Preparations are under way for the county's biggest beer festival of the year.

CAMRA's Oxford Beer and Cider Festival will take place at Oxford Town Hall in St Aldate's from Thursday, November 9 to Saturday, November 11.

But it almost didn't happen after the fees for hiring the main hall were due to increase significantly.

READ MORE: Bus fares capped at £1 in the run-up to Christmas 

An agreement with the city council was reached earlier this year following talks, but both parties declined to reveal the financial details.

"The festival was very much at risk because we could not afford the kind of increases being mentioned," said Dave Richardson, a spokesman for the Oxford branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale).

"Fortunately we were able to reach and an agreement and I'm pleased the town hall has been flexible."

Oxford Mail: "The council has offered to help us publicise the festival through its own social media channels and we look forward to what we hope will be a successful event, as memories of Covid affected attendance last year.

"But this year other beer festivals have been very successful and we hope we don't run out of beer - we will try to manage supply and demand."

Mr Richardson said there will be 100 real ales on sale and more than 20 ciders, with all local breweries invited to take part.

READ MORE: Villagers celebrate bridge reopening 

He added: "Sadly we won't be having Wychwood brewery there as it is closing the same month we are holding the festival.

"They used to sponsor the festival and festival T-shirts with their name on live on."

The first beer festival at the town hall was held in 1998 and this is the 24th festival at the venue.

Attendance peaked at up to 3,000 visitors at three-day festivals in 2019 and previous years, but when a two-day festival was reinstated for 2022, attendance slumped to under 2,000 as many older customers stayed away.

Oxford Mail: Drinkers at the beer festivalThe first CAMRA Oxfordshire Beer Festival was held over two days in 1994 at the Bus Museum in Long Hanborough.

As the festival falls on Remembrance Weekend, CAMRA hopes to welcome delegations from Oxford’s twin city partners of Bonn in Germany, Grenoble in France, Leiden in Holland and Wroclaw in Poland.

READ MORE: New wine shop to open at former bookshop

Entry costs £15 for CAMRA members, or £18, and this includes a commemorative glass and a £10 voucher.

The festival opens to the public at 4pm Thursday until 11pm, 11am Friday until 11pm, and 12 noon to 11pm (or the beer or customers run out) on Saturday.

The Online booking link is:

Oxford CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival 2023 - Tckty.

Help support trusted local news 

Sign up for a digital subscription now: oxfordmail.co.uk/subscribe 

As a digital subscriber you will get: 

  • Unlimited access to the Oxford Mail website 
  • Advert-light access 
  • Reader rewards 
  • Full access to our app 

About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.