Three Wetherspoons pubs in the Harrogate district are set to host a real ale festival in October.
The Winter Gardens in Harrogate, Unicorn Hotel in Ripon and The Crown Inn in Knaresborough will all take part in the 12-day festival which will feature 20 different beers from the UK and around the world.
It will be held from Wednesday, October 11, until Sunday, October 22.
Among the brewers on display include Steel and Oak Brewing, Canada, Yazoo Brewing from USA and South Africa’s Zubland Brewery.
The Crown Inn at Knaresborough and The Unicorn Hotel in Ripon.
Others on display will be Robinsons Brewery, Purity Brewery and Joe’s Garage Brewery in Czech Republic.
Beers on offer will be £2.45 a pint.
Will Thorton, manager at the Winter Gardens in Harrogate, said:
“The festival is a great celebration of real ale.
“It will allow us to showcase a selection of superb beers over a 12-day period, at great value for money prices.
“It will also give our customers the opportunity to enjoy a number of beers which have not previously been served in the pub, including those from overseas.”
Suds With Buds celebrates world’s brewers, street food and live music
This story is sponsored by Rooster’s Brewing Co.
Brewers from across the UK and the United States have been invited to bring their finest beers to Harrogate for Rooster’s Brewing Co’s first ever Suds With Buds festival of beer, street food and music.
The event on Saturday, July 1 will see more than 20 breweries converge on Rooster’s Hornbeam Park home, spanning the brewery and yard, Taproom, beer garden and The Sample Room upstairs.
Tom Fozard, commercial director at Rooster’s, said:
“Suds With Buds is an event we’ve been wanting to put on for several years, but one thing or another has stopped initial ideas from becoming reality… until now! On the back of Rooster’s celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2023, we’re biting the bullet and making it happen.
“Some of the UK’s most respected and talked about breweries will be descending upon our little corner of the world, as well as a handful travelling from much further afield, creating a truly unique, combined line-up of over 100 beers.”
Joining brewers from Britain, such as Burning Sky in Sussex and Cromarty Brewing Co in Scotland, will be Colorado brewers Odell Brewing Co and Crooked Stave, and Stiegl from Austria. Some brewers will even be flying in specially to pour their brews in person, including: Jeremy Grinkey, co-owner of California start-up Everywhere; Kevin Smith, head brewer at Bale Breaker Brewing Co in Yakima, Washington; Evan Price, owner of Green Cheek Brewing Co in California; and Jaakko Saivosalmi, managing director of Finnish cider company Brinkhall.
On top of the beers, some of the tastiest street-food the North has to offer will be served up by local legends Paradise Tap & Taco and Jack In A Box, as well as Knead Pitta and the Pizza Bus from further afield.
There will also be live music on a specially-built stage in the beer garden, featuring Sheffield two-piece Hot Soles, Ralph Pelleymounter, David Broad, Ramona Rose, The Silver Reserve and Trainer Trouble.
Tom said:
“To say this is the first event of its kind we’ve decided to put on, we can’t quite believe the quality of the musicians we’ve managed to secure! It really is just a ridiculous line-up.
“As with the previous annual open days we used to host back on our old site in Knaresborough, we’ll have Tony Safari spinning his ever eclectic collection of funky vinyl in The Sample Room throughout the day too.”
Suds With Buds will run from 2 to 8pm on Saturday, July 1. Tickets cost £25 and the price includes a souvenir Suds With Buds glass, as well as an event programme with full beer menu. The price of the tickets will also cover all of the associated costs of putting on the break-even event, including staffing, equipment, the provision of a wellness area, security, the musicians and additional facilities.
To secure your ticket for this unprecedented celebration of modern UK and US brewing and to sample some of the finest beers in the world, some of them never before served on this side of the Atlantic, just head to the Suds With Buds page of Rooster’s website.
Use code FERRET_10 at checkout and save 10%!
Beer festival season starts with three-day Henshaws event
The festival season kicks off this month with a family favourite in aid of one of the Harrogate district’s best-known charities.
Henshaws Beer Festival will return with three days of fun for all ages from Friday, April 28 to Sunday, April 30.
