blackout.
We didn't have one complaint this year or in any other about it being hard to find and we had folks from all over the UK and abroad too. And and nowhere in Manchester Centre is big enough or within our budget in any event. Do you really think we didn't try that one?
I came across from York for the first time and using the excellent NWAF website directions walked out to the venue in about 20 minutes. One of the easiest venues i've had to find with no prior knowledge of it's whereabouts.
A bit of a CV. Tandleman is a veteran beer lover, local CAMRA Chairman and activist, beer writer, beer reviewer and pursuer of all things good in beer. He lives in the North West of England and London. Despite his CAMRA membership, he does not limit himself to cask conditioned beer, though he believes that cask conditioning, when done correctly and appropriately, brings a quality to beer that is hard to equal by any other kind of presentation. He is a strong supporter of Northern methods of beer dispense and avidly detests poorly presented beer and dislikes pasteurisation. He regularly visits Germany, has conducted corporate British and German beer tastings for CAMRA at the Great British Beer Festival where he has worked for years on Biere Sans Frontieres and was Deputy Organiser at CAMRA's very successful National Winter Ales Festival in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 and at the Manchester Beer and Cider Festival from 2013 to date. He admires good brewers wherever they are and has travelled extensively in pursuit of good beer to drink. He also judges beer at both the International Beer Challenge and the World Beer Awards. This blog mentions specifics; pubs and beer, good and bad. The opinions will be forthright, but you can always disagree, just don't be offended. Comments from those mentioned are particularly welcome and a right of reply is hereby offered.
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13 comments:
Visiting on Friday afternoon and looking forward to it.
Wish I could.
Is this the last year it's in Manchester?
No, next year is the last one then to Derby.
All the best with it fella. Hope it is a success.
I'd be interested in reading a blog post regarding the punter profile.
To what degree are you putting on a do for the faithful? A do for beeks by beer geeks.
To what degree is the event campaigning for cask beer? A do with numerous none beer geeks enjoying something they usually do not?
I'm a CAMRA member and I used to go every year when it was in Manchester city centre. I haven't bothered since the move up Oldham Road. Off the top of my head, I know about a dozen people who haven't been since either. I feel a bit sorry for people coming from outside Manchester having to find the venue.
Yeah, it was a bitch to find. Five minute walk from the Marble Arch to a bus stop. Three minutes on a bus to right outside the venue.
As much as I want it to be in Derby - twenty-three quid more I can spend on beer rather than trains - I have the sneaking feeling that a little bit of the passion will be lost. There's good people involved at the moment. I'd hate to see that lost.
Simon, you obviously know your way round Manchester. Others have written on blogs about wandering around North Manchester looking for the place.
As a Mancunian living in Stockport, I cannot claim to be that familiar with the area, for outsiders it's even more of a challenge.
Of the dozen people I know who stopped going after the move, most are from Manchester. I know the CIS opposite Victoria station became unavailable but since then SIBA have held a couple of beer festivals, one opposite Oxford Road station and the other a stone's throw from Piccadilly.
Matt - You are talking unmitigated nonsense frankly. Fortunately 9500 or so people from all over found the place with ease. Can't find Oldham Road? Then you probably couldn't find your own arse in a blackout.
We didn't have one complaint this year or in any other about it being hard to find and we had folks from all over the UK and abroad too. And and nowhere in Manchester Centre is big enough or within our budget in any event. Do you really think we didn't try that one?
Matt, you may find this little known yet handy website to be of some use:
http://maps.google.co.uk/
Or even use the handy link to the appropriate Google map provided right on the NWAF web page.
"We didn't have one complaint this year or in any other about it being hard to find and we had folks from all over the UK and abroad too."
Maybe they're still looking for it :-)
I came across from York for the first time and using the excellent NWAF website directions walked out to the venue in about 20 minutes. One of the easiest venues i've had to find with no prior knowledge of it's whereabouts.
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