After a couple of years off for Covid, we’re back at Kelham Island Museum for our 46th annual beer and cider festival from Wednesday 19 to Saturday 22 October 2022.
As always, the event is organised, run and staffed entirely by volunteers who do so to share their passion for good beer, cider and perry. And we bring you a massive selection of them all served in your commemorative glass. The festival also features live music, street food, traditional pub games and more in a wonderfully atmospheric venue.
Beer and cider
The range runs to over 300 different drinks to choose from.
On the beer front we feature a whole variety of styles across cask, KeyKeg, bottle and can from the traditional styles like mild, bitter and stout right through to modern IPAs, sours and more. We have around 20 gluten free options and many suitable for vegans!
On the cider and perry bar it is all your proper farmhouse style still ciders and perries made from fermented freshly pressed apple or pear juice with a number of small artisan producers featured as well as some of your more well known names.
We aim to have them all available when we first open Wednesday night and will remain on sale until they run out. Note as a four day event we only have a limited quantity of each beer, when they are gone they are gone, therefore it is a reduced choice on the final day of the event, however there should still be a decent selection!
Drink lists
Buying drinks
To keep things easy and secure for our volunteers and speed up service, our festival bars only accept tokens. You can buy tokens from the token desks around the festival (we accept payment for tokens by cash or card) and the admission package includes enough to get your first drink. Don’t worry if you don’t spend them all, we can refund up to £5 worth of unused tokens (or you can donate them to charity). Third party traders such as the food stalls and Millowners Arms do not accept tokens.
All the festival beers and ciders have A4 size labels on the bar displaying the brewer/producer, name, strength and price along with allergen information. Please ask the volunteer serving you if you are unsure. All drinks are served into your festival glass which has lines for third and half pint measures (as well as a pint measure on the pint glasses!)
Venue
The following areas will feature this year. You can download a site plan below for an idea where they all are.
Upper Hall
Cask ale, craft beer in can and bottle, cider and perry, bookshop, tombola, CAMRA membership sign up, stalls, seating, glass rinse, token sales, live music.
Brearley Room
Bradfield Brewery bar, seating.
Courtyard
Street food vendors, toilets, glass rinse.
Marquee
Cask ale, cider & perry, beer in bottles & cans, traditional pub games, token sales, seating.
Engine Room
See the museum’s mighty steam powered River Don Steam Engine, this will be fired up at selected times throughout the festival week – see the What’s On section below for details.
Crucible Room and Stone Garden (NEW!)
Craft beer in keg; seating and smoking area.
Millowners Arms
The Millowners Arms is now a privately run pub open all year round, festival visitors will also be able to visit their bar for additional food and drink choices. For the festival they are hosting a Squawk Brewery tap takeover. Card payment only.
Power Room
This is a private room upstairs where events including tutored tastings and talks will take place on Thursday and Friday, these are ticket only and require advance booking. Details here.
Food
Our line up of food vendors this year includes:
- Yuleys Bratwurst
- Indian Street Food
- Thai Street Food
- Sunshine Pizza
- Chocolate truffles
- Hendos
Admission
Packages
The advertised prices include
- Entry to the festival, including to any live music
- Deposit on your festival glass (£3) which you can either keep as a souvenir or cash in before you leave. All your drinks will be served in this glass and self-service glass rinse stations can be found throughout the venue. There is a choice of a pint glass sponsored by Bradfield Brewery or half pint glass sponsored by Hendersons Relish.
- £5 of drinks tokens (additional tokens can be purchased from the desks around the venue)
We do not sell advance tickets, just turn up and pay on the gate.
The festival can get busy at times, particularly on Friday night, so we recommend getting down early if you can – once the festival has reached capacity we have to close the gate to ensure the safety and comfort of everyone.
Optional extras
- You can also buy a printed programme (£1) containing the beer list and other useful information from the admissions desk and token desks
- We are planning a few private events such as local history talks and tutored tastings, these will require an additional ticket booked in advance. Details here.
- There is a charge to play the games, however there are prizes to be won!
Hours and prices
- Wednesday 5pm-11pm (entry package £8 – just the cost of the glass and tokens)
- Thursday 12pm-11pm (entry package £11, or £8 for CAMRA members)
- Friday 12pm-11pm (entry package £13, or £10 for CAMRA members)
- Saturday 11am-10pm (entry package £13, or £10 for CAMRA members)
If you are a CAMRA member, please ensure you show your membership card at the entrance to benefit from the discounted entry price Thursday to Saturday.
Events
Wednesday
- Festival opening and the Champion Beer of Sheffield announcement.
Thursday
- 17:30 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 18:00 Pub heritage talk with Dave Pickersgill, editor of the Sheffield Real Heritage Pub book. Advance booking required, no charge.
- 19:00 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 19:30 – Tutored beer tasting with Jules Gray of Hop Hideout. Advance booking required, £10.95 includes 5 x third pint pours.
- 20:00 Live music – Steve Delaney & The Rockits.
Friday
- 13:00 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 13:30 Pub heritage talk with Dave Pickersgill, editor of the Sheffield Real Heritage Pub book. Advance booking required, no charge.
- 15:00 Tutored Cider tasting with Mike Pomranz from the Cider Hole. Advance booking required, £9.95 includes 4 x third pint pours.
