Festival celebrates 10 years of 'craft beer revolution'

Thousands of people are expected to attend Bristol Craft Beer Festival this weekend

Organisers of a city festival say they are celebrating 10 years of a "craft beer revolution".

About 5,000 people are expected to attend Bristol Craft Beer Festival at Lloyds Amphitheatre on Friday and Saturday, which will showcase beer from local breweries.

"No doubt the biggest challenge we've faced has been Covid", said its co-founder Greg Wells, who hosted an event between lockdowns in September 2020, making it Bristol's first festival to return.

Mr Wells said the event, which started at Motion nightclub in 2015, has grown from a "niche gathering for beer aficionados" into one of the UK's "biggest celebrations of craft beer".

"It's brilliant to have been a part of a decade of great beer in Bristol, and the revolution that's happened in Bristol and the UK as a whole," he continued.

The festival has taken place each year for the past decade, including during the pandemic in one of the windows between lockdowns.

"We orchestrated a small sit-down event with space and rotation. It saved our sanity that year," Mr Wells said.

"There's no doubt that, like everyone, we were a little bruised and battered [by the pandemic] and balance sheets in various states of disrepair. But Bristol supported it.

"I don't think there's any city in the UK that has the sense of community that Bristol does."

Festival co-founder Greg Wells said Bristol "got behind" the festival after Covid

This year's event will showcase 300 beers from more than 50 breweries, including many in and close to Bristol.

There will also be food stalls and live music from Bristol radio station SWU.FM.

"The majority of our audience are from are from Bristol, but we get a lot of people from Bath and Taunton and Gloucester, from Exeter and Plymouth even, and then a little bit of South Wales, too.

"It's something for Bristol, but also for the for the region."