‘They couldn’t organise a p*ss up in a beer festival!’ Punters blast Weymouth Octoberfest organisers after £11.50-a-ticket event ran out of ale by 8pm
- Tickets for Weymouth Octoberfest cost £11.50 each with promise of 50 real ales
- But sheepish organisers had to tell customers they had been drunk dry at 8pm
- Punters took to social media to slam the event, which went through 4,000 pints
Drinkers have blasted the organisers of a local real ale festival – after it ran out of beer.
Tickets for Weymouth Octoberfest in Dorset cost £11.50 each and drinkers were promised a choice of 50 real ales.
But sheepish organisers had to tell customers they had been drunk dry at 8pm – three and a half hours before the event was due to end – with a refund or the option of drinking cider offered instead.
Tickets for Weymouth Octoberfest in Dorset cost £11.50 each and drinkers were promised a choice of 50 real ales
Visitors criticised the event on social media, while the local CAMRA branch offered refunds and said the problem ‘would never happen again’
Punters took to social media to slam the event which was attended by 900 people, who drank 4,000 pints of beer and cider over the two days it was on for.
Colin Bell posted: ‘I couldn’t help but agree with another punter who said ‘CAMRA couldn’t organise a p*ss up in a beer festival!”
Ian Liversidge, 54, a food seller from Glastonbury, Somerset, said: ‘It’s the worst beer festival I have ever been to.
‘The organisers would have known by the end of their Saturday afternoon session they were almost out of ale but they didn’t see fit to tell anyone in advance.
‘There were four beers out of 50 left on tap at 7.45pm on Saturday night and they were gone by 8pm.
‘It ruined what was going to be a great night out tasting new beers. By the time I had finished my first pint they had run out.
‘We are a civilised crowd us real ale drinkers so we didn’t kick off but some people walked out in disappointment. I will certainly not be coming again.’
Lynne Rimell was one of the disappointed customers who found that by 8.15pm the beer had run out
A total of 4,000 pints of beer and cider were consumed at the event, which ran on last Friday and Saturday
Steve Jones said: ‘The event was seriously badly organised. Surely if there’s a run on stock they should have a back up plan to get more in.
‘In all the years of beer festivals I’ve never known anything like it.’
The West Dorset branch of CAMRA blamed the national organisation, saying they had to adhere to strict guidelines over the amount of beer and cider they could order.
A CAMRA poster advertising the Weymouth festival
They claim they were provided with 10 fewer barrels than the previous year.
David Harris, the beer festival organiser, blamed the CAMRA headquarters, said: ‘We have run the beer festival since 2005 but this was the first year we have had to get guidance from head office over how much beer we could order.
‘We gave them a number of 840 people we expected over the two days and wanted 58 firkins which would have given us 4,000 pints of ale.
‘We felt that amount of beer would have allowed for any margin of growth in numbers of people.
‘But we were told we could only order 52 firkins in total.’
Catherine Tonry, National Festival Organiser for CAMRA, said: ‘CAMRA operates a policy in that each local festival applies for beer festival funding based on the number of visitors they expect through the door.
‘The Weymouth branch’s beer order was based on previous attendee numbers – obviously, the festival was much more popular this year than ever before.
‘It’s great to see the people of Weymouth enjoying the range of brews available at a CAMRA fest, and we’re confident that the success will encourage the branch to order more beer for next year.’