Hemel Old Town Beer Festival 2024 : A community success!

We’ve been radio silent for little over a month, reminiscing on the many great memories made at this year’s Hemel Old Town Beer Festival.

It was incredible to see the Hemel community come together over the weekend, with over one-thousand guests welcomed at the stunning St Marys Church.

Reminiscing is not the only thing we’ve kept busy with, as numbers have been crunched for our fundraising efforts.

Festival goers, we are thrilled to announce that you have raised £8,613 for our not-for-profit causes!!

YOUR IMPACT

As generated by you, the event surplus will help to promote and protect St. Mary’s Church. Grade-I listed and dating back to 1140, Hemel Hempstead’s oldest building is still central to life in the historic Old Town. Markets, art galleries and bike shows are among events welcomed to the church and its leafy grounds, with external support for nearby charities fulfilled by Reverend John and the clergy at St. Mary’s.

Surplus funds stand to benefit another time-honoured pillar of British community, the local pub. Through funds raised for the Campaign for Real Ale (Europe’s largest consumer group), CAMRA champions community pubs and brewers, preserving the nation’s unique culture of cask-conditioned ale.

HOW THIS WAS ACHIEVED

This surplus is close to ten-fold that of the first Hemel Old Town Beer Festival in 2023. As margins at the bar saw no change this year, this growth can be attributed wholly to public support (footfall quadrupled that of our inaugural event!) and assistance from our amazing volunteers and sponsors.

ONE FOR THE ROAD

There is nothing more satisfying than affecting real and positive change. We hope to share the effects of our surplus as they happen – broadcasting the positivity that you have helped create through our social media and Tapler magazine channels.

Thanks again to our volunteers + sponsors and a special thank you to our food vendors and live music acts (as curated by Hemel Hempstead Old Town Market).

A final big thanks to you our guests; for yet another enjoyable and fruitful year at the Hemel Old Town Beer Festival.

Until next year, here’s to you!

CHEERS

GOOD BEER GUIDE 2025

Mid-Chilterns CAMRA are thrilled to announce that CAMRA’s ‘Good Beer Guide 2025’ is out this month and features fifteen of the branch’s greatest pubs.


HERTFORDSHIRE ENTRIES

• The Bell, Tring
• The Bell Inn, Bovingdon
• The Crown, Berkhamsted
• The Full House, Hemel Hempstead
• The King’s Arms, Tring
• Oddfellows Arms, Apsley
• The Rising Sun, Berkhamsted
• The Robin Hood, Tring
• The Saracens Head, Kings Langley

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE ENTRIES

The Blue Ball, Asheridge
The Crown, Ley Hill
The Crown Inn, Little Missenden
The George Ale House, Great Missenden
The Queen’s Head, Chesham
The Red Lion, Dagnall

The Good Beer Guide is CAMRA’s seminal publication featuring 4,500 of the UK’s best real-ale pubs, in rural and urban areas.

Now in its’ 52nd edition, CAMRA’s publication is the best-selling beer and pub guide with a foreword from BAFTA award-winning producer Iain MacLeod alongside consumer features, industry analysis and a comprehensive guide to hundreds of UK breweries too!

The Good Beer Guide’s 2025 foreword is from Coronation Street producer Iain MacLeod


As always, our nominees were curated from the highest scoring establishments on WhatPub, CAMRA’s public scoring portal which allows all members to put their local forward for awards and commendations.

Congratulations once again to all of our entries – here’s to another fantastic edition of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide!

ORDER YOURS NOW –
https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2025

CHEERS