Beer festival hopes new dates will pull in punters once again
Five rural pubs are preparing to welcome ale lovers from near and far this weekend after re-arranging their beer festival to avoid clashing with larger events.
The publicans that currently run the Clun Valley Beer Festival said they made the difficult decision to change the date of the festival in a bid to boost attendance.
The beer festival runs in the Kangaroo, in Aston on Clun; Hundred House at Purslow; Crown at Clunton; Sun Inn and White Horse Inn, both in Clun. A bus runs between the pubs on Saturday.
It has been a popular event since 2001, and will this year take place over the weekend of September 27, 28 and 29 – one week earlier than usual.
White Horse Inn landlord Jack Limond said: “We’ve noticed that due to other real ale events over the original dates the number of real ale drinkers visiting us has decreased.
"These have drawn real ale enthusiasts from Shropshire and the neighbouring counties away from us. CAMRA Groups have told us that they want to visit us, but don't want to miss the larger events.
"Our smaller pub-based festival only showcases about 50 beers, and as such hasn’t got the draw of a large festival.
"We hope the new dates will encourage people to get out of the towns and enjoy the fun and history that rural pubs have to offer.
"The pub has developed over more than a thousand years to be the ideal place to have a drink, chat and a bit of a laugh. This is what makes our beer festival the special event it is."