Yes, we will be running our popular CAMRA real ale tent at Kent’s Spitfire Cricket Ground from Sunday 11 June to Wednesday 14 June. The full address is Old Dover Road, Canterbury CT1 3NZ. It’s during the cricket festival week and Kent will be playing Surrey in the County Championship. Here are the things you need to know.
- The CAMRA tent is for CAMRA members and their guests only; it’s not open to the general public.
- Admission to the CAMRA tent is free. CAMRA members need to show their membership cards and sign themselves and their guests into the visitor’s book. You may bring as many guests as you like, within reasonable limits!
- You can join CAMRA at the tent. We also offer cricket tent only membership at a reduced price.
- While admission to the CAMRA tent is free, you will, of course, need to pay to get into the cricket ground (unless you are already a Kent CCC member). See the KCCC website, www.kentcricket.co.uk for admission details. Look under Tickets and Hospitality, then under LV=Insurance County Championship. It could be cheaper to get advance tickets or ticket bundles.
- The CAMRA tent will be open from 10am each day until after close of play (about 7pm). The cricket starts at 11am. Keep an eye on cricket news to check that the match hasn’t ended early! Remember that County Championship matches may not last for the scheduled four days. The CAMRA tent will not open on the fourth day if the match has already ended.
- We have our own private seating at the front of our tent, overlooking the pitch. If all the seats are taken, you are welcome to take your drinks to other seating areas but please ask us for plastic glasses if you are moving away from the tent.
- We serve cask beer, draught cider, wine, soft drinks, tea and coffee. At our last tent we had 35 different beers, mostly from Kent and Sussex breweries although we only have four beers on at any one time to maintain quality. These are usually a bitter, a best bitter, a golden ale and a dark ale. As one beer runs out, a new one is put on.
- We are not allowed to sell food (except for crisps and homemade cakes) but there are plenty of food outlets on the cricket ground.
- We take cash or card payments. Beer is around £4 to £4.50 a pint. We need to cover the hire of the tent and frontage!
- All the surplus money from the tent is donated to two charities. This year, the charities are Cancer Research UK and Alzheimer’s Research UK. We welcome donations of beer and cider from brewers and cider producers and any offers of sponsorship are welcome.
- For any questions, contact Gill Keay: E-mail gillandgerrykeay@btinternet.com, or call 01227 463478 or 07976 431886 (it’s usually best to leave a text message as I never seem to hear the phone).
Gill Keay