Substack diary no.126: Friday, 17th. April 2026

Well, The Maltings came as something of a shock. For those who have never visited before it was probably a good medium-sized beer festival, but to those of us who have been attending for over 25 years it was a serious let-down. If I was to describe it in one word it would be ‘mean’.

That does not mean to say it was not enjoyable. The selection of beers was adequate rather than the enormous of previous years. The standard of brewing was as good as ever, and there was plenty of seating.

Shock number one came immediately upon arrival at the starting time of 5pm: £8 to get in for the evening, which included a festival half-pint glass and a brochure listing all the cask and keg beers and ciders. Then came the price of the beer tokens: £2.50 each or 8 for £20. That’s £5 a pint and staggeringly high for a beer festival. Remember, this one is unusual in that it is organised by the brewers themselves, whose primary aim is to promote and market their product. I must confess that paying £28 upon entry coloured my feelings about the festival from the start. The mean theme continued in other ways that I won’t go into here.