History of the Durham Beer Festival

The Durham Beer Festival began at Fowlers Yard, Durham City in 1976. After three festivals the event moved to Dunelm House in 1979 where it remained for 18 years, with only one absence in 1996 when the festival moved temporarily to the Catholic Chaplaincy in Old Elvet.

In its heyday the Durham Beer Festival was considered the premier event of its type in the North East and one of the best nationally, with visitors from all over the country and even foreign tourists.

The main reason the event folded is a common one. As regular helpers drifted away volunteer replacements were not forthcoming and regular long-time staff began to feel the graft of setting up and dismantling was outweighing the enjoyment of the event. Between the final festival and the present there have been a number of small festivals in County pubs, namely the Penny Gill in Spennymoor and the Woodman in the City. Wear Valley also run an annual festival in Bishop Auckland Town Hall and a smaller event in conjunction with the Ship Inn at Middlestone Village.

The Durham Winter Beer Festival started in 1987 at Fowlers Yard after Micro and regional brewers began reviving the old practice of brewing stronger darker winter ales which would not be available for the main summer event. Like its larger counterpart the Winter Festival soon became very popular and well-known but unlike the main festival, the winter event had no permanent home. Dunelm House, because of the student term, was unavailable during the winter months and was too large anyway for the smaller Winter Festival. No less than six sites were used for the Durham Winter Beer festival until the last City event at the Catholic Chaplaincy in 1998. The reasons for the festival folding were the same as those of the main summer event.