Ten years of The Knutsford Beer Festival

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[Music] Go on Andrew, so why are we here? Well, do you know what happened 10 years ago? I've got a vague memory, I've still got the hangover I think. Yeah, well maybe you do, yeah. You should remember it, I don't know. It's 10 years since we started the beer festival. Unbelievable, isn't it? It's ridiculous, I can't believe we've managed to go this long. I know, I know. It was, do you remember, do you remember when, do you remember how it all started? Because I think I came in, I came in on like the second meeting and then you'd already had one and then you went,"No, we need to pull somebody into the event, right, okay, get him in." And then volunteered and whatnot. But how did it, what was the inception with it? Well, it sort of goes back even further than that. I was looking at old notes because I'm that geeky. And I started thinking about 2010. Wow, three years before it had to start. Four years before it even started. I know, exactly. But I mean, I was brought up in Middlewich and they had a beer festival. I moved to Northwich, they had a beer festival. When I was at university, Hull, Liverpool, London, they all had beer festivals. And I moved to Knutsford what, nearly 20 years ago and no beer festival. What's going on there? You know, because it's the kind of place you go out, you drink, you know, there's lots of events on that sort of thing. But the one thing it didn't have was a beer festival. It's incredible, hasn't it? When you think about how many people have been in Knutsford, and how many bars there are, and the things that go on, you haven't got the basics. I mean, there was one, about 20 years ago. Was it? Yeah, exactly. That's the thing. It only lasted for a few years. Oh, right. I think they just struggled to get people to attend. It's a bit like, yeah, we've struggled with venues, for example, over the years. And we tried to go out of town to Egerton Youth Club, which was a brilliant venue. Great venue. Absolutely fantastic. It was just that one mile out of town. Just trying to get people there. That's what the previous beer festival struggled with, because I think they were up at Toft Cricket Club or something like that. Right, again, yeah. And those just struggled to get people there unfortunately. So that's why we always focused in the town centre. Yeah. I think there's a great sort of element to it where we, from the get-go, we've had the right people in at the right time, and we've always had the same drive and the same focus. But it's always been driven by you, which has been brilliant now. You credit where credit is due. If you weren't there, it wouldn't happen. Yeah, but the team has been amazing over the years. We haven't been the right team. We have, totally. I mean, we've had people come and people go. But the people that we've always had have always had the same love of the event, the same love of people. Not everyone's always been a lover of beer, to be quite honest with you. No. But they were the odd people who've maybe not been a fan of beer. Maybe they prefer gin and cider. And guess what we do? Gin and cider and Prosecco. Yeah, absolutely. So in the first year, we didn't... In fact, do you remember when we first introduced wine? Do you remember when we first introduced wine? I don't. I don't. But I think I've got an idea. Got to go on my first memory. Mike, the treasurer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. A load of people were asking, "Have you got any wine?" That's right. Guys came with their partners and that sort of thing. And they asked me if we got wine. And Mike was hearing this. I thought, "I'll go with the co-op." Co-op? That was it. I was going to say the co-op gets some. So we went to the co-op and you got a few bottles of wine. And it went like that. Yeah. It was amazing. I love that. When we did the first one, I'll always remember this. And we were calling it out. We had the black market going on the door. It sold out really quickly. People were clamouring for tickets. And we were just knocking tickets out on the quiet. I'll tell you what, bangers are telling me. Don't tell him. One's going out. Get him in. And it was almost like a football market. Illegal rave. And yet that first event was probably the most nerve-wracking. Because we'd never done it before. No. We didn't know if anyone was going to be interested in it. We didn't know if anyone knew about it. We didn't know if people like the beer we were putting on. Or anything. And when it sold out. Do you remember carrying bags of money to the bank? I mean, literally bags of money to the bank. It was like we were only going 200 yards to the Lloyds. And it was like, hang on. There's a right for you, couldn't there? If I was unlucky enough to get stopped by an undesirable bump. But that was incredible, that first one. Well, pulling the team together was great. One of the guys I've really got to thank for helping me come up with the concept is Andrew Last from Tatton Brewery. Because he ran a beer festival, I think it was in North Wales somewhere. Oh, did he? And he gave us this massive crib sheet of basically how to run a beer festival. And we basically took that and ran with it for the first year. Why wouldn't you? No, exactly why wouldn't you? It worked for him and why wouldn't you? And we've