About & FAQs

The Festival is organised by the South Hertfordshire branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA). All those directly involved in organising the event are volunteers, as are most of the Festival staff you will see during your visit. All proceeds from the Festival go towards CAMRA's campaigning activities or are donated to local charities.

You will always save money by buying your tickets in advance online. Most of our online ticket packages include a £10 token card and your souvenir glass, so the price includes much more than just admission. Find out more here.

If you are planning to visit the Festival on more than three separate occasions, purchasing a season pass may save you money. Please note the season pass does not include beer tokens or a glass deposit.

All our bars work on a token card system. Token cards are available in multiples of £5 and, when you buy a drink, its value will be crossed off your card. Glasses are lined and all draught beers and ciders are available in pint, half pint, or third of a pint measures.

When you decide to leave the festival, you can claim a refund for any value remaining on your token card(s). Alternatively, you can choose to donate any money remaining on your card to charity.

You'll need a glass to get served at the festival and, unless you bring your own, that will mean using one of our souvenir pint or half-pint glasses. If you pay on the door, you'll need to hand over a £5 deposit for your glass, whereas if you've bought an online ticket package this deposit is already included. Our glasses are a great souvenir of the festival and most people take them home to keep - but if you don't want to hang on to yours, no worries - you can return it and claim your £5 deposit back as you leave the Festival.

Yes, as well as cash, we also accept all major credit and debit cards for admission, as well as the purchase of token cards and glass deposits. Most of our food vendors also accept cash or card payment. Make sure you bring some cash if you want to use our coin-operated football table though!

Yes, we welcome well-behaved and properly supervised children in the venue but only up until 5pm. There is no additional admission charge for children. Please do not allow anyone under 18 who you are supervising to approach the bars, as they cannot be served. Soft drinks are available from the food servery in the main hall.

You're very welcome to bring your pet dogs but they are only allowed in the outside in the patio area. Guide/assistance dogs are permitted throughout the festival.

If you're not sure whether you'll enjoy a product, we can offer a limited number of tasters, but please don't abuse this - remember we're a non-profit making event and we're working to very fine margins. We serve all draught beer and cider in thirds of a pint, so we recommend buying in this quantity if you want to try as many as possible.

In line with our alcohol licence, there is 20 minutes drinking-up time after the bars close, and we ask customers to please respect this.

Unfortunately, due to a recent change in the law, we are now unable to offer draught beer or cider in take-away containers, or to allow you to decant drinks into your own take-away container. We know this is annoying and we wish it wasn't the case, but unfortunately it's what the law now says. If you want to take some great beer home to continue the Festival back at your place, we can offer you bottles from our International Bar.

Pictures taken by our official photographer are published on our social media channels, and may also appear on our website or in future publicity materials (e.g. leaflets or posters). If you have any concerns about your image being used in this way, please mention this to the photographer at the time, or ask at the foyer for a member of the Festival organising team

We ask all our visitors to drink responsibly and show respect for fellow Festival-goers. Incidents are very rare at our Festival but if you do see something getting out of hand, or have any concerns, please mention it to a Festival volunteer or ask at the foyer for a member of the Festival organising team.

Please bear in mind that the vast majority of people involved in running the Festival are volunteers. The only exception to this are staff running our food franchises, members of the Alban Arena team, and some security personnel. But if you have any complaint or concern to raise, we absolutely want to listen and make things right - please ask at the foyer for a member of the Festival organising team. Alternatively, if you would prefer to get in touch by email, see the "contact us" page on this website.

We're always looking for new volunteers and we have a wide variety of roles available to suit different skills, interests, and levels of physical ability. If you're interested in being part of the team, please either sign up using the form on this website or, if you have questions first, email staffing@stalbansbf.org.uk and our volunteering manager Dave will come back to you. If you'd like to have a chat at the Festival about volunteering in future years, please ask at the foyer for a member of the Festival organising team.