The following is a message from Nik Antona, CAMRA National Chairman:

You’ll have all seen the announcement by the Prime Minister this week and, no doubt, been as concerned as us about the escalating situation, and horrified by the potential implication that social distancing measures will have on pubs, clubs, breweries and cider producers. It also undoubtedly will have a huge impact on our activities as an organisation, as well as the activities and social lives of our members.

It is with a heavy heart that the National Executive has decided to cancel all festivals and events from now until the end of June, following Government guidance to limit mass gathering. This includes – but is not limited to - the Great Welsh Beer Festival and the Members’ Weekend, AGM & Conference, branch festivals, meetings and socials. We will continue to review the likelihood of the Great British Beer Festival going ahead in August and will notify members in due course.

To support the beer and pubs industry during this difficult time, we have decided to partner with the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) and Crowdfunder to try and help pubs, clubs, breweries, tap rooms and cider producers during these difficult times.

Our Pulling Together campaign encourages pubs, brewers and cider makers to come up with innovative ways to keep their business afloat during this crisis – whether that be launching a new online shop, offering beer or cider takeaways or providing redeemable gift vouchers for locals.

The campaign aims to amplify the voices of those pubs, brewers and cider producers while connecting the public with their favourite local businesses. With the help of Crowdfunder, we will also encourage pubs and breweries to tap into their community to help weather the crisis.

The link for the campaign is https://camra.org.uk/pullingtogether/.

How you as an individual or branch can get involved:

Let us know of any initiatives that might be happening in your area so that we can add it to our online resource – simply email ku.gro.armac@rehtegotgnillup or fill out the online form on the webpage

Tell others about the campaign – we’ve put together social media assets that you can share across your branch or personal webpage or social media accounts, which you an access here.

Go out and support those affected pubs – avoid the supermarkets and bring a growler down to a participating pub to fill up there, using our map to find a participating pub near you

Join our online community Pulling Together for People, Pints & Pubs on Facebook - here we will aim to set up an online pub community for the duration of the Coronavirus outbreak with the ambition of organising regular beer o’clock, pub quizzes and more

We know that these are scary and unsettling times for everyone. Not only will many businesses be devastated, but many people will lose the vital social lifeline of their local pub right when they need it most. We therefore encourage everyone to follow Government advice, but to also explore ways of virtually connecting with others – such as hosting virtual branch meetings or online pub quizzes. We hope that the Facebook community might be one step forward in addressing this, and encourage branches to set up their own local online communities as well.

Do get in touch with any questions on ku.gro.armac@rehtegotgnillup. In the meantime, stay healthy and safe!

Wishing you the best,

Nik Antona

National Chairman