New Mills Newtown, Derbyshire:
3rd New Mills Beer Festival

Saturday 6th April 2013

Bob Thompson

This was another first for me and Linda and only the third time for the Festival. It is organised by the High Peak and North East Cheshire branch of CAMRA. The location is rather unusual as it is in a snooker club. We were a little concerned about going mid-afternoon on Saturday, the last day, because they may have been running out of beer but we needn't have worried as there were only about four or five empty casks.

In total there were 30 beers offered to the public and amongst them a few rarities as far as we were concerned, although I'm sure some of these will be more familiar with local drinkers. The most notable breweries for us were Globe of Glossop, Derbyshire; Happy Valley from Bollington, Cheshire; Howard Town of Glossop, Derbyshire; Medieval Beers from Colston Basset, Nottinghamshire; Milltown of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire; Nook Brewhouse from Holmfirth, West Yorkshire and Worth brewery of Poynton, Cheshire.

On entering it took some time to adjust to the low light, there are no windows in this club. To our left we looked down on two rows of snooker tables. We continued to the right and up to the club's bar where there were some beers on hand pumps. However it was on a lower level that most of the beer was served. It was quite crowded with several waits at the bar to be served. We were very fortunate to get a seat at the higher level; closer to the main bar they were standing.

Apart from being in a windowless building, I have no other reservations over recommending this festival as the beer range, although small, was extremely interesting. After all, it was the beer we were here for.

Important Information:

New Mills Newtown railway station is around five minutes from Chalkers Snooker Club and it has trains to Manchester, Stockport and Buxton. New Mills Central is on the line from Manchester to Sheffield.
Buses 60, 61, 54, 67 and 199 run to New Mills with the latter stopping outside the club.

For more information on future festivals please refer to www.hpneccamra.org.uk