CAMRA South East London branch’s beer festival had a change of venue this year. Over the last few years we have usually held our festival on the late May bank holiday weekend at Kidbrooke (Charlton Park Rugby Club). This year however, we returned to a previous, popular venue, Dulwich Hamlet FC.
The beer of the festival, as voted for by the customers, was Ernie’s Milk Stout from Settle Brewery and the favourite cider was Nuthurst Orchard perry. To celebrate the branch’s forthcoming 50th anniversary, our friends at Southwark Brewery created a South East London ESB (5.8% ABV) for the occasion. This was on sale at the festival both in cask and in bottle and it is also available (until stocks last) at a number of local Wetherspoon’s.
In addition to the beer, we had a great cider bar with ciders and perries made using only fresh apple and pear juice, along with a range of CAMRA books and bottled beers and cider.
Andy Large, the branch chair, commented, “We had an incredibly successful festival with over 1,200 visitors, which represents a substantial increase on last year’s numbers. We were delighted to have over 50 beers and 20 real ciders/perries on sale over the festival, as well as our special ESB. Thank you to our dedicated band of volunteers who put the festival together and make it happen. All the feedback collated from festival attendees is being reviewed for next year’s planning; your views are important.”
We have provisionally agreed the dates for next year’s festival: 22 to 24 May 2025, at the same venue. This will be confirmed in London Drinker. Dulwich Hamlet FC is a short walk from East Dulwich Station, through a park, and easily reached from London Bridge. Put it in your 2025 diary now!

Remember that all CAMRA festivals are run by volunteers. Could you get involved in your local beer festival? Not all festivals require you to be a CAMRA member to volunteer. Dates and locations can be found on the CAMRA website. We certainly could have done with more volunteers this year. Unfortunately we had an unavoidable clash of dates with Kingston Beer Festival but hopefully this won’t happen again so our volunteer resources will not be too thinly stretched.
Maria Freeman