Clitheroe Beer Festival

Clitheroe Beer Festival 2025

We are delighted to announce that Clitheroe Beer Festival is back in its customary mid May slot in 2025, running from 15-17 May. We would like to thank all our sponsors, supporters, volunteers and brewers for supporting us again, it’s going to be another festival to remember!

Special Festival Ales

 Each year we ask a select number of local breweries to either brew or launch a brand new beer especially for our festival. Find the logos and links to our 2025 brewers’ websites above. Many thanks to all these brewers for their hard work, ideas, expertise and inspiration for these tasty brews.

The Beer Shack – this small microbrewery has brewed a 5.7% Custard Cream Pale Ale named The Greatest Biscuit Salesman There ever Was. Brewed in honour of the brewer’s late old school friend, who made a bit of extra money at school breaktime selling custard cream biscuits out of his briefcase.

Big Trip – are launching a brand new 4.4% juicy Pale Ale

Bowland Brewery – Once again they’ve brewed our “Festival Ale” – this year called Stag’s Roar, a 5% Extra Special Bitter (ESB)

Bowland Brewery – This year they’ve also brewed our annual Imperial Stout, dedicated to the memory of Catherine Snelling, dark beer lover and former Clitheroe Beer Festival Organiser. This year it’s a dark thick 10% Imperial Stout with Oreo biscuits called Tatiana’s Reverie!

Hopworks – a brand new cask beer from this brewery near Preston, a 5% Strawberry and cream Pastry Sour

Jimbrew  – a very rare cask version of their normally keg only core Pale Ale from this Clifton based brewery

Patron’s Tap – this Blackburn based microbrewery has re-brewed their first ever beer, a tasty 4.3% Copper Ale called First Draft

Ridge –this brand new microbrewery based in Longridge have brewed Well, Well, Well a 5% West Coast IPA

Serious –this Rochdale brewery have delved way back into their archives for us to re-brew Wit, a 4% Belgian Witbier

Silent Mill –a rare cask from this new Lytham brewery, River’s End is a 4.6% Blonde Ale

Squawk x Beer Shack – a first collaboration brew between these two breweries, producing a 5.5 Black IPA called Quaff The Raven

Three Towns –this new Great Harwood brewery have brewed Just Bitter, their very first bitter, coming in at 4.2%

Wishbone –have collaborated with Beer Shack and local Clitheroe cheese deli Georgonzola to produce a 5.5% Amber

Zapato –have brewed a unique one-off version of their classic 3.4% Ultra Pale Ale ORO….This one is full of delicious Mango

Advertising at Clitheroe Beer Festival

Why not advertise in our Festival Programme and reach a potential audience of over 1500? It’s a cost-effective way to promote your business to hundreds of local visitors, and visitors from across the region and the UK….

Visitor Information

Clitheroe Beer Festival 2025 runs from Thurs 15 – Sat 17 May 2025*  times at base of site

Our venue is The Assembly Hall of St Michaels & St Johns – aka ‘The Old Schoolrooms’
Entry for card carrying CAMRA members is £1 on the preview evening for CAMRA & trade on Thursday and £1 before 6pm on Friday & Saturday (£2 after 6pm).

Non member entry is £4 on Friday & Saturday (£5 after 6pm).
Buy a ‘starter card’ on entry.
Starter card includes half or pint glass hire and drinks tokens.
Further top-up cards of tokens are then available.
No money is taken at our festival bars.
All unused tokens can be refunded on exit.
If you don’t want to keep your glass you can get your hire fee back.

NB! We will be welcoming contactless card payment as well as cash! 

Festival Fringe Events

We’ve always prided ourselves on being known as “the friendly festival” and each year we try and introduce new ideas to make your visit more enjoyable. This year our friends in some fantastic Clitheroe bars will once again be running special events around the town centre linked to our festival. We feel the festival is something for the whole town and we’re really happy to connect our CAMRA festival to the vibrant bar scene that can be found in our town centre.

We are happy to work in partnership with some of our local bars and hope that you find time to support them and get involved with their events…or just pop in and try all the special beers that they’ll be offering!

2025 events will be added in the run up to the festival, please check back but don’t miss our fabulous Equine Visitors as below!

 MEET THE THWAITES SHIRE HORSES!

Thwaites Shire Horses and dray will be making a visit to the Festival on Friday afternoon, 16 May at approximately 2.30pm. They will travel through Clitheroe and be in the rear car park next to our Marquee. There will be plenty of photo opportunities!

Many thanks to Thwaites for continually supporting CBF. Do look out for their two new fabulous beers launched in May and available at the festival 

 HIT THE REAL ALE TRAIL WHILE YOU’RE HERE!

Whilst you are in Clitheroe, why not take the time to visit and enjoy some of our fabulous local Real Ale pubs and bars. Our local CAMRA branch have produced a Real Ale Trail for Clitheroe which you can pick up at the Festival or local pubs, bars and the Tourist Information Centre.

Alternatively, you can download a copy from the East Lancashire CAMRA website by clicking the graphic above.

We are grateful to the Alehouse, Beer Shack, Bowland Beer Hall and the Swan & Royal for being sponsors at the Festival this year.

Frequently Asked Questions

I love beer / cider / perry but my preferred drinking companion doesn’t, do you serve other drinks?

Yes sirree! We’ll have wine, fizz and gin available too from our festival bars

Are soft drinks available?

They are indeed, if you’re a designated driver let our bar-staff know and you can have free soft drinks – we normally have lemonade, cola and water

Is there an outside space at the festival to smoke / dance / sunbathe / howl at the moon?

There’s a fabulous space at the back and we’ll have a marquee out there too, so if it’s sunny you can get a tan while having a beer, if it’s rainy you can howl at the moon from the marquee

Are you on Social Media and / or How can we contact you?

Indeed we are! You can Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter (icons below) and can message us on either platform or click the button below to email us

I’d like to Volunteer please!

When we’re closer to a festival, in the Visitors Section above, there will be a link to download the volunteer form. Just fill it in and send it to the email address given on the form and someone will be in touch