There will be two adult evening sessions and two family-friendly daytime events.
The beer festival will raise funds for Henshaws, which supports people living with sight loss and disabilities across the north of England.
Festival-goers will be able to choose from a range of beers, gins, wines and ciders, all produced in Yorkshire.
Local breweries Cold Bath Brewing, Daleside, Harrogate Brewery – all in Harrogate – and Roosters and Turning Point, both in Knaresborough, will again be joining forces to support and supply the annual event.
An eclectic mix of live music across two stages will feature sets from local performers including Rory Hoy, reggae band Drop Leg Steppers, Hot Sauce and rapper Lence.
Pop-up vendors will be serving a selection of freshly-cooked food, including pizza, Mexican and BBQ. There will also be fun activities and games for the children running throughout the day.
Henshaws’ fundraising development manager Gemma Young said:
“The Arts and Crafts Centre offers a unique outdoor setting for the festival with a large stage area, undercover spaces and outdoor and indoor seating. For last year’s event, we welcomed over 850 guests and served over 4,000 drinks, and this year given the addition of the Friday night we look forward to welcoming even more visitors!”
Henshaws art-maker Ebonie raises a glass at the Henshaws Beer Festival in 2022.
For 2023, Henshaws Beer Festival’s title sponsor is Harrogate-based 4Life Wealth Management. The company’s operations director, Gary Nash, said:
“We are delighted to support this popular Henshaws event and help the charity raise much needed funds for the brilliant work they do. This festival represents a fantastic opportunity to come together as a community.”
Founded in 1837, Henshaws is one of the oldest charities in the UK. It employs around 360 members of staff and 232 volunteers, who support individuals, families and their carers who are living with sight loss, as well as a range of other disabilities.
The charity’s specialist college in Starbeck offers day and residential places for young people aged 18 to 25 with special educational needs and disabilities, and its Arts and Crafts Centre in Knaresborough helps people living with disabilities realise their artistic and personal potential.
Tickets for the Henshaws Beer Festival are available online for £15, or £18 on the door (£5 for children over the age of three), and each visitor will receive a limited-edition souvenir pint glass and two half-pint drink tokens.
Pic shows (left to right), Matthew Joyce, sales manager at Harrogate Brewing Co, Joe Joyce, owner at Harrogate Brewing Co, and Gary Nash, operations director at 4Life Wealth Management
Henshaws Beer Festival back this weekend after two year break
Henshaws Beer Festival is back this weekend after a two year absence.
The event, on Saturday and Sunday, is a vital fundraiser for the Arts and Crafts Centre in Knaresborough which works with disabled adults from across the district.
In June 2020 Henshaws announced the centre would be closed for the “foreseeable future” . Almost a year later the charity received a grant from Arts Council England from the government’s £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund, which allowed the centre to reopen. Henshaws said it needs to raise £200,000 of non-statutory income a year to keep the centre running.
Henshaws said the beer festival will be bigger and better than ever. Five local breweries have joined forces to present the best of beer, including a specially brewed Henshaws Ale. Wines, gins, cider and low-alcohol beer will also be on offer.
The weekend will also feature sets from a range of local performers and a DJ . There will be a special acoustic stage on the Sunday.
There will be five different types of food and a range of family activities. Daytime family-friendly sessions take place on both days and there is an adults-only evening on the Saturday.
Fundraising development manager Helen Donkin said:
“Ticket sales are going well and we are beginning to get quite excited! The Arts and Crafts Centre offers a unique outdoor setting for the festival, with a large stage area, undercover spaces and outdoor and indoor seating. The event has been incredibly well supported in the past and, given the pressure that all charities are under, we hope for even more visitors this year. During our first event, we welcomed over 750 guests and pulled more than 2,500 pints and this year we want to do even better!
“We are already hugely grateful for the support of our sponsors including our title sponsor, Berwins Solicitors, and from the local breweries taking part, Cold Bath Brewery, Daleside, Harrogate Brewery, Turning Point and Roosters.”
Martin Whincup, Head of marketing at Berwins, said:
“We’re delighted to be associated with this popular event as it returns from a pandemic enforced absence.
