Clitheroe Beer Festival

Clitheroe Beer Festival 2026

We are delighted to announce that Clitheroe Beer Festival is back and running from 14-16 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. 2026 brews coming soon…..

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 4.6% refreshing
Peach Saison

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 2026 runs from Thurs 14 – Sat 16 May 2026*  times at base of site

Our venue is The Assembly Hall of St Michaels & St Johns – aka ‘The Old Schoolrooms’

PRE-ORDERING TICKETS

It’s now possible to pre-order your tickets and jump the queue into the festival. 
If you are a CAMRA member and are looking for free entry you will need to pre-order your ticket from TCKTY via the link below.

Non CAMRA members can purchase advance tickets here too:

PAY BY TOKENS – OR- NEW FOR 2026 BY CARD AT OUR BARS

For the first time we will be taking card payment at all of our bars this year. If you’d prefer to pay cash, that’s fine, you’ll just need to buy some tokens from reception. We can’t take cash over the bars

GETTING TO CLITHEROE BEER FESTIVAL

The assembly hall is a five minute walk away from Clitheroe public transport interchange. With an hourly train service from Manchester and regular buses from Blackburn, Burnley, Skipton, and Preston there are plenty of options to get to the festival without driving. Also Uber and local taxis are available

DRIVING

If you have drawn the short straw and been nominated designated driver there are plenty of carparks and on street parking options around the town centre, there’s even a pay and display carpark right across the road from the festival.

MUSIC

As above, we have a fantastic line up of live music for you in 2026.

Friday evening from 8pm we have the fantastic Caroline (bio coming soon).

Saturday from 8pm we have the ever popular DRIVE. Clitheroe’s Sensation in Live Music!
Born in August 2013, Clitheroe-based band DRIVE began with a mission to provide locals with an unforgettable, high-energy night out, regardless of where they perform. And let me tell you, this band never disappoints!
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Over the years, DRIVE has skyrocketed on the band scene, offering polished performances that seamlessly bridge musical eras. From the timeless classics of the ’60s to the hits of today, DRIVE keeps things fun, dynamic, and raw.

FOOD

Following the amazing feed back on the food offering last year, Vicky and her team at the old school rooms will be conjuring up a fantastic menu to help soak up that beer. Menu to follow.

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!

2026 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, 15 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