We’re back at the wonderfully atmospheric Kelham Island Museum from 21 to 24 October 2025 with a huge range of cask ales and keykeg craft beers, artisan cider and perry, street food vendors, traditional pub games and live entertainment.
The event is organised and staffed entirely by volunteers on behalf CAMRA Sheffield & District who do it to share their love of beer or cider and are passionate about having such an event in Sheffield.
Admission
Times and prices
We don’t sell advance tickets, simply pay on the gate with cash or card.
| Day | Open | Close | Non-members | CAMRA members |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WED 15 | 17:00 | 22:30 | FREE | FREE |
| THU 16 | 11:30 | 22:30 | £5 | FREE |
| FRI 17 | 11:30 | 22:30 | £8 | FREE |
| SAT 18 | 11:00 | 21:00 | £8 | FREE |
Price includes entry to the festival and live music performances (subject to capacity).
You will also need to purchase a festival glass for £3, which can be returned for a refund (or as a donation to the festival charity) when you leave, or kept as a souvenir.
Children
Accompanied children are welcome on site until 8pm, after which it is strictly over 18s only.
Dogs
Kelham Island Museum do not allow dogs on site except for registered assistance dogs.
Re-admission
If you want to leave the festival and come back later the same day, please ask for a readmission wristband before you leave.
Readmission is not guaranteed (venue may be at capacity, for example).
Optional extras
- Token cards (£5)
While most payments are now by bank card, token cards are still available for payment on the festival bars and games (but not for food stalls or the Millowners Arms). Unspent credit can be refunded (up to £10) or donated to charity. - Programme (£1)
Containing the beer and cider lists. Available from the entrance and token desks. - Talks and tutored tastings
Advance booking recommended (any remaining tickets will be sold on the door).
Venue
Map
Desks for general and sponsor admissions can be found at the Entrance on the museum gates.
From here, head into the building on the right and turn right for the bars in the Guest Bar, or left and up the stairs or lift then across the bridge for the Upper Hall with cask ale, can and bottle beer, cider, perry, snacks, tokens desk, CAMRA membership and shop, live music, and the tombola.
To the right at the top of the stairs (or left from the lift) is the Power Room where talks and tasting events will be held.
Straight ahead from the Entrance is the Courtyard where you’ll find hot food traders and, round to the left, the main Toilets. Also on the left, to the back, is the Marquee with cask ale, can and bottle beer, cider, perry, tokens desk and games. On the right is the Millowners Arms, an independent pub serving a range of drinks and food.
At the far end of the Courtyard past the Marquee, is the Engine Room with the steam-powered River Don Engine that will run at set times during the festival.
Keg beer is in the Keg Bar with seating available in the Stone Garden. To access this area walk through the Engine Room and the Hawley Gallery.
The Glass Return area is on the right as you approach the entrance gates when leaving.
Accessibility
We want everyone to enjoy the festival and will do our best to make it as accessible as possible.
Wheelchair access
A lift is available to the footbridge leading to the Upper Hall, with accessible toilet facilities located by the lift on the ground floor and also in the upper hall.
The courtyard area has cobbles, but there’s a tarmac path alongside to provide a smoother route for wheelchair users.
Assistance Dogs
Registered assistance dogs are welcome at the venue. Please note that other dogs are not permitted.
Support and Assistance
If you have any questions or need help during the event, please speak to one of our stewards or volunteers – they’ll be happy to assist.
Events
There’s lots on including talks and tastings (advanced booking recommended), live music, sword dancing, and steam engine demonstrations.
Champion Beer of Sheffield
WED 19:00
Upper Hall
Wednesday evening kicks off with our judging panels’ choices for Champion Beer of Sheffield, presented by festival organiser, Paul Crofts.
Talks and tastings
We have some great guests hosting talks and tasting sessions. Most are in the Power Room (at the top of the stairs on the route to the Upper Hall).
Some tickets may be available on the door but advance booking is recommend.
WEDNESDAY
Beer and Music
with Pete Brown
Talk and tasting
WED 19:00
Power Room
Join award-winning beer writer and broadcaster Pete Brown for a one-of-a-kind audio-visual beer tasting experience, based on the fascinating research behind his latest book Tasting Notes: The art and science of pairing beer and music.
*includes several third pint beer tasters – festival entry payable separately on the door
THURSDAY
Little Chicago
Guided walk
THU 11:30
A guided historical walk in Sheffield’s Little Chicago Quarter. We will explore both the pub heritage aspects of the area plus the streets which feature in the book, 1925 Gang Wars and Wembley Glory, with a narrative explaining how Sheffield briefly became the most turbulent city in Britain because of an escalating gang war involving the Park Brigade, Mooney Gang, the Gas Tank Gang and many others. The walk will be led by Sheffield’s Real Heritage Pubs editor, Dave Pickersgill and local historian and writer, John Stocks.