“This festival represents a fantastic opportunity to come together as a community and to raise money for a very important cause – Berwins is proud to support the work of Henshaws in this way.”
Tickets are available at Henshaws Beer Festival 2022 – Henshaws and each adult ticket receives a limited edition souvenir pint glass and two half-pint tokens, while children’s tickets come with a complementary soft drink voucher.
Beer festival’s pulling power serves up £18,000 for Ripon Cathedral
There was a sweet after-taste to Ripon Cathedral’s Beer Festival, as a tally up of takings showed it raised £18,000.
The event, held in the Dean of Ripon’s garden in the shadow of the city’s iconic cathedral, attracted a record 1,250 adults.
Their purchase of pints of craft ales, combined with tickets bought for the tombola, raised money that will help fund the music, heritage conservation and the education programme at the cathedral.
In this celebration 1,350th anniversary year, at the church founded by Wilfrid, the festivities will go on until October and there was plenty to toast and look forward to at the festival, making its return after two years of covid lockdowns.
Ready to pull the pints – the bar team at the festival
Sponsored by Wolseley, the event saw 42 different craft ales on offer from brewers including Hambleton Ales, Roosters and Theakstons.
Visitors had musical entertainment provided by The Temps, Reef Hound and Jaspa, while children who attended with their parents, had a bouncy castle, tombola and Brick Box Yorkshire’s huge quantities of Lego to keep them occupied.
Ripon Cathedral development manager Margaret Hammond, said:
“It was lovely to be able to host this annual fundraising event again after being unable to do so since 2019, due to the pandemic.
“It was a fantastic success and our supporters showed just how loyal they are after a three year gap, many familiar faces joined us again! We have such incredible volunteers and staff who help to make the event possible, thank you to everyone who contributed.”
Wolseley was the main event sponsor and many other local Ripon businesses, advertised in the programme distributed at the event. There was also support from the cathedral’s business partners Brewin Dolphin and Raworths Solicitors.
Rick Jones, owner of Valentino’s Restaurant and the Water Rat gastro pub, once again was integral to the event and has supported the Cathedral since the first beer festival more than ten years ago.
Ripon’s Bank Holiday weekend of double celebration
The countdown has started to the Queen’s platinum jubilee festivities in Ripon, with decorations now in place on the town hall.
In a year of double celebration for the city, this Bank Holiday weekend also sees a packed programme of events marking the 1,350th anniversary of Ripon Cathedral.
The doors of the iconic building open this morning at 9.30 and, up until 12.30pm, Hazelsong Theatre, will be offering free activities for families, ranging from calligraphic bookmarks to showing how manuscripts were made.
From 10.30am, there will be a guided tour, on which an experienced guide will talk about the cathedral’s hidden history and between 11am and 11.30am there will be an opportunity to meet the organist and have a go at playing the cathedral’s historic organ.
The sound of mini-bells will be heard from 12.30pm, with an exhibition of campanology in the nave.
Art In Churches producer Chris Bailey will talk between 1.30pm and 2.30pm on the specially-commissioned art celebrating the work of Wilfrid, Ripon’s patron saint, who established the church in AD 672.
Ripon is getting dressed up in readiness for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
The organist meeting will also take place at 3pm and between 3.30pm and 4.30pm, professor Joyce Hill will give a lecture on medieval manuscripts.
Following the evening prayer service between 5.30 and 6pm, at 8pm a Son et Lumiere themed on Sunday Wilfrid’s miracles will be held. Tickets can be obtained from Eventbrite
At 9pm, a hornblower will carry out the setting of the watch ceremony at the obelisk.
Tomorrow, the Festal Eucharist service from 10.30am until 12 noon, will be followed by a guided pilgrimage between 1.30pm and 3pm.
The opportunity to raise a toast, or two, to the Queen’s jubilee year and the start of the 1,350 programme and will come on Monday with the return of Ripon Cathedral’s famous beer festival, with drinks and food served in Dean John Dobson’s garden. Tickets can be purchased on line on this link.
Harrogate Beer Festival for women returns next month
The Harrogate beer festival that attempts to break down barriers between women and beer is back next month.
