CAMRA North Herts
CAMRA North Herts exists to support the national CAMRA and does this in a number of ways:
- Running a Beer & Cider Festival in Hitchin,
- Selecting the best pubs in North Herts for our part of the Good Beer Guide,
- Selecting pubs and clubs for local awards including pub of the year, cider pub of the year and club of the year
- Collecting local news for our part of the all-Hertfordshire newsletter, Pints of View,
- Supporting and organising local events for members and the wider community – see our diary for upcoming events!
For full details of what we do please view our Constitution, as adopted at a Special General Meeting on 8th September, 2023.
See our CAMRA – Hertfordshire page for links to other nearby branches of CAMRA.
Good Beer Guide
Surveying pubs for possible inclusion in the Good Beer Guide is a serious business. It tends to involve trying many beers at lots of pubs; the only way to judge beer quality at pubs is to drink the stuff on site! Hopefully, most of it will be good, but there are always a few which don’t make the grade. We try to spread the work among as many members as possible, and your help with this ‘arduous’ task would be much appreciated.
All you need to do is record what you drink, when, where, and how good or bad it is on CAMRA’s 0-5 rating scale (the National Beer Scoring Scheme). You can enter them on the What Pub website, interactively on the GBG app (for Android and iPhone), comment on this website, or send them to us in emails, on spreadsheets or on the back of beermats! Plus new for this year login to this site and complete a nominations form. [CAMRA North Herts members only]. If your favourite pub has never got into the GBG, you need to tell us how great it is!
Awards
We present the following local awards to the good pubs in our area, the recipients being decided by members at Branch Meetings, and we try to get as many members as possible to the actual presentations:
- Pub of the Year (this one goes into the County competition, and may progress on to the Regional and National levels)
- Cider Pub of the Year
- Club of the Year
Pints of View Magazine
Every two months, we submit articles to the all-Hertfordshire Pints Of View newsletter, covering branch activities, pub news, brewery news, events, awards, etc. If you know of any beer related news, do let us know, so we can pass it on. We also rely on members to distribute the newsletters to the pubs, and volunteers are always needed to complete our coverage of the branch area. So if you can spare an evening or two every two months to visit some pubs take and them some newsletters, please let us know
Upcoming Events
Pop up Pub Halloween Party – Bell, Benington
Pop up Pub Halloween Party – Bell, Benington
Support the Save our Pubs, The Bell Benington campaign by supporting their Pop-up Pub’ Halloween Party in Benington village hall on Saturday 25th October from 3 PM. See https://facebook.com/events/s/pop-up-pub-halloween-party/1103303818619127/
Baldock Social
Baldock Social
Branch Social Meeting at the Old White Horse at 8pm, then visiting the Cock, White Lion and Orange Tree.
Plough, Ley Green Beer Festival
Plough, Ley Green Beer Festival
The Plough, (Kings Walden/Ley Green) is having a beer festival! Please visit them between the 30th October and 2nd November.
Meet the brewer & Branch Meeting
Meet the brewer & Branch Meeting
On Thursday 6th November, we’ve been invited to meet Katie Sanders Pope, the brewer of Old Cannon Brewery, to taste some beers ahead of our branch meeting. Join us at
Orange Tree Beer Festival
Orange Tree Beer Festival
Save the date! Rob at the Orange Tree, Baldock is having a beer festival from Friday 14th to Saturday 16th November. (Dates to be confirmed) More details to follow.
Letchworth Social
Letchworth Social
Meet at Arena Tavern (8pm) then Craftys, Garden City Brewery and the Three Magnets
Pig’s Ear Beer Festival 2025
Pig’s Ear Beer Festival 2025
The 41st Pig’s Ear festival runs from the 2nd to the 6th December 2025. See separate branch trip event for when North Herts CAMRA are attending as a group.
Hertfordshire Beer of the Year Presentation
Hertfordshire Beer of the Year Presentation
Crossover Blendery’s Saison won Hertfordshire Beer of the Year (Keg) as judged at St Albans Beer & Cider Festival last month. We’ll be at Crossover Blendery taproom along with Baron
Get involved
Are you a camra member? – you can help us select the pubs for future editions of the good beer guide! All you have to do is visit the WhatPub website when you are visiting a pub and give the beer you are drinking a score!
NEW – Login to the members area to nominate your pub for entry into the good beer guide.









