Peterborough Beer Festival 2023: Here's what to look forward to

What will be the ​44th Peterborough CAMRA Beer Festival, will take place from Tuesday, August 22 to Saturday, August 26.

Last year, after missing a couple of years through the pandemic, saw a new layout down at The Embankment, which went down very well.

A spokesperson said: “The layout will remain pretty much the same, but bigger with both the bar marquee and the entertainment marquee increasing in size.

“We believe that the ale bar will be the longest continuous bar ever seen in the UK and we will modify the internal layout to give better access to the gin bar and the wine bar and hopefully improve the service from both of these areas.

“The beer garden will again feature strongly and, listening to feedback, we will be doubling the available seating units.”

There will, as ever, be a vast range of cask ales showcasing as many as possible new breweries that have emerged over the last couple of years or so as well as returning old favourites and continuing to support many local breweries.

Besides the cask ale range there will be a World Beer Bar, Key Keg Bar and Cider Bar, plus the popular gin and wine bars will be stocking a comprehensive range of unique and specialist gins, alongside still and sparkling grape wines from some amazing UK vineyards.

Reasonably priced soft drinks and water will be available at the Escape Bar for those preferring not to drink alcohol.

"In addition to the massive range of drinks, the location on The Embankment of the River Nene in the heart of the city creates the perfect festival atmosphere,” the spokesperson added. “With live entertainment every day and a wide choice of food vendors, these are definitely the ingredients for a memorable day or night out.”

As ever PCBF remains a family friendly festival with lunchtimes or early evenings an ideal time to bring the kiddies along. There is always an easy-going, friendly atmosphere and you can even bring your dog (as long as it is on a lead), and the fairground will be adding to the fun at the back of the festival.

Live music and entertainment will again form a big part of what the beer festival has to offer across the five days – kicking off on the Tuesday with an Open Mic evening giving local musicians the opportunity to perform on the festival main stage. (Contact Stacey at [email protected] for further info).

On the Wednesday, the highlight promises to be Very Beautiful South, the UK’s most authentic tribute to The Beautiful South who, between 1989 and 2007, clocked-up no less than 20 UK Top 30 hits.

On the Thursday, it’s Zarakan Blues Band, presenting a tribute to the Blues, with songs from every genre of the Blues music style. Retrolux (20 years in the making) will close the evening with their showcase of Classic Rock material.

The Friday will see a full afternoon and evening of entertainment with Peterborough’s own Palmy Uke Band kicking off proceedings early afternoon followed by Division.

After a short break, early evening will bring local five-piece band The Reckless and their selection of high energy, classic rock and pop tunes. To round off the evening, armed with their scintillating live show, currently selling out venues nationwide and in huge demand for festivals this year, it is Austin Gold.

And finally on Saturday (26th) there will be another full day of entertainment from early afternoon with Mark Stevens and his mixture of self-penned, country-tinged folk and covers.

Mid-afternoon, Chris Watson (with Andy Clifton and Peter Ravenhill) will be on stage before the comedic duo that are Salmon Dave entertain with their unique mix of comedy and great old sing-along songs.

Well known for their unique sound and style, the evening session will feature the skills of Lincolnshire’s finest acoustic specialists 23 Reasons and to conclude this year’s entertainment line-up, you can welcome back Groove Cartel whose repertoire is based around danceable tunes from classic Funk and Soul, reworked to showcase their 4/5 piece brass section. Full details at www.pborobeerfest.camra.org.uk