Retford: Beer festival heads to town

Preparations are underway for Retford’s first beer festival with organisers hoping it will be a cracking new addition to the town’s events calendar.
Retford Town HallRetford Town Hall
Retford Town Hall

More than 100 beers, inclduing ales from Bassetlaw’s brewers, will be at the festival, which runs from 13th to 15th June at Retford Town Hall.

Organisers Vince and Jim Mee, of Eaton, approached Bassetlaw Council with a view to creating a new event after seeing the growth in popularity of real ale and recognising that there was no similar festival in North Notts.

Jim said: “The beer list has now been finalised and there will be over 100 selections on offer, including ales from Bassetlaw’s brewers, plus a range from across the UK with some beers from as far afield as Cornwall and the Highlands of Scotland.”

“As well as 75 casks of real ale, there will be nearly 15 different ciders, eight different wines to sample and over 20 bottled beers, including Belgian, American, New Zealand and Czech beers.”

Food will be available from local bakers and butchers AW Bacon’s, while live entertainment will be provided by The Blind Driver’s on Friday night and Irish folk ban Ruff ‘N’ Ready on the Saturday.

Coun Simon Greaves, leader of Bassetlaw Council who are backing the event, said: “We are delighted that Retford Town Hall will be hosting the inaugural Retford Beer Festival and we expect it will bring a lot of visitors to the town centre. It’s a fantastic venue for an event that has promised to showcase the best of our local beers, as well as many more from across the UK, and will certainly put Bassetlaw on the brewers’ map.”

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