This year the Great British Beer Festival runs from 5-9 August 2008, at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre (see times below). It moved here in recent years as out grew its old venue at Olympia due to popularity.

If you fancy tasting load of British Ales then this is the place to go, although you can take your larger drinking friends too as there is an international larger section, as well as a cider and perry (pear cider) section.

You will need to pay an entrance fee, and then buy a 1/3, 1/2, or pint sized glass, which you can keep or sell back at the end of the night.

My advice would be to buy a pint glass and then to sample as many beers as possible buy beer in 1/3 of a pint. After all the whole idea is to taste the beers and not just to drink copious amounts of the same beers.

Plenty of food stalls, pies, sausages curries, biltong etc. Also each night they have a band, and also stalls for shopping.

Check out the website for further details.

Tue 1700 to 2230
Wed, Thu, Fri 1200 to 2230
Sat 1100 to 1900

Arguably the best beer festival in the world (although i'm sure our friends in Munich will have something to say about that!).

A massive selection of real ales from all around the UK. Earls Court is carved up into Geographies - from Sussex, Wiltshire, Herefordshire & Kent to Austria, Japan, France & The USA. Sample the finest Bavarian wheat beers or the strongest of Somerset ciders. I walked in to the beer festival at about 6pm and left a drunken, but satisifed man. Check out the Cornish Pasty or British Pie shop for late night nibbles.

TIP: Don't be afraid to drink 1/2 pints! It's not considered a faux pas behind these doors. Pace yourself and sample as many beers as possible!

The Great British Beer Festival is THE event for lovers of good beer and real ciders in the UK.

Organised by CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) every August, in the last year it has moved to the Earl's Court Exhibition Centre in London.

The event is huge: over the week, the festival gets over 65,000 visitors, drawn by the prospect of over 450 real ales, and a growing selection of the very best ciders, and specialist lagers from Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic, to name a few. New in 2007 is a stand featuring ales for vegetarians, coeliacs and others with specialist dietary needs.

There's plenty of food available, (with the emphasis on good-value pub-type grub, rather than gastronomy), and a selection of bands (mostly jazz, but including classical!) for entertainment over the week. There are also stalls selling ale-related memorabilia - beer glasses, beer towels, books, t-shirts and the like.

The event draws a huge range of people, from all walks of life and all ages. It's not just a male, middle-aged event by any means - about a third of attendees are women, and there are also meetings for CAMRA's different groups, including LAGRAD (lesbians and gay men). The whole thing is very good humoured and enjoyable.

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Photos added 08/08/2007