- 16:00 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 16:30 Tutored beer tasting with Jules Gray of Hop Hideout. Advance booking required, £10.95 includes 5 x third pint pours.
- 18:00 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 18:30 Live music – Slim Wilson & The Swamp Brothers.
- 20:30 Live music – Soul Battalion.
Saturday
- various times in the afternoon – Kelham Island Rappers.
- 14:00 Live music – Loxley Silver Band.
- 16:00 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 16:30 Live music – The House Rats.
- 18:30 River Don Engine demonstration.
- 19:30 Live music – The Tin Soldiers.
More information about the talks and tastings can be found here. Bookings are now open Note the tickets for the tastings do not include admission to the festival, this still needs to be purchased on the gate as usual.
Trade and press preview
If you work in the trade (such as a pub or brewery) or a media outlet willing to help us out with a little publicity, you can register to come in early on Wednesday from 4pm for the exclusive trade & media preview hour before the festival opens to the public at 5pm. We don’t charge an entry fee on Wednesday, the entry package is just the cost of your glass deposit and beer tokens. To register email festival@sheffield.camra.org.uk.
Volunteering
Our organising committee have been holding planning meetings over the past months to get all the details sorted, however we need lots more volunteers over the week of the festival to make it all happen!
Fancy joining the team? We have lots of roles and not just behind a bar! All the staff are unpaid volunteers but there are a few perks including a free drinks allowance, food on longer shifts, t-shirt (subject to availability), volunteer social on Saturday night and staff reunion coach trip after the festival to a nearby beery place!
Staff are needed for the set up and take down as well as the festival itself (we have to transform an empty space into a beer festival and back again!). For those working take down on the Sunday we’ll provide a beer and a bite to eat in a nearby pub afterwards as a thankyou.
You can sign up to work as part of our team of volunteers using our online staffing form now!
Sponsorship
There are a number of opportunities to promote your business to festival visitors. You can sponsor the glasses, entertainment, programme, bars, games, tokens, website, posters and even individual beers! Sponsorship deals also include a number of complimentary entry tickets. Please email festival@sheffield.camra.org.uk for more details.
Transport
Our venue, Kelham Island Museum, is in a former industrial area a walkable distance from the City Centre that has enjoyed much regeneration over recent years and has become quite the cool neighbourhood – it now features a whole host of pubs, restaurants, shops, breweries and more down the valley alongside the river Don.
Tram
Shalesmoor tram stop is just over five minutes walk from the venue and is served by the Blue and Yellow tram routes (towards Malin Bridge and Middlewood) and provide handy connections from trains at Sheffield or Meadowhall stations, the City Centre and various other areas of Sheffield. More information at supertram.com.
Bus
Nearest stops are on Nursery Street (by the Harlequin pub) or Gibraltar Street (by Shakespeares pub), both a short walk away. Bus routes in the area are 7, 8, 57, 57a, 81, 82, 86, 95, 95a.
A journey planner is available at travelsouthyorkshire.com.
Train
Trains run to Sheffield from across the country with services operated by Cross Country, East Midlands Railway, Northern and TransPennine Express.
The Blue route tram will take you from Sheffield Station to Shalesmoor tram stop, a short walk from our venue.
Car
There is no car parking on site, however there is limited on street parking nearby and various pay car parks. The venue is just off the inner ring road. Alternatively there are a number of park and ride sites around Sheffield from where you can catch a tram to Shalesmoor, a few minutes walk from the festival.
Other information
- Accompanied children are welcome until 8pm, after which it is strictly over 18s only. We do not charge an entry fee for children, however if a festival glass is required for soft drinks then there is a £3 deposit payable (alternatively free plastic glasses are available at the soft drinks station).
- Challenge 25 in operation – if you look under 25 you will be asked to prove you are over 18.
- Kelham Island Museum do not permit dogs on site, except for recognised assistance dogs.
- Smoking and Vaping is only permitted in the designated smoking areas, these are near the entrance and the rear part of the Stone Garden.
- Our festival bars only accept payment by tokens. The tokens can be spent at our bars along with the festival games.
- Our festival bars are all about beer, cider and perry. However if you fancy something else the Millowners Arms offers a full range of pub drinks including wines, spirits and non-alcoholic options. Please be aware the Millowners Arms only accept payment by card.
- A very basic range of soft drinks and drinking water is also available from a station next to the cider bars.
- Food traders generally accept cash and card payment.
- Sorry no cloakroom facility
- If you hold a sponsors ticket look out for the signage directing you to the sponsors entrance where you can exchange your ticket – there is no need to join the queue for the main admissions desk.
- If you’ve volunteered to work at the festival make yourself known to security or admissions staff on the entrance who will direct you to the staffing office to sign in. Please ensure you are familiar with the Volunteers Charter, Health & Safety guidelines and the “Rules of the Bar” before starting. All the information you need should have been emailed to you ahead of the festival.
Safety and security
We aim to create an atmosphere that is friendly, fun and relaxed where all feel safe and comfortable enjoying what we have to offer. We ask all our visitors and volunteers to behave in this spirit.
Stewarding and security is provided by a professional company employed by Kelham Island Museum, their team will work to maintain a safe and secure environment.
For any other questions or issues feel free to speak to one of our volunteers, the managers can be identified by their yellow t-shirts and all staff will have badges.