Plymouth Beer Festival 2014

The Plymouth Beer Festival is back in its 10th year at Plymouth Pavilions this July.

The two day festival of all things Real Ale and Cider in association with Plymouth CAMRA has gone from strength to strength in previous years, and this year promises to be no exception!

The festival is proud to welcome St Austell Brewery on board as sponsor, and will once again be providing the widest ranging selection of Real Ale, Cider and Perries anywhere in the South West!

Whether you are a Real Ale aficionado, or just love a good pint with friends, we have something for all across the two days. At the heart of the festival in the main Arena you will find hundreds of Ales and Ciders straight from the barrel, while we also have a Foreign Beer Bar offering something for those wanting something a little bit different! Merchandise stands, plenty of food, pub games and of course live music are all aplenty.

Main stage entertainment this year will come from superstar shanty singers Port Issac’s Fisherman’s Friends on Saturday night. Fresh from playing Glastonbury, this Plymouth gig will be one of the first few the band have played since the tragic loss of group member Trevor Grills and Tour Manager Paul McMullen in a freak accident at a venue in Surrey back in February 2013.

The Friends’ big break came when they were discovered by BBC Radio 2 presenter Johnnie Walker, who was holidaying in Port Isaac when he was given a couple of self-produced Fisherman’s Friends CDs. Mr Walker handed the CDs to his manager, Ian Brown, who came to hear the group sing in a local hotel, leading to the offer of a £1m recording contract.

Their eponymous first album, released in 2010, went gold, selling more than 150,000 copies and life quickly went into overdrive for the Fisherman’s Friends with an ITV documentary and a book. The group sang at the Queen’s Jubilee and on the main stage at Glastonbury and a feature film inspired by their story is currently in production!

For the first time ever, next month’s Beer Festival on Friday 11 – Saturday 12 July will see the Pavilions open its doors to welcome a local band to the stage in place of ‘bought in’ entertainment on the opening night. The venue plans to run a social media campaign encouraging local acts to submit their demos, with a winner being chosen at the end of June. The winners will get the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Kasabian on the Pavilions stage!

Venue Marketing Manager Dawn Sloggett commented: "We’re very excited about introducing an undiscovered act on the Friday night! Its great for us as a venue to be able to offer local talent the chance at playing on what will probably be the biggest stage many of them would ever have played. Perhaps we will find the next Bastille or Kaiser Chiefs, both of whom have roots in the South West – you never know!"

For full details of the Plymouth Beer Festival, the line up, ticket prices etc please visit www.plymouthpavilions.com or call the Box Office on 0845 146 1460.