tweaked it a bit over the years. But that was the first thing. And then the next challenge was just getting all the people together. Well, that wasn't really easy, was it really? It wasn't difficult, rather. It wasn't difficult, though, because a lot of people wanted to, as soon as I saw the excited, he was on the team then, the inertia, which pulled people in. And I remember the first time we went there and it was like, right, so we've got the racking in. That was really difficult. And then it was, for me, the most difficult part of it was putting the drapes on the window. Yes, I forgot doing that. Yes. We run out of drapes. God, where can we get some drapes from? Because we were concerned the sunshine through the windows of the old town hall. Yeah, yeah, that was such a great venue, wasn't it? In fact, we did. We had one beer explode. Did we? Yes. And we think it was probably because the heat comes in the window. And it's probably a lively beer anyway. But we racked them all up and then we came in the following day. Yeah. And I walked in, I thought,"It smells a bit more beer than it should do." And I walked in and looked and I saw beer all over the floor. Oh, no. And had to get the mop out and start mobbing up. And I think they replaced it for us. I think, "Don't ask me which beer it was." I'm not sure. I mean, the committee's all been amazed. And the volunteers, the volunteers we've had over the years have been incredible. From the hosts, from the lions, just anyone who just wanted to get involved. That's it. It's all been great. And even the first aiders. Even the first aiders. Oh, the first aiders last year. The first aiders. Absolutely incredible. Two of them we've had. But the lady we had the last couple of years, or last year certainly, just mucked in. She just got involved. She had it. She understood what it was all about. But I think one of the funniest ones, the thing, is when we had the toilets. Where are you going with this, Paul? Right. Right. And I'll always remember this. There was a light in the toilet. The outside ones, outside the lost and found in the first one. And there was a couple of them. Do you mean the TARDIS one? The TARDIS toilet. Oh, man. And I remember somebody going, "Oh, my God. I can't see a thing." And all we heard was a massive bang. And said the person had collapsed in it because he tripped up over it. Comedy thing. Hit his head on the back of it and sort of dazed about. And then come out saying, "There's no light. There's no light." I went in and I went, "Oh, yeah, mate. Just switch it on there." Yeah, we got these little sticky on LED lights. Didn't we have to press? No, they didn't really know. But it was hilarious. But we've had some... And again, I think when you look at the actual setup, the mechanics of it all, like, we've always been on time every time. Well, those couple of weeks sometimes, on the outside, it might look like it's organised, but it's chaos. It's absolute chaos. It's hard work. The run up to it, as you know, it takes a good six months to pull the event together. Absolutely. Sponsorship together, getting the beer lists sorted. Everything. Get everything sorted. But that week leading up to the event is just manic. And it is backbreaking work. Well, it is. I mean, setting up the rack in and then going to Northwich to go and pick it up and coming back. The hardest thing for me is the bacon sandwiches. That's a tough call, that. And the first Wrexham Lager. And the first Wrexham Lager. Which is our tradition now. Once we set up Wrexham Lager. It is. Get that Wrexham Lager pull, which is great. Are we having that this year as well? Absolutely. Every single year we've had that. Brilliant. Every single year. I can't wait for that. I think we've got another Lager this year as well. I've got one from Middlewich. Oh, interesting. So what, in your opinion, we've had a number of venues, haven't we? Over the years. Which venues stood out as being the best one? It's got to be the town hall. Just because it was the first one. Yeah. It was effectively a derelict building. I mean, there were holes in the floor upstairs. We had to demolish a wall in the hall downstairs. Do you remember doing that? Between a couple of the columns. We literally had to demolish a wall. We got permission first. I will hasten to ask. Absolutely. But just to open this space up. And yeah, that just, and when you and I, in fact, went to our current venue, of course, the Old Marshalls auction house, you and I walked in and we looked around and we looked at each other. And we went, "This is it." Absolutely. It's just like the town hall. It was. It was. And I think those last three years at the auction house, they've been brilliant, haven't they? Yeah. You know. Yeah. Because I know it's a lot of faff to set it up, but once we're in the swing of it, it's kind of like, I think once the racking's arrived and it's in, and we've got Lewis running around. My son, yes. With his muffins screwed in. Can he help you? Can he help you? He's like, "Can I try and get this massive beam?" It's like, "Mate, come on." Well, it has become a family event. And I do tell people that my kids are the only kids to have been to every single one of the buildings. The only kids to have been to every single one of the beer festivals. They are. That's it. Which makes them worry ever so slightly initially. And then I