The Harrogate, Ripon and Knaresborough Ale Trail runs from 1st to 31st August with 30 participating venues.
Harrogate and Ripon CAMRA branch covers an area of North Yorkshire to the north of Leeds stretching over 20 miles up into the Yorkshire Dales. We have a good number of rural pubs together with a high concentration of pubs and clubs in the three main centres.
Our members wanted to support our pubs, clubs and breweries and decided three years ago that an Ale Trail might encourage real ale drinkers to try new pubs and increase footfall into all of the participant venues.
We looked at members’ beer scores in the three main towns and chose the best 30 pubs, clubs and taprooms in terms of beer quality, most of which also had a good selection of ales. This included most of our Good Beer Guide pubs in the three towns but also some that didn’t quite make the grade for the Guide.
We approached local breweries Daleside and Rooster’s for help and they have been very happy to support us for the last three years of running the Trail.
In order to ensure a good offering of prizes to incentivise people to undertake the trail we ask every venue to offer a prize of a bar/food tab between £20 and £50 or a gallon of real ale. This means that there’s a good selection of prizes and all venues benefit by receiving return visits from Ale Trailers.
So how does it work?
The Ale Trail is open to everyone, not just CAMRA members.
We supply each participating venue with Ale Trail passports which include details of the 30 pubs, clubs and taprooms, and maps to assist with navigation. Ale Trailers pick up a passport and buy at least half a pint of cask ale (or real cider) in each venue entitling them to collect a unique sticker which is placed on the relevant page of their passport.
Ale Trailers visit as many venues as they’re able in the three towns during the month of August collecting stickers along the way, and subject to a minimum of 15 stickers, then complete their name and email address, tear out the sticker page and submit to one of the ‘core’ pubs named in the passport for entry into the Prize Draw.
The Prize Draw takes place in September where our members draw entries from a hat. The first three entries drawn win a £50 prize and thereafter prizes are awarded in order of value.
Want to join in the Trail?
The Ale Trail runs from 1st to 31st August.
All venues can be reached by public transport. Harrogate and Knaresborough both have train stations and Ripon is reached via a regular bus service (36) from Harrogate. Please see our website for more detail: http://www.harrogateandriponcamra.org.uk/ale-trail.html