GBBF - but not as we know it?

My relationship with the Great British Beer Festival goes back a long way - I've been attending it for over 30 years and have never missed one - so it was with a little trepidation that I attended GBBF 2025 last week.

Trepidation, because it was always going to be just that bit different this year; the first GBBF to be held outside London since 1990, and, consequently, my first GBBF not at Olympia (or its deceased sibling, Earl's Court) so I was prepared for unfamiliarity. And I don't always like unfamiliarity. 

But let's be thankful for small mercies; in three of the last five years, there hasn't been a GBBF at all, and the future of the festival was in doubt (maybe it still is?) Additionally, it's a huge undertaking involving a lot of wonderful volunteers (of which I wasn't one this year, but I feel like I probably should've been), so brilliant work from everyone involved in making it happen. Anything is better than GBBF not taking place, like last year.

On paper the NEC (which is technically in the Borough of Solihull, not Birmingham, but hey...) has long felt like a good potential festival location. The site is massive, it's more central (to the rest of the country) than London, and it has the necessary supporting infrastructure (so I'm told by an HGV driver!)

So, how was it?

 

Beginning of an era? 

The layout was - and I get that's partly due to it being a new venue - a bit weird. Probably sub-optimal. There seemed to be a lot of unused or wasted space, and the 'main' hall seemed to be hidden away from the entrance, and was on a different level, down a few stairs and quite a long way away from the other side.

Possibly not the best use of space?

On the plus side there really was plenty of seating, and much of it actually fairly close to the bars, which resolves an issue that they could never get quite right at Olympia. The 'outdoorsy' smoking areas added to a feeling of open airiness, which I also liked. 

The important thing is of course the beer, and this is where I was a bit underwhelmed. All the beers I got to try were generally fine, but nothing really stood out. It was great to have some experimental American stuff like a White Stout with sweet coffee (hard work) and cask lager from the Netherlands - De Kromme Haring Papi Pils (5.3%, bready with hedge-bramble hop character) - though nothing likely to trouble my Golden Pints list for this year. 

I stuck mainly to the foreign cask, because that's something I'm not likely to find elsewhere, so I might've been missing a trick when it comes to domestic ales. For example, I didn't get to try Penzance Mild which won the Champion Beer of Britain - and I have to rather sheepishly admit that I've never had a single beer from that brewery. This is something that needs to be rectified imminently, and I trust that they'll exploit their CBoB status to achieve wider distribution.

I did get to try Birmingham's Attic brewery for the first time and was impressed with their Centro session IPA. Thornbridge Bliss Point - which I'd only previously had on keg - is pretty good, as one would expect; a soft, hazy East Coast Pale. My favourite beer might actually have been the one I started with and downed in a couple of minutes: Strands Zingibeer - just 3.4% and with a smooth, refreshing ginger flavour that doesn't burn or overwhelm, but just sits nicely on the palate.

(In all honesty, I probably should've walked around a bit more; taken more of it, rather than grabbing a table by the US bar and staying there like a cat in new surroundings that has found a comfortable place and doesn't venture too far!) 

A lot of people have been saying that the (British) beer pricing was expensive, which I get, but the entry cost was far, far cheaper than it has been for many years. £6 for CAMRA members including a glass - that's like going back 20 years, and you'd have to drink an incredible amount for the overall value to be worse for you than it was in London.

The food situation was a bit strange, like the Crusty Pie Company - stalwarts of the GBBF for many years - only being able to sell pork scratchings and not their actual pies because the NEC already had some sort of pie outlet! The choice of places to eat wasn't great, but then I think the idea was that customers use the venue's own vendors to a greater extent than we were used to. Doing things differently requires adjustment, and adjustment takes time.

None of this is the end of the world. I was underwhelmed by GBBF 2017 but hugely re-energised just one year later.  Some years are just, well, off years.  

It does look reassuringly like a GBBF bar

And things are always likely to feel a bit more 'off' when there's a different venue involved: when it moved from Olympia to Earl's Court in 2006, that first year at the new home felt a bit strange. And this was the case when it went back to Olympia in 2012. Did GBBF at the NEC last week feel like home? No, not really. But it might some day. 

 It didn't seem that busy, particularly at times when a London-based GBBF would be filling up with the after-work crowd. I get that the NEC is an out-of-town venue, but I'm not sure that people living in the Birmingham/Solihull/Coventry area were even that aware it was taking place. Most people I spoke to had travelled from some distance away, just as they would if it had been in London, and the difference in numbers felt like it was entirely down to a lack of 'locals'.

Over the entire week, I gather attendance was at the 'disappointing' end of CAMRAs expectations, though I don't have the numbers and it's not my place to make their decisions for them.

I'm not going to say that GBBF is London and should've remained there in perpetuity, losing money and struggling to settle in a home that seems to be undergoing constant redevelopment or demolition. It's good to mix things up, geographically, and it's good that a different set of folks have a short journey to get there.

But I would like to see a commitment to a few successive years in one place, so that it can 'bed in' and start to feel familiar. Worryingly there has been no announcement amount GBBF 2026 yet. 

I hope this is a work in progress. And thank you, once again, to all the volunteers.