This year’s Boot beer festival in and around Eskdale and Boot in the Lakes has been announced for Thursday 10th June through to Sunday 13th June this year. It was a week earlier last year and I recall reading this post by Woolpack Dave last year about how he hoped for a greater gap between the end of half term and the festival, so I initially thought his prayers had been answered. However, it seems that thanks to a shift in dates it’s still just a week after the end of half term in Cumbria which according to this is June 4th.

I guess it’ll be another tough week for Dave, then, but I’m glad he’s still taking part because I can understand some of the problems he’s had in the past. Last year was my third or fourth weekend at the festival but it was the first time I and my group actually made it down to the Woolpack. I don’t wish this whole post to be just about this pub, as there are three taking part, but through reading Dave’s blog I have developed a closer tie to it than any of the others along that long, winding (and incredibly dark) road. In the past it’s seemed to be way too far down the road to be worth a visit in the evening, especially as we were camping at Fisherground. However, last year a shuttle bus ran from there down to the Woolpack which made it a hell of a lot easier and we made it on two of the three nights we were there – top marks for that idea.

I hope the bus is in action again this year as it made a massive difference for everyone staying at Fisherground, not to mention jumping on at the Boot Inn – without it I think we’d manage the walk down once at most.

Watching the band inside the marquee at the Woolpack Inn at the 2009 festival.

Dave also mentioned the cost of providing the marquee and the band. This is a tricky one as obviously he can’t expect a free lunch from the festival, but at the same time I can see why the costs are prohibitive. I personally enjoyed moving around from the pub to the marquee, and Dave’s cooking show was great to watch, but if the numbers don’t add up perhaps it may be one to sacrifice.

I do recommend this festival to anyone unfamiliar with the area, as the Eskdale valley is stunning and most drivers get a thrill from going over Hardknott Pass for the first time. If you keep up with Dave’s blog and fancy a weekend away supporting someone who cares about beer and good times, why not consider a trip over to one of the best festival weekends in Cumbria.

Beer festival · Beers · Boot · Boot Inn · Brook House Inn · Eskdale · Lake District · Woolpack Dave · Woolpack Inn

Fleetwood: home of pissed-up sailors.

And to the four corners of the land we go in the search for a pint of golden ale. This week: Fleetwood, home of fish, ferries and abandoned gloom. This is a brand of despair unique to forgotten Northern coastal towns, where regular gloom passed through twenty years ago and left behind streets of flat buildings stripped of life.

I went on a recce of Fleetwood at the weekend since I was in the area, and left wondering whether I’d have been better off leaving it to the weekend. I’ve rarely seen any town centre so deserted on a Sunday afternoon. The whole of the main road through town is dug up and fenced off as what looks like tramlines are laid down, the result of which is that you pick your side of the road and then you’re stuck with it for the next 500 metres. When you reach the end, you realise there’s nothing much there and come back down on the other side, a livelier mix of pound shops and two or three pubs.

The number of “TO LET” signs up is an immediate impression when you walk around Fleetwood. One, with a giant mural drawn by kids on the side, advertises food and good beers from a distance, but as you draw close you see the doors are firmly closed. There’s nothing else for a good ten minutes. Coming back down the other side of the road, I passed an interesting place which I’ll try on Saturday; black padded seats wrapped around the walls of a large bar as old men stood outside smoking. My kind of place. Further down the road, and two chain pubs sit on side roads heading into the sea. They’ll be worth a look and at least they’re open. On the way out, “the oldest pub in town” went past view and must be given a tour.

It was not the best time to go, I know – a Sunday afternoon in a forgotten coastal town in winter. Morrissey probably spent half of his teens writing his next twenty years of music round here. It leaves me then wondering what this weekend’s beer festival will be like. I like to have a wander around new towns and check out the pubs, but I’ve built a vague sense of foreboding into myself already. It’s like going on a holiday with people who’ve already been there – you feel drained of choice and free will and the days have an air of finality before they’ve even begun.

Nonetheless, the festival itself will hopefully be a good one and I’ll report back once we’re back.

Beer festival · Beers · Blackpool · CAMRA · Fleetwood · Fylde · wyre

A frankly terrifying photo from the Lancashire Telegraph.

The demise of Blackburn and Accrington’s annual beer festivals means that at the moment, the nearest to home for me is the Pendle festival in Colne. This sounds close but it’s still about 40 minutes on the train so I could pretty much be in Manchester in the same time. Still, Colne muni is a decent venue and at least it’s one I can get to without having to leave early to get back, or end up staying over in a grotty B&B, staying out ’til 4am and coming home £130 poorer.

It’s interesting to wonder what happened to the other festivals in the area. My last memory of a Blackburn festival must be from around 2001, at a guess. I remember it was before Barbara Castle Way was extended through to connect with Montague Street, as after the festival I ended up wrestling with my mates on the field which used to be there and my neighbour nearly called the police because he thought we were in a fight. Suffice to say, ample amounts of 8% scrumpy were involved in that particular night. There was going to be a festival in 2009 at King Georges Hall but it was cancelled due to lack of sponsorship.

Somewhere at home I have a t-shirt from the last Accrington festival which judging by this report was in 2004. My memories of that one are good – it was upstairs in the town hall, quite a big room and with a balcony overlooking the main road into the town. I’m not sure why that one ended but there’s been no word of another since, to the best of my knowledge.

In this part of the world we seem to have lost the bigger festivals in favour of smaller, more local ones. Take for example Clitheroe, which has had one for the last few years at the tiny St Mary’s Centre in May. There doesn’t seem to be any word yet whether they’ll be doing one this year, but I’m hopeful as last year’s was a good day out. The Aspinall Arms also hosts the Middle Earth beer festival, which I fully intend to get to this year; it’s quite a remote location but easily done if I can get a few people together.

It would be easy to worry about why the bigger festivals have died off around here, but I think there are particular circumstances in each case and they’re not part of a larger trend. The fact that smaller ones have thrived in their absence should, I think, just be appreciated.

Accrington · Aspinall Arms · Beer festival · Beers · Blackburn · Clitheroe · Colne · Middle Earth · Pendle · St Mary's Centre