How much?

In message , loobyloo writes

You didn't miss this bit did you?

"In addition Macclesfield & East Cheshire CAMRA organise a free entry saturday afternoon tasting session, all the beer without the bands. Please visit their website:

Quite a few of these charity BFs are pretty clueless. I suspect they'll have quite a bit left over - a shame, as it's a good cause.

The key to a successful BF is keeping the entrance price down, even if this means you'll have to bump up the beer price - people will complain, but once they've turned up (and paid the (low) admisssion price) they won't leave in disgust,

Best regards, Paul

-- Paul Sherwin Consulting

Yeah but 3 bands for that ? Seems fair to me - it's a night out not only a beer testing session. Not too sure about the 'chippy van' though LOL

Cheers - Neil

The burger van outside is presumably to frighten them back inside.

As to a setup selling chip butties inside - it will probably sell as fast as they can produce. The only reason there is no such setup at the Great British Beer Festival is that the venue does not allow use of bottled gas and finding an all electric van (or indeed a van prepared to shell out a sizeable sum for a conversion to and then back from natural gas) is one of those needle in a haystack jobs.

They obviously aren't that clueless otherwise they wouldn't have asked local branches to be involved with the beer keeping.

I did miss that bit - thanks for pointing that out. I don't like bands at beer festivals myself, so if it's free when they're not there, all the better.

I agree - in fact I think most of those who go for the beer find the bands a pain.It's just to get more people to come to the venue.

I know we've been through all this before, but why festival organisers think that having some band blaring away in the corner improves your appreciation of a fine beer is beyond me.

I bet the owners of the Port houses of Portugal don't get a secon-rate RnB band to come and bang out some cover versions when they're meeting to decide whether or not to declare the year.

It's not just bands at festivals. I've yet to hear a live band that isn't far too loud, and isn't far inferior to anything you can buy on a CD for 99p in Woolworth's bargain bin or get for free in the Sunday magazines.

Half the bands doing the pub circuit in Birmingham probably improve on the quality. Volume sadly is not an aspect that is easily matched to pub rooms.

Mind you most of the pubs concerned probably aren't charging to get in, so leaving due to high volume isn't a cost affected item.

Manky Badger wrote: [...]

There certainly does appear to be the attitude that if the music is twice as loud, it must be twice as good.

... and thus why I will never return for another pint in Steps in Redditch, even if it is about the only entry in the GBG in this beer desert.

Not in the guide but we are getting good reports about the Gate Hangs Well that is opposite steps.

At Kingston our theory was that we'd add another attraction to persuade people to come along and drink up the beer at the final session, when the beer range was beginning to run down.

Last year we decided the festival was now so popular we'd save ourselves the money. The beer still got drunk.

I think it's partly about what sort of clientele you have. If there's a large proportion of regular festival goers/CAMRA members/old fogeys, you can probably do without. If you're trying to attract locals, real ale sceptics, people just out for a drink, then it might help.

In message , Phil Clark writes

If your festival's still growing and the space is a bit empty, a band makes it seem fuller so people are more comfortable in it. If you're going to reach the fire limit anyway, the sound of punters yelling at each other will fill the space without needing a band.