After 34 years, one of the UK’s biggest (and best) beer festivals is leaving London

Lovers of all things beer and cider, we have good news! After a year away, the Campaign For Real Ale’s (CAMRA) Great British Beer Festival is returning in 2025. But we also have some less-good news: it won’t be held in London.

The CAMRA Great British Beer Festival first took place way back in 1975 in Covent Garden, and between then and 1990 it was hosted across the UK in cities like Leeds, Birmingham and Brighton. Since 1990, however, it’s always been held in London – and since 2012 it has taken place specifically at Kensington Olympia.

In 2025, the GBBF is moving on after 34 years in the capital. It’ll instead take place at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC), kicking off on August 5 and wrapping up on August 9.

According to the Standard, organisers of the 2024 edition of the Great British Beer Festival were forced to cancel it due to the unavailability of Kensington Olympia on its usual dates.

So, what can attendees expect of the Great British Beer Festival 2025? Well, as always, it’s shaping up to be one of the country’s finest celebrations of beer and cider. Hundreds of breweries will compete to be named Champion Beer of Britain, though ticketholders can also sample ales, ciders, perries and craft beers from around the world.

If that sounds like your sort of thing, you can snap up a ticket now on the event website here.

Time Out and London’s best booze

Don’t fancy trekking up to Brum for some top-notch tipples? Time Out has you covered. Here are London’s best taprooms and cider pubs, and did you see that this tiny north London micropub has been crowned the city’s best boozer?

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