They expect to stick with the same location next year – Cemetery Park, in a corner of the General Cemetery at Sharrow. The event turned out to be a huge success, despite poor weather.

Local members of the Campaign for Real Ale took the plunge by opting to stage the Steel City Beer Festival in a marquee instead of a social club on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Cemetery Park, near the city centre and convenient for students, proved far from a dead loss. Beer started to run out from 8.30pm on the Saturday and by last orders the last pint drained from the last barrel.

Organisers had been told by the campaign group's national scrutineers that a budget based on 1,700 paying customers was a bit ambitious. In fact the final attendance was 2,400.

"It was a huge success, better than we had planned," said festival organiser Dave Williams. "I thought it would be better than in previous years but we were jam-packed.

"People weren't put off by the weather, even though it was wet and cold. They made the effort, dressing for the occasion with weatherproofs, jumpers, hats and scarves. It shows that people are still interested in drinking cask conditioned beers."

When the festival opened on the Thursday night 96 different real ales, including a range from local breweries, were available, along with 24 different ciders and perries, plus bottled continental beers and a selection of fruit wines.

Acorn and Abbeydale breweries rushed more beer to the festival on Saturday afternoon and then organisers closed the gates at 8.30pm because there was only enough beer left for those inside.
Bradfield Brewery produced more than beer – it also provided three bales of hay to keep the mud at bay.

Apart from a couple of complaints about the cold, a band being told to turn down the volume on Saturday night and a drunk who unsuccessfully tried to climb over the fence, no significant problems were reported.
Provisionally it had been intended to locate the marquee in Endcliffe Park but the switch was made to the small park between Cemetery Road and Ecclesall Road after council deadlines came and went.

Now initial thinking for next year is to stay in Cemetery Park but adding "more beer, more cider, more food and more capacity".

Organisers said they would also be investigating "some sort of technology that puts a stop to mud and cold" – but the comment did come at the end of an exhausting weekend during which copious amounts of real ale were sampled.

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