Ale Trail 2021

For the second year running we have had to cancel the Peterborough CAMRA Beer Festival due to the unpredictability of the restrictions associated with the COVID 19 pandemic. PCBF is such a major player in CAMRA’s Beer Fest calendar that we have to make commitments with our key suppliers as early as the February preceding the event and at that time in both 2020 and 2021 there was absolutely no possibility to predict the restrictions 6 months down the line leaving us no choice but to cancel.

To mark the build week and the festival week we decided to put together an Ale Trail based loosely around two key bus routes from Peterborough city centre venturing north and south. In 2020 we included 14 pubs on the “Back to the Pub 2020” Ale Trail and in 2021 we increased the challenge to 18 pubs on the “Is there anybody out there” Ale Trail.

I’m pleased to confirm that both years proved equally successful in so much that we had 29 completed entries in 2020 and coincidently 29 completed entries again this year. As well as completed entries a dozen or more participants managed to complete either town and north or town and south, so well done to all participants for making both ale trails a success. Winners included participants from as far afield as Norwich, Newcastle and Nottingham. It is also important to give a big thank you to all of the licensees of the participating venues and the local brewers who donated prizes which were drawn early in September with the winners all now notified. Please continue to support your local pubs, they’ve had an horrendous couple of years and it’s not just a case of clicking a switch and returning to normal, our on-going support will be needed for a long time to come. REMEMBER …. Use Them or Lose Them.

Will there be an Ale Trail in 2022….who knows, BUT given the public health developments over the last 18 months or so, we can confirm that the River Embankment site has been booked for a much delayed 43rd Peterborough CAMRA Beer Festival and subject to CAMRA approval will take place from Tuesday 23rd to Saturday 27th August 2022.

We look forward to seeing you there. We have an awful lot of catching up to do.

Mike Lane