The beer and arts festival called WOTFEST SIX, organised by Women on Tap CIC, will return to Harrogate between May 4 and 8 and offer a place for women interested in beer or those wanting to learn more to come together and try it out.
The festival works with bars, breweries and industry experts to provide a space for thought-provoking communications and for women to explore more beers.
Festival highlights include an evening of conversation with women in beer from Track Brewing Co and Brew York and Mindful Drinking workshops hosted by Club Soda which aim to emphasise positive drinking habits over abstinence.
There will also be quizzes, treasure hunts and other events held at some of Harrogate’s best known bars including Major Tom’s Social, The Disappearing Chin, The Harrogate Tap and Rooster’s Taproom.
As in previous years, a special festival beer has been brewed at Brew York. The pineapple sour will be available at venues throughout the festival.
Women on Tap founder, Rachel Auty said:
“It feels good to properly root the festival back in Harrogate where it all began while also retaining an element of online events and activity.
“We are a tiny team with an enormous goal and thanks to the incredible support we get from the UK wide beer industry, our network across Harrogate and Knaresborough, and our local friends who never fail to cheer us on from the sidelines, we continue to stride out every year – passionate, determined, and smiling!”
Women on Tap CIC was formed in 2017 in Harrogate to help influence and shape a beer industry where women have equal opportunities, feel welcome, and are safe.
New artworks commissioned for Ripon Cathedral anniversaryUnique works of art are being created as part of a programme to mark the 1,350th anniversary of Ripon Cathedral.
They will include paintings by internationally-renowned Syrian artist Sara Shamma, who has been commissioned to produce three portraits featuring St. Wilfrid and his contemporaries, who founded the church in 672.
Ms Shamma’s work will be centrepieces of the From Rome to Ripon exhibition, which has been produced in collaboration with Paul Baily and Jack Chesterton.
It will be on display at the cathedral from May 27 until November 1.
Before then, weaver, Chrissie Freeth’s tapestry work Beyond Words can be seen from Thursday April 28 until May 26.
Chrissie Freeth’s tapestries will be on display from April 28
Ms Freeth, was shortlisted for last year’s Cordis Tapestry prize and her work Momento Mori was also selected for the Royal Academy’s summer exhibition.,
She blends folklore, family stories, medieval iconography, and craftsmanship in her large tapestries, 13 of which will be exhibited at the cathedral.
Between May 27 and July 26, Peter Marlow’s exhibition will give a fascinating insight into how English cathedrals developed
The Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd. John Dobson, said:
“To reimagine this sacred space with new artworks from such a wide range of renowned artists, each working in different ways, is a fitting tribute to our founding father, Wilfrid.
“It will tell us something new about who we are, re-connect us with our past, and ground us in our future and I wholeheartedly commend this arts programme to all of you.”
Celebrations of the iconic building and its fundamental importance to Ripon’s development, begin on April 28 and will continue over the Bank Holiday Weekend,
The festivities will include dancing in the nave to a local jazz and swing band, a beer festival on the Bank Holiday Monday in the cathedral grounds, a pilgrimage from Bradford Cathedral, and a Son et Lumiere finale that promises to recreate Wilfrid’s miracles – including that of the lunar rainbow.
Rome to Ripon is a partnership between Ripon Cathedral and Art in the Churches, an award-winning local charity that aims to bring major contemporary art into rural churches to reposition them as the beating heart of their communities.
Wilfrid – one of the greatest and most controversial English saints – was born into a noble Northumbrian family, a patron of the arts, he studied at Lindisfarne before embracing the Roman ways, was deposed on more than one occasion, and yet helped unite England behind a single Christian tradition.
It is said he was born in flames, survived shipwrecks and exile, and his jailers could not keep him chained. He was a healer, he kept people from hunger by teaching them to fish, and it is said that the moon and stars shone so bright for him, that a lunar rainbow appeared on the anniversary of his death.
In his early twenties, he made a pilgrimage to Rome and was much inspired by the lives of the saints there, and the great basilica churches. He brought some of the beauty of Rome back to England with him.