Thanks to Southside
Category: Events
Cask Ale Petition
There is a campaign to get cask beer UNESCO status, Cask ale is unique to the UK – a historic and traditional production and serving method. Its flavour and texture is unrivalled anywhere in the world and can only be consumed in pubs with specific equipment and expertise. With the hospitality industry under financial pressure, it’s vital we protect cask ale from further decline, both for its financial role in pubs, breweries, maltings and farms and for its cultural one in British society.
Please can you take a few seconds to sign the petition found here.
CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Bulletin 266 – April 2025
CAMRA’s Pub Heritage Group shares news and updates about pubs with historically significant interiors across the country.
https://camra.org.uk/heritage-pubs/bulletins/pub-heritage-bulletin-266-apr-2025
New Venue for Lincoln Beer Festival
Lincoln Beer Festival is moving to a new venue in 2025. Over the years, the event has been held in a number of locations across the city but, recently, it has been a fixture at The Drill. However, the organising committee from the Lincoln Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has decided that the 43rd Lincoln Beer Festival will be held in Southside.
Formerly St Katherine’s Church, Southside is located by the junction of High Street, South Park and Newark Road. The building is owned by Acoustic Nations Live CIC, a not-for-profit organisation which produces music, events, films and videos. It also promotes numerous live events and community activities. Southside aims to showcase the heritage of its site, as well as celebrate all that is good about living in the south of the city.
Explaining the decision to move, Festival Organiser Mark Richards said, “We’ve had many great times at The Drill and the staff there are so helpful and accommodating. Unfortunately, since COVID, the footfall in the city centre, particularly in the evenings, has reduced significantly. As a result, our attendance has fallen away. We’ve decided that, if people aren’t coming into the city centre, we’ll take the Festival to the people. And where better to do it than Southside, a wonderfully atmospheric, events venue with a heritage home? We’re really excited about this move.”
Emily Nichol, Operations Director at Southside, said, “It is important to our small, but mighty, team of event professionals that Southside provides an eclectic programme of events for the City. We are honoured to be Lincoln Beer Festival’s new home for 2025 and can’t wait to work with Mark and the team on one of the City’s key events of the year.”
Lincoln Beer Festival will take place at Southside on Thursday 22nd, Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th May 2025.
Big Win for the Tiny Tavern
The Lincoln Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has chosen Lincoln’s Tiny Tavern as their overall Pub of the Year for 2024. The micropub is located on the Lower High Street in what was originally two of the 17th century cottages in the Grade II listed St Andrew’s Row.
Emma Chapman and her daughter, Steph, opened the Tiny Tavern in March 2020, just one week before the first COVID lockdown. However, since re-opening, they have built a strong following and a reputation for serving some of the best real ale in the city. This is hardly surprising, as Emma ran the Jolly Brewer on Broadgate from 2004 until 2013, while Steph worked there from 2004 until 2018.
The cosy lounge at the front of one of the cottages that comprise the Tiny Tavern has a window seat and fireplace. Towards the rear is a bar area with a dartboard. The other, linked cottage has the cellar room, plus an extra room which is available for community activities. There is a large garden to the rear. On the bar, the six handpumps feature beers from microbreweries near and far. They also serve traditional cider and perry.
Lincoln CAMRA chairman, Aaron Joyce, said, “It’s a tough job for our judges picking a top pub out of such a great set of contenders. Emma and Steph have shown how hard work and enthusiasm through trying times such as a world-wide pandemic pays off. They have taken a vacant building and turned it into the great micropub we see today, and this award shows how much that work is appreciated, not just by our members but by all that cross the threshold. So ‘Cheers!’ to the Tiny Tavern team, and well done to all the finalists.”
The Lincoln CAMRA Branch area covers a large part of the county which includes Market Rasen, Woodhall Spa and Leadenham, as well as Lincoln itself. It contains over 200 pubs. The Pub of the Year competition was divided into two categories, with CAMRA members voting for their favourite city pub and their favourite from the rest of the Branch area. Four judges then visited the top three city and top three country pubs to assess the quality of the beer, the atmosphere, the service and community focus.
The runner-up in the overall Pub of the Year competition is Lincoln’s Joiners Arms. The Dambusters Inn at Scampton and the Three Horseshoes, Waddington are joint winners of the Country Pub of the Year title. The other pubs in the final were Lincoln’s Strugglers Inn and the Ripon Arms at Nocton.
The Tiny Tavern now goes forward to the Lincolnshire round of the competition, where it will be up against the winners from the Gainsborough, Grimsby, Scunthorpe, Louth, Grantham, Fenland and Peterborough CAMRA Branches.
Nominate your favorite beers
We’re currently looking for nominations for beers to enter this year’s competition! Voting for the next round of the competition is open from 8 September 2023, and runs until 1 November 2023.
You can now vote using our new, user-friendly online system, which allows you to cast your votes for a much wider choice of beers than ever before – from local brews to favourites from all over the country.
Voting is really simple and the new website includes a useful tutorial video to take you through the process. You can also consider getting involved in other stages of the competition, by volunteering to take part in Tasting Panels.