Our beer and music festival takes place this year from Thursday 22nd to 
Sunday 25th October.

We shall have over 140 real ales in the Oxenhope exhibition shed - many old 
favourites and also featuring some new beers, some specially for the 
festival
Old Sport Bar on platform 4 at Keighley Station.
Up to two real ale trains continuously between Keighley and Oxenhope 
Stations
Extensive music programme to suit most tastes at Keighley Station and in 
Oxenhope Shed
Free evening connecting bus from Hebden Bridge Railway Station to the 
festival at Oxenhope, complementing the daytime 500 service bus provided by 
Keighley and District.

also new for this year
Extra accommodation at Oxenhope in the shape of the Timothy Taylor marquee, 
featuring all their beers and a hog roast on most days
Extra Catering Van outside the shed
Better accommodation for staff.

There's more info on the web at 
http://www.kwvr.co.uk/events/beer/beerweekend.htm and the provisional beer 
list will be added shortly

We are looking for volunteers to help with staffing the bar - offers  to ,me 
at

paul.rigg@kwvr.co.uk


Paul Rigg
Rostering officer
Worth Valley Beer and Music Festival

On Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:17:53 +0100, "Paul Rigg"
 wrote:

>Our beer and music festival takes place this year from Thursday 22nd to 
>Sunday 25th October.
>

I was somewhat surprised to see that the entrance fee for the Keighley
and Worth Valley beer festival is £5 on Thursday, £8 on Friday and £10
on Saturday. This is before you spend even a penny on beer.

The Saturday price makes this, unless anyone knows differently, one of
the most expensive beer festival entrance fees ever charged in the
history of beer festivals in the UK.

Why the ridiculous prices for this festival? Well the official line
seems to be that a) you're paying for the music as well as the beer as
it's a both beer and music festival (!), and b) too many people
attended the Saturday sessions last year so the prices are there to
discourage people from attending.

In a sense point (b) is true. Saturday night at last year's festival
was chaotic. People had to queue for entrance tickets, then for beer
tokens and glasses and finally for beer. The process took 30 minutes
at the busiest times. But that has never been the case on Thursday or
Friday, so why the high entrance fees? 

The railway's solution this year is twofold - to price people away
from the festival and, even more ridiculously, put 6 of the 120 beers
into a separate tent in the futile hope that this will lessen the
crush in the main bar. How isolating the beers from Timothy Taylor -
beers ubiquitously available in Keighley and Haworth - will alleviate
crowding escapes me.

This festival , once one of the 'must visit' events, has sadly become
an 'avoid at all costs' event. Perhaps it's unfair to compare the
Worth Valley Festival to those local festivals organised by CAMRA, but
nevertheless the comparison is one of professionals who know what a
beer festival should be, and amateurs who are barely in control of
what they're supposed to be doing.

There is a school of thought in the Worth Valley Railway that
maintains that they shouldn't be getting involved in things like beer
festivals. I've never believed that, but after last year's fiasco, and
this year's proposed solutions, I'm beginning to wonder.....

> Why the ridiculous prices for this festival? Well the official line
> seems to be that a) you're paying for the music as well as the beer as
> it's a both beer and music festival (!), and b) too many people
> attended the Saturday sessions last year so the prices are there to
> discourage people from attending.
>
>


We have an obligation to make sure that the event is not overcrowded on the 
Saturday night therefore  we have opted for a price rise.
The sessions are longer than you get at most Camra beer festivals.

Most of our visitors by a day ticket which includes the trains and entry to 
the beer festival.  Discounts are available for concessions, members etc  as 
usual.

We are making tokens available at Keighley to help people avoid a queue at 
Oxenhope.

We give people the option of bringing their own glass if they wish (how many 
beer festivals do that!) so that they don't have to queue for them either

If anyone works a few hours behind the bar we'll find them a concessionary 
ticket so they won't have to pay.

The fact that Taylors is available all over Keighley is not relevant - most 
visitors aren't from Keighley!

The only other option that we  could see was to make the Saturday all ticket 
and we did not wish to do that.

On Mon, 5 Oct 2009 11:53:11 +0100, "Paul Rigg"
 wrote:

>
>
>We have an obligation to make sure that the event is not overcrowded on the 
>Saturday night therefore  we have opted for a price rise.
The main problem here is that there's absolutely nothing on the flyer
and advertising material to say that there's any entrance fee (let
alone £10!). it's all very well to say 'more details on the website'
but that's making assumptions. There are going to be a lot of people
who turn up on Saturday unaware of the entrance fee. Some will have
travelled a long way and may not be best pleased.
 
>The sessions are longer than you get at most Camra beer festivals.
How many people go to a session for its full duration!
>
>Most of our visitors by a day ticket which includes the trains and entry to 
>the beer festival.  Discounts are available for concessions, members etc  as 
>usual. 
So spend more (£20) and we'll let you into the festival for nothing!
>
>We give people the option of bringing their own glass if they wish (how many 
>beer festivals do that!) so that they don't have to queue for them either
Nothing on the website or the flyer to suggest this. Besides, doesn't
your £10 entrance fee include, at the very least, a glass?
>
>If anyone works a few hours behind the bar we'll find them a concessionary 
>ticket so they won't have to pay.
Anyone? That's interesting. 
>
>The fact that Taylors is available all over Keighley is not relevant - most 
>visitors aren't from Keighley!
I still don't see how removing 6 beers from an engine shed with 140
beers in it is going to significantly reduce crowding.
>
>The only other option that we  could see was to make the Saturday all ticket 
>and we did not wish to do that.
Why? It's a system that works well at other limited space venues, and
is fair.
>
>
>
>