remind them that, okay, Lewis was six months old when I did the first one. Really? When we did the first one. Yeah. And Adam was four. Yeah. And now they're there helping out. Well, Adam's painting. Adam's at the door while he's painting something. Lewis had been painting the chalkboards last year. Yeah. Yeah, he did. We did it last year. So how much overall? Do you remember how much we've been raising now? It's closing on 50 grand. Has it? Really? That much? Closing on 50 grand. Brilliant, isn't it? It is. So good. It's been really good. But I always remember the time when the PA sat on fire on the second one at the time. I really hope our insurers aren't listening to you. I'm thinking maybe not. It was when Mark Radcliffe said to me, he goes, "Monks, Monks, Monks. The PA's on fire. The PA's on fire." And I'm going, "Oh, whatever, mate. Where are we here? Throw some beer on it." And he's like going, "Idiot." One of my memories there is, again, it's probably the first one. And Jonathan was behind the bar. And I think Lisa was behind the bar. I can't remember who else was behind the bar. But it must have been Saturday night. Because Saturday night's always the party night. Oh, absolutely. The music was going. Everyone was rocking in the place. And behind the bar, three bar staff volunteers just clapping away, partying and partying. And it was just that. When I saw that, I thought, that's why we're doing this. We've got it, haven't we? Yeah. I remember when Mark's band Galion Blast, the pirate band, came on. And it was incredible. The whole Saturday night thing is a party night, couples night. You bring your partners. And then the Friday night, you can tell it's quite a very much a beer drinking night, isn't it? Very much a lad's sort of the lad's coming. Now we've done the Thursday night with the networking thing, which is brilliant. I know a lot of people have got a lot of business out of that. Yeah. And we take it for granted that we're just going to get them all. The sponsor's coming down. But it's great networking. Thursday nights are really-- for us, it's a good session to ease us in, isn't it, really? Yeah, it is. We make sure everything's set up. We thank the sponsors. The sponsors, as you say, they can network. They can speak to all the businesses from town and all that sort of thing. They can see the beer they've sponsored. Yeah, absolutely. And we can pay them more attention as well, which is really, really good. And then, of course, we open up the session to the public. Is that what we're doing this year? We're doing that again this year. Oh, wow. Yeah, oh, great. Why change the recipe that works? No, absolutely. Absolutely. Do you remember-- I always remember that time when we was at Lost and Found, and he said the poker chips. We had the pink tickets. Oh, god. Do you remember that? And it was outside the shop. Oh, they made a mess. Oh, my god. I was finding them for weeks afterwards. They were all over the cobbles outside of Lost and Found for months after. They were. You know, and you're blasting them off with water and whatever, power hours or whatever. It was like, oh, this is a disaster. The one where I thought was really-- we had some really brilliant ideas was at the courthouse when we had the master classes. Yes. That was genuinely, Nicky Arnell, a genuine stroke of genius. It was. Because Saturday afternoon always tended to struggle, didn't it? Yeah, it did. Is it a family session where people bring their kids-- because we always get asked if kids can come along. Is it that kind of session, and it never really sold in that format? But once Nicky came up with that idea for the tasting session, it's one of the first session that sells out. Oh, absolutely. It really is. Yeah. And that little element has taken a life of its own now. Yeah, it has. And the thing-- like even the bottle bar that we had last year, the bottle bar, for instance. Yeah. That was good. It was. It was. Yeah. There have been lots of little features we've tried. We've tried non-alcohol, for example. Yeah, we did try non-alcohol. And sometimes-- and it's a shame. Because for me-- I mean, for example, when my wife was pregnant, and I sort out non-alcoholic beer. Right. Because I knew at some point I'm going to have to hop in the car and take the cold to the hospital, and that sort of thing. So being able to introduce more people to them. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Because it's always-- you're thinking of your calibers, for example. Yeah. Which is not-- They've all been relatively terrible up to-- Yeah. But now of late, they're actually becoming better. So it would have been nice to have been able to push that a bit more. Do you remember last year we had the big bicycle wheels? That's got the penny-- Oh, the penny filings came along. Yeah. That was great, that. Just because it goes to the penny filing rates last year. Oh, yeah, it could. Yeah, yeah. Now that was really good. That was very, very good. Very British. Very English. Oh, very, very British, wasn't it? What, you mean-- there isn't one in it. We don't have penny filings anyway. It must be terrible. So what do you think for the next 10 years? Oh, wow. Can you see it getting-- can you see-- here's one for you. Can you see us getting more of a fixed venue? I think that's something we'll always struggle with in Oxford. Yeah. That's the