*includes festival entry and booklet
Kelham Island Brewery
Talk
THU 17:00
Power Room
This talk will be led by four key members of the team at Kelham Island Brewery: Tom Clay (sales & brand director) and three of the owner/directors: Jim Harrison, James O’Hara and Simon Webster.
The presenters will look back to the history of the Fat Cat and Kelham Island Brewery, lauding the pioneering work of Dave Wickett and celebrating the long-term influences of both the pub and the brewery on todays UK Indie beer scene before looking to the future.
*festival entry payable separately on the door
Abbeydale Brewery
Tutored tasting
THU 19:00
Power Room
A tutored beer tasting and discussion led by experts from the oldest established brewery in Sheffield, which as of 2024 is wholly employee owned. This event will explore the depth and breadth of the Abbeydale range as they celebrate their 30th anniversary.
Last year (2025) Abbeydale produced over 200 bbl/week of which over 75% was cask. They produce at least one new beer each week, including both the Funk Dungeon and Dr.Morton’s brands. The latter is a tribute to the owners with the former highlighting their barrel ageing project.
*includes five beer tasters – festival entry payable separately on the door
Music
Bob Swift has planned a great programme of live music for the Upper Hall.
SATURDAY
Kelham Island Rapper
The Kelham Island Rapper will be performing around the festival.
SAT
Various times
Engine demos
The Engine Room houses the River Don Engine, Europe’s most powerful working steam engine which is due to run at set times during the festival:
THU
14:00
18:30
FRI
13:00
16:00
18:00
20:00
SAT
12:00
16:00
18:00
Drinks
This year’s lists will be available below when confirmed – we’ve left last year’s up to give you an idea of what to expect!
2025 Lists
Cask Beer
We’ll have over 200 beers in a broad range of styles from both local favourites and brewers across the UK.
Beer from breweries A-Li can be found in the Upper Hall and Lo-Z in the Marquee.
Cask beers from featured breweries can be found in the Guest Bar.
Cider & Perry
There will be 30 ciders and perries ranging from dry to sweet, traditional and flavoured, but all from proper natural products #NotFromConcentrate. Also look out for the locally produced mead!
They’ll be served in the Upper Hall and/or Marquee as indicated on the list.
Keykeg Beer
Around 80 KeyKeg beers will be available over the course of the festival in the Keg Bar and the Guest Bar.
Bottles & Cans
A selection of beers from the UK and further afield will be available in the Upper Hall and Marquee.
Guest Breweries
In the Guest Bar you will find representatives of the three breweries presenting a selection of their cask and keg beers and able to answer questions you may have about the brewery and beer. This year the guests are:
- TBA
Payment
You can pay for drinks by bank card, or using our tokens. The bars do not take cash.
The bar tokens come as £5 cards, made up of 20p sections which will be crossed off as you spend.
Tokens can be bought at desks around the venue with cash or card. Any unspent credit can either be refunded (up to a maximum of £10) or donated to charity by simply dropping the token card into the charity bucket.
Note if you are paying for drinks by contactless you don’t need to buy tokens as the bars will take card payment.
Glasses and dispense
All drinks are served in your personal glass, so keep hold of it! There are Water Stations around the venue where you can rinse your glass or get a drink of water. You are also welcome to exchange it for a clean one at the Glass Return desk if neccesary.
Some beers are served on handpump or tap while others are gravity poured direct from the cask.
Draught beer, cider and perry is served in a choice of pint, half or third measures.
Labels
Every beer and cider will have an label displayed on the bar telling you about the beer including the price, strength and allergen information. Please ask the volunteer serving you if unsure.
Cider, perry and mead will have similar labels. The bottle/can bar will have a menu on the bar.
Soft drinks
A basic range of soft drinks and drinking water is available free of charge from a dedicated table next to the cider bar.
Other non-alcoholic drinks along with wines and spirits are available to buy from the Millowners Arms and other independent traders.
Champion Beer of Sheffield
Every year we hold blind-tasting event on Wednesday afternoon to select our annual Champion Beer of Sheffield. We announce the winners in the Upper Hall at 6pm.
All breweries in the CAMRA Sheffield & District area that produce cask ale are invited to enter a beer in the competition.
2025 winners
GOLD
Little Critters Chocodile
SILVER
Abbeydale Black Mass
BRONZE
Triple Point Sheaf
Food
Various food vendors can be found around the festival. These are independent traders and will generally accept cash or card payment.
