Hitchin Beer and cider festival has been running almost continuously since 2008 with just one year lost to COVID. The festival began life at Hitchin Town Hall where it ran successfully for 5 years before moving to its current site of Hitchin Rugby Club in 2013 due to refurbishment works at the town hall.
The festival is organised and run entirely by volunteers, originally a partnership between Hitchin Round Table and North Herts CAMRA (The Campaign for Real Ale) before linking up with Hitchin Rugby club on its move to their venue. Today the festival is run by North Herts CAMRA and Hitchin Rugby Club in partnership.
Hitchin Rugby Club is a registered Charity whose mission is to participate in and promote the sport of rugby at all age levels within the Hitchin area. This includes Mini (U5-U12), Youth (U13-U18), Seniors (18+), Vets (35+), Ladies and Girls Rugby (U13, U15 and U18) as well as Adult Touch-Rugby. This participation and promotion is accomplished through various means including playing, coaching, refereeing and community development.
CAMRA is considered one of the most successful consumer organisations across Europe. Founded by four real ale enthusiasts back in 1971, today we represent beer drinkers and pub-goers across the UK.
Our vision is to have quality real ale, cider and perry and thriving pubs in every community. Our mission is to promote and advocate:
- the production, availability and consumption of quality real ale, cider and perry
- pubs and clubs as social centres and part of the UK’s cultural heritage
- the benefits of responsible social drinking
We do this by supporting and encouraging the beer and pubs trade by running beer festivals, lobbying Government for change, running numerous awards and developing bespoke pub finders and guides.
In North Hertfordshire we do this through
- Running a Beer & Cider Festival in Hitchin,
- Selecting the best pubs in North Herts for our part of the Good Beer Guide,
- Selecting pubs for local awards,
- Collecting local news for our part of the all-Hertfordshire newsletter, Pints of View,
- Inviting you to join us at social events throughout the year