problem. We just don't have-- I mean, we tried Curzon a number of times, even before it was Curzon. We tried it. Oh, right. Of course. Yes, of course. We just struggled to-- Yeah, in that back room. Yeah. In the back room, and that's the mark of it. So trying to find a venue that's big enough, a part of it going to an outdoor-- and even in the town centre, finding an outdoor venue. Well, yeah, absolutely. It's really difficult to find the space where-- It is. And we rarely racked our brains to find, because we didn't think Egerton Place was going to be available, did we? My heart sunk when I heard the courthouse was going under. Yeah, well, we had that all sorted, didn't we? Yeah. It was-- yeah. Yeah, thank goodness we didn't sign anything. Oh, rather, didn't it? No money was exchanged or anything. But I think, though, for the next 10 years, so the challenge is finding a venue, then. I think it is. I think we've just got to be clever, and we might continue the way we've done it in the past. We almost find a venue that's not used. It was almost 60 King Street, wasn't it, last year? It was almost 60 King Street, which it just would have been too tight and too small. And that's the other thing, because we're becoming so popular now. Yeah. You need to get people in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, we're back. Tickets are on sale, www.knutsfordbeerfestival.org.uk. That's the one. So it's a-- so I didn't-- oh, here's one for you. Yeah. So in your opinion, what's the best session? Which session do you enjoy the most? You see, I was thinking about this before I came out. And I was thinking, it depends what frame of mind you're in. OK. If you want to be guaranteed of every single beer on offer, it's Thursday night. Friday night, probably you're pretty close to it. Saturday beers start to run out, which we want to happen, because they're like, remember the year we had to pull beer down the drain? Oh, God. It was heartbreaking. It was awful. And we don't want to be doing that, because it's a waste of good beer, and I mean really good beer. A great beer, yeah. And it's just sacrilege, isn't it, really? I know. I know. But yeah, if you want every beer, it's definitely Thursday night. I think Thursday's a great night, because it's the start of the weekend, and it's a tenner to get in. And your beers are that cheap. Yeah. And you think you can-- And we tend to keep attendance a bit lower as well. So it's a nice quieter event. It's got a nice feel to it. Yeah. You can be there with a few mates and that sort of thing. Yeah, yeah. And you have your pick of your beers. But then if you want to have a lad's night out, Friday night always seems to be the lad's night out. Yeah. And it always sells-- every session always sells out. I think the Thursday one, I'm glad it doesn't sell out, because it's kind of like you're thinking of Friday, anything in the Saturday afternoon, anything in the Saturday night. But when you get to Saturday night, I always think-- Saturday night's a party night. Yeah, but I'm always gutted when I get to Saturday morning, because I think, oh, it's the last day now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All the time that you can relax a bit, because we've basically done our job right now. We've done it. We've got the thoughts in the mind that we've got to come back Sunday morning and do it. And also, but you write what you said a moment ago, we're thinking about the following year's festival, the next festival, during the festival. Yes. You know, even when the Thursday night, when you're talking to people, and you think, fancy this next year. Yeah, all right. Well, I'll come back to you. And I think we have picked up some sponsors who said, who were guests last year. Certainly, the girls from Ditalia, they loved coming back, and then Charlie Williams and William Sil or so. And we've got some new ones. But I think-- yeah, I think the Saturday night's my favorite, actually. Yeah. Because you can always just sort of relax. But well, it's for another 10 years. Yeah. Exactly. And I'm sure we'll do-- we'll raise even more money. I'm sure we will. Because the key aspects for me are raising money for charity. Yeah. Showing off good beer. Yeah. But also showcasing Knutsford. Well, yeah. It's a great place. I know. Do you know what annoys me though, Andrew? Here's one thing that annoys me about the beer festival, right? The team. This is what annoys me. Of the beer festival team, right? Right. Right. We are that good. Nobody asks us to get involved. There's been other events going on where they could have said, Dream Team, do you want to come in and help us out with this one? Sponsorship. Organization. You know, putting the skills out there. This is within us. That's started to change though. That's it. Do you remember last year when we had the coronation? Oh, we did. We did a coronation bar on the heat. Hey, we did. I forgot about that. So slowly that is changing. That is changing. Yeah. But yeah, I really like that. I like the fact that we have individually got loads of skills, you know? Absolutely. But yeah, anyway, another 10 years, mate. 10 years has been amazing. I know. Well, fine. I think everyone should get out there and buy their tickets now. I absolutely think, you know, if you haven't bought your ticket buying now, I would rather do it. I mean, it's not a lot of money, is