Hot Food
Courtyard
- Sunshine Pizza Oven
Freshly baked with organic slow proved dough in a wood-fired oven. - Yuleys Bratwurst
Susages yule love, complete with the traditional German trimmings. - Smith’s Fish & Chips
All your traditional chippy favourites! - Caribbean Fusion
Flavourful authentic Jamaican street food.
Stone Garden
- Taco Trailer
Authentic street food tacos, made fresh and packed with real flavour.
Cold Snacks & alternative drinks
Upper Hall
- Cheese Factor
Ploughman’s lunches, pork pies and cheese sandwiches with a whole range of cheeses to choose from. This trader is more regularly found at their shop in Chesterfield indoor market. - Fairfax Chocolatiers
Fancy chocolates along with signature spirits which are available by the bottle to take home or to enjoy as a cheeky shot or part of a cocktail.
Pub Food
Food is also available from the Millowners Arms pub.
Pub
Millowners Arms
The Millowners Arms (Facebook) pub will be within the festival site and open exclusively to festival visitors, operating normally as an independent trader serving food and drink. They accept card payment only (not festival tokens or cash).
Fringe
Pubs, Bars, Restaurants
There are loads of pubs, bars and restaurants a short walk away in Kelham Island and Neepsend. Check out our pub guide.
Transport
Tram
The closest tram stop is Shalesmoor, served by Yellow and Blue routes towards Middlewood and Malin Bridge.
Trams run from the City Centre and Hillsborough about every six minutes in the daytime, every 15 in the evening, up to midnight.
Direct journeys are also available from Halfway, Meadowhall, Sheffield railway station and various park & ride car parks – check the Supertram website for more information.
Bus
There are two sets of bus stops a short walk away: Shalesmoor Allen Street/Ebeneezer Street served by routes 57/57a, 81, 82 and 86, and Nursery Street (by the Harlequin pub) served by routes 7/8 and 75/75a.
Also not too far away during the daytime (until 7pm) is the Sheffield Connect bus SC2 which stops at Millsands. This is a free service shuttling every 20 minutes on a figure-of-eight route between the bus and rail station, Moorfoot, Castle Square tram stop and Millsands.
Timetables and route maps are available from Travel South Yorkshire or times for specific stops with live tracking on a map is available from bustimes.org.
Train
Sheffield railway station is served by trains operated by Northern, Transpennine Express, Cross Country and East Midlands Railway. From the station you can catch the Blue route tram to Shalesmoor, which is about five minutes walk from the venue. Board the trams at the back of the station. Alternatively leave the station via the main concourse and cross the road to the bus interchange where you can catch bus 57/57a or SC2 (see above). There is also a taxi rank at the station.
Taxi
The main taxi companies are Uber, Bolt and Veezu. All have apps to book and pay for rides with Veezu also offering the option to book by phone (0114 239 3939) and pay the driver cash.
Hackney carriage (black cabs) are widely available in the City Centre without booking and can usually be flagged down on the main road around Shalesmoor. They also have a taxi rank at the railway station. Note they are generally cash only.
Charity
Support Dogs
This year our collection buckets will be in support of Support Dogs. Cash donations and bar tokens with unspent credit can be chucked in towards this good cause.
Beermats
We’ve produced promotional beermats supported by a number of sponsors. Look out for them when out and about!
Volunteers
Our festival is entirely organised, run and staffed by volunteers.
Although as a volunteer doing it for the love of the event you don’t get paid, there are some perks including a free drinks allowance (cask ale, cider and perry), staff t-shirt, buffet for those that work the takedown day and an invite to the reunion social trip.
While we need plenty of bar staff, there are other jobs too, including admissions, glass washing, admin, and selling tokens, programmes, merchandise and membership.
To volunteer, please complete the staffing form.
Sponsors
We still have sponsorship opportunities! If you want to promote your business at the festival and help support our event please get in touch at sponsorship@sheffield.camra.org.uk.
A huge thank you to all of this year’s sponsors:
Press and Trade
A little bit of information on the festival, the CAMRA branch that organises it and our media policy is in the document below.
We’ll be running a guest list for early admission from 16:00 on Wednesday for trade and media, the festival opens to the public from 17:00. Please email using the address below to arrange.
On the Wednesday at 18:00 we have an opening ceremony and announce the winners of our Champion Beer of Sheffield competition.
If you are a student wanting to get a little more involved and immersed you may wish to work as a volunteer at the festival, please see the volunteers section above and fill in the staffing form. We especially need staff for late shift and for setup/takedown.
Please email any press enquiries to press@sheffield.camra.org.uk.