Beer

This is first and foremost a political club, but we have developed a reputation for good beer over many years now.

Real Ale first appeared in the Shed during the mid 1980s and really took off in the early 1990s. It was popular, attracted extra trade, and was consistent with the club`s politics (a number of big breweries were known as major donors to the Conservative party). Real Ale gradually ousted the keg beer from our bar as many club regulars changed to drinking better tasting beer of consistent high quality. We have never looked back since then. We were first listed in CAMRA`s Good Beer Guide in 1995, and have been a regular entry since then. We have also collected a string of awards; a selection of these can be seen decorating the club walls (there isn`t space for all of them!)

March 2022
The women of the Red Shed Players worked with Five Towns Brewery to create a special beer for International Womens Day, when the Shed had a line-up of five handpumps, all with beer brewed by women

Real ale lovers are always welcome here. Non-members will usually be expected to sign in as visitors but, occasionally, we have thrown our doors open to all comers and run a BEER FESTIVAL. The most recent one organised by the club itself was in September 2013.

Since the last official Red Shed event, the club was hired in May 2015 by our friend Malcolm Bastow at Five Towns Brewery to run his own charity fundraising festival. This was repeated each year until 2019. Then Covid-19 struck, and it was not possible to hold another one until May 2022.
Since then, Malcolm has announced that he is taking a (well-earned) retirement and will not be brewing any more (not full-time anyway). It has not stopped him running beer festivals though, and his "East-West Beer Festival" has turned back into an annual event. The next one is scheduled for 3rd to 5th May 2024. More detail to follow.

Meanwhile, we normally have 4 or 5 cask-conditioned beers on handpump at any one time, with a preference for smaller breweries and local breweries. We also keep a range of bottled beers, including a selection from Belgium.

🍻 BEER LIST 🍻

A list of beers on sale at the club bar can now be found on www.realalefinder.com

Beer

🍻 BEER LIST 🍻

This page last updated: 23rd March 2024