it? No. You know. It's not. At the end of the day, all of our profits, and I mean all of our profits. Everything we have. Because we're all volunteers. It all pays for those courses. Yeah, absolutely. But I do think that it's such good value because it's only 12 quid. And if you buy it upfront, you forget about it when you forget about it. Your first beer is included anyway. There you go. You get a glass and it's a special glass this year. Are we doing? I'm looking forward to showing off that glass. Are we allowed to say what it is? Well, it's definitely a glass. No, we're going to keep that for a bit longer. Right, we'll keep that. We've got some fantastic sponsors for them. Have we? Oh yeah, wait until we start releasing that information. Right, right. Well, the glass. I'll keep the cap in the back. You're going to want to get that glass. If you've been collecting your glasses over the years. I have. This is one you've got to get. Speaking of beer glasses though. Oh yeah. Remember the first event, right, when people had finished at the event? Yes. And the beer glasses were in the pubs all around town. Oh, were they? Yeah. You would go into one of the pubs around town. Yeah. Like the days and weeks afterwards. Oh, brilliant. And you'd ask for a beer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you'd come out in the beer glass. And they'd be like, why have you got a beer festival glass? Well, no, they were left here after the beer festival. It's like, wow. Branded. Well, that's good because that means that people are coming to the beer festival. Yeah. But they're continuing to support local business as well. Yeah, exactly. I like that. Well, yeah. And I hope our special beer glasses have that said line on it. They do. I know what they look like. I'm not saying them. They're definitely going to be something to behold. Really? Absolutely. Have we got the first Aida coming back? Yes. She's coming back as well. She's going to come back and help out on the bar. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And then. My kids are going to be there as well. Oh, are they? And they're bringing some friends as well to help out the deal. Oh, brilliant. Yeah. Yeah, we need to sweep her up as well. Absolutely. You know. And yeah. No, anyway, I'm looking forward to the next ten years. It's going to be so good. It's going to be. Is it still blue is the colour? Turquoise. Teal blue is the colour, isn't it? Yeah, it's like a teal, isn't it? Yeah. We started off as pink. We did. That was my eldest son's favourite colour at the time, which he completely denies now. Well, I mean, we've got video evidence of that. Yeah, we've got to wear his love to tea. And he's bouncing around. When he was slightly taller than me, when he was five, and he's running around, and you know, with his pink t-shirt on. And yeah, he's great. You know, little Adam, he's great. He's not little anymore, is he? No, he's not little. He's bigger than the coal now. Yeah. He's a top lad as well. Well, Jonathan's kids Yeah!, my god, Maisie his eldest daughter is going to be performing er yep, Maisie, she's playing on the Thursday Yeah. If she's good, which I'm sure she will be, I might try and get her back. Do a little warm-up slot on a Saturday. Well, the first time they were at the beer festival, I was playing shopkeeper with them. Because they were behind the counter where we sold the tokens. I love it. And we were just having a bit of fun. And I think Lottie said, "Yes, sir. What can I sell you?" And now look at him. We've followed about our ordering. You know, drink responsibly again. But yeah, so I'm looking forward to hearing Maisie. You know, it'll be a bit of a proud moment for me. You've had some good local performers over the years, aren't you? Oh, we have. We really have. I do try and, you know, with everybody, we do try and get interesting local people. And I don't want to try to keep it local. I know we pay them, and they deserve paying. But we're keeping the money local. You know, we keep it... I know, it's not... They feel good factor as well, you know. And they'll tell their mates, so they'll bring people in. So for me, if you're paying whatever it is, it's a small amount, but they're bringing in five or six people who are coming in. That's 50 quid. So it's like, yeah, it's fine, isn't it? Yeah. It all goes towards the start. So that's the thing. So after 10 years, we're obviously getting ready for the final showdown. Well, not the final showdown, because we're going to do it for another 10 years, aren't we? Yeah, absolutely. If me liver can stand it. But the next event's coming up, and we're really keen that people buy the tickets. The tickets are selling really well. They're actually selling faster than they have before. Oh, really? Which is amazing. Great. That's not to say they're selling out yet. No. But they're getting there. Yeah. So we do encourage everyone to get out there. So in the words of, I don't know who said it first, "book early to ensure disappointment." Book early to ensure absolute hysterics. Exactly. Because it's going to be a party this one. Oh, it's going to be a 10-year anniversary. Exactly. You know, it's going to be really good. But anyway, mate, here's for another 10 years. Cheers, Paul. Thank you. Cheers, Andrew. And with that, I'll get your tickets. I'll get your tenner. Hot 12 for that night.