Delegates at the Beer Cities Forum, staged in Norwich
An inaugural forum in Norwich brought together the organisers of several of Britain’s city beer weeks, as well as leading lights from the tourism and beer industries.
Beer writer Pete Brown chaired the forum and gave a keynote speech, on the ‘State of the beer nation’. Fellow beer writer, Roger Protz, chaired a set of presentations from representatives of eight beer cities.
Beer week activities have included collaborative brews, tutored tastings, beer and food matching evenings, beer and music matching sessions, ingredient symposiums, quizzes, pub history talks, meet the brewer nights, and ale trails.
One of the striking observations from the forum was the fact that the beer week organisers are all volunteers. Some have no connection with the industry; others have daytime jobs in pubs or brewing.
Further presentations were made by: Andrew Davies, on the Visit Flanders model; David Wilson, of the British Beer and Pub Association, on the impact of British pubs and brewers on the economy; Stefan Gurney, on the support available from business improvement districts; Tom Stainer, on getting support from CAMRA; and David Powles, editor of the Eastern Daily Press, on getting coverage in local media.
Pete Brown said: “There’s a huge growth in the ‘experience economy’ and the opportunities associated with it. The more time we all spend on screens and in virtual space, the more we need to reconnect with the real world.
“The search for the authentic is on. Beer weeks play into this. They are grass root organised, region specific, collaborative and inventive. They provide reasons for people to explore, things for them to learn, places for them to find, and a rich array of tastes for them to discover.
“Individual Beer Weeks have already made their mark, but by joining forces the impact will be much bigger. The aim of the forum was to establish whether there really is an appetite for working together, and the answer was a resounding yes — and a resolution to work on the practicalities.”
Seminars
Following the forum, there are now three more potential beer cities. Delegates from Cardiff and Lancaster are looking to establish beer weeks, and beer writer Adrian Tierney-Jones is looking to create a beer weekend for Exeter.
Another key outcome from the forum is a commitment from Dawn Leeder and Phil Cutter — co-founders of Norwich City of Ale and founder of Beer Cities — to run seminars across the country on how to set up, run and develop successful beer weeks.
Norwich was first to run a city-wide beer festival involving multiple venues, driving footfall into more than 40 participating pubs during the week, and building the city’s reputation for beer tourism all year round. The focus on locally-produced beers increases the economic benefit to the region.
Dawn said: “Norwich is a great example, but we don’t have the monopoly on best practice. The seminars / workshops will draw on the brilliant work done by Beer Cities across the country.
“Those attending the forum were kind enough to share the stunning successes they’ve had, but, just as importantly, they were really open about the things that were really difficult, or that didn’t work. These insights will be tremendously useful to anyone already running, or looking to set up, a Beer Week.”
