A Trip To Grantham CAMRA Beer Festival 2021

Discovering that St Wulfram’s and the Grantham branch of the Campaign for Real Ale were hosting the Land of Hops and Glory Beer Festival in a 13th century church intrigued me. I’d passed the building many times before, always impressed by its magnificent 84 metre spire (influenced by Salisbury, apparently) and now here was an opportunity to investigate the interior of the place.

Thursday, 4th November, the first day of the festival and I found myself on a train alongside about ten others all keen to do the same. Turns out I’d joined an unofficial Mick Slaughter tour. It’s not in my nature to be press-ganged, so I left them to enjoy the beer at the Tollemache Inn (Wetherspoon), whilst I went in search of smaller establishments. Three swift halves, in the Angel & Royal, the Bank and Chequers and then on to church.

What’s that? Ten pounds to get in?!?! No wonder Derek decided not to bother, as he was only ever going to have a couple in the beer fest, then try all the other pubs in the town. A token system was in operation (ten were given out on entry), which I think is a great idea. Instead of asking amateur bar staff to deal with cash, they simply ask for the number of tokens, as displayed on the cask end. Here’s where I suddenly realised the unfairness of the pricing policy, as a half-pint of ale was three tokens, equalling £2.25 (or £4.50 a pint!!) Buying a pint cost 5 tokens - £3.75 a pint, much more in line with pub prices in the area that day.

That aside, there were plenty of excellent ales, all served at the right temperature, which wasn’t so surprising, as the building was very cold, at around 15 degrees. Everyone kept on their warm layers and happily enjoyed the surroundings, the atmosphere and the banter. Another, even bigger group of Peterborough’s finest tipplers, this time from the Frothblowers micropub, were having fun at a large, food-laden table at the centre of the church! I was delighted to see the level of support from our branch area for Grantham CAMRA’s big event – I reckon we formed about 20% of the congregation, during the few hours I was there.

Many thanks to the guys who took the great photos. For some reason, I completely forgot I have a camera on my phone. I’ll be back next year, but with a pair of fluffy gloves and a woolly scarf.

Dickie Bird