Three Valleys beer festival 2015 & 2016

[foxy lady 10]

it was a great day as you said and we saw no trouble at all. i stand by my comments that the service at bars could have been much better instead of the free for all with unorganised staff, its not the number of staff its the organisation with a good manager not kids!

there is also no excuse for people attending trashing the facilities by leaving it in such a disgusting state!

 

But the whole point is that the 3 Valleys is a FREE festival. There is no charge to get in. There is no charge for the buses. There is no charge for the music. This is achieved by having lots of volunteers helping out. Many of the bar staff will be working a bar for the first time. Many of them unpaid volunteers. You can expect quick service if you are in a pub containing 30 people, but when there are 2000 in the car park being served from a temporary bar you need a little patience.

I estimated around 25,000 people attended, and is it really a big deal if on occassions it took a couple of minutes to get served?

Edited June 8, 2016 by foxy lady

[DnAuK 10]

But the whole point is that the 3 Valleys is a FREE festival. There is no charge to get in. There is no charge for the buses. There is no charge for the music. This is achieved by having lots of volunteers helping out. Many of the bar staff will be working a bar for the first time. Many of them unpaid volunteers. You can expect quick service if you are in a pub containing 30 people, but when there are 2000 in the car park being served from a temporary bar you need a little patience.

I estimated around 25,000 people attended, and is it really a big deal if on occassions it took a couple of minutes to get served?

 

Whilst I do agree with you on the point about it being a free festival, so you pays your money and takes your choice, or not, as the case may be. I really can't agree with the point about bars being staffed by volunteers. Each of the pubs is it's own individual business and, if I understand correctly, simply contribute to the festival by paying a contribution to the buses and then providing their own thing. This comes at their own cost and they keep their own profits. Not like a 'normal' festival at all.

 

So if a business can't staff it's bars correctly and suffers as a result, they only have themselves to blame. The only answer us punters have is to vote with their feet and not go in. I suspect it's a case every year where some bars simply don't understand how busy they will get. And then choose to opt in or out of the festival the following year accordingly.

[euroout23 10]

But the whole point is that the 3 Valleys is a FREE festival. There is no charge to get in. There is no charge for the buses. There is no charge for the music. This is achieved by having lots of volunteers helping out. Many of the bar staff will be working a bar for the first time. Many of them unpaid volunteers. You can expect quick service if you are in a pub containing 30 people, but when there are 2000 in the car park being served from a temporary bar you need a little patience.

I estimated around 25,000 people attended, and is it really a big deal if on occassions it took a couple of minutes to get served?

 

yes it is a free festival and as i said on the whole very good, that is no excuse for the businesses that participate not to get their house in order, believe me i know 3 of the owners and i know what they "took" at the bar , they took "very good money" so can afford a couple of extra staff and organise them better.

as for your comments on a couple of minutes i dont know where you were but 15 -20 mins to get served was the norm where we were.

[foxy lady 10]

Whilst I do agree with you on the point about it being a free festival, so you pays your money and takes your choice, or not, as the case may be. I really can't agree with the point about bars being staffed by volunteers. Each of the pubs is it's own individual business and, if I understand correctly, simply contribute to the festival by paying a contribution to the buses and then providing their own thing. This comes at their own cost and they keep their own profits. Not like a 'normal' festival at all.

 

So if a business can't staff it's bars correctly and suffers as a result, they only have themselves to blame. The only answer us punters have is to vote with their feet and not go in. I suspect it's a case every year where some bars simply don't understand how busy they will get. And then choose to opt in or out of the festival the following year accordingly.

The outside bar at the Pioneer club was provided by the new Drone Valley Brewery and manned by volunteers. The bar outside bar at the Manor came from Abbeydale. Some of my neighbours were helping out behind the bars at the Miners.

But punters take their choice. There were rather a lot more folks there than last year. Perhaps rather more than the FREE buses can handle. A group of us hired our own bus (with toilet) and went round in that.

It seems to be rapidly developing into the most successful of the festivals around the region. If a few with gripes stay away I doubt anyone will mind or indeed notice. There were many hundreds of casks of ale set up purely for the festival and most sold out long before the finish causing panic deliveries from local brewers, so someone will have to add these on to the final cask count.

 

There is no need for it to be a free festival. I have heard suggestions regarding wrist bands to board busses. Perhaps if a lot of folks moan that it took them all day to get paralytic, charging a fiver for entry might cut numbers and allow folks to get served 30 seconds quicker.

 

 

---------- Post added 10-06-2016 at 16:53 ----------

 

yes it is a free festival and as i said on the whole very good, that is no excuse for the businesses that participate not to get their house in order, believe me i know 3 of the owners and i know what they "took" at the bar , they took "very good money" so can afford a couple of extra staff and organise them better.

as for your comments on a couple of minutes i dont know where you were but 15 -20 mins to get served was the norm where we were.

 

We went round the lot. I can't say I ever went thirsty. But then when the festival goes on all day I might just be more patient than some.

 

Regarding affording extra staff. As virtually every pub in the area was participating, and the rest were cashing in, I wonder where you image the extra staff would come from or where they would fit. When pubs put extra pumps on the bar and had extra staff pulling pints, and often several extra bars in the beer garden and car park...with extra staff pulling pints. And they had barbecues, pizza ovens and extra staff serving. Just where do these folk come from. I imagine that between 50,000 and 100,000 pints were pulled in the day. Hardly an ordinary day. But if you fancy working behind a bar next year to speed things up be my guest.

 

It has just occured to me why you seem to have had problems getting served when we never did. If you went round on one of the service buses and 75 of you all unloaded at each venue and attempted to get served at the same time you may well have problems. If there was a crush at the bar we just chilled, watched a band or bought an ostrich burger and got a drink later. It all went quiet after the bus left. I even got a girl to make me a coffee at the Manor House. I was the only one in that bar despite about 1000 folk being in the yard outside.

Edited June 10, 2016 by foxy lady

[Stoatwobbler 10]

Very enjoyable day. Started off at the Miners Arms in Hundall, which had IMHO the best beer selection of any pub I went in. However, the best surprise of the day was how good some of the pubs which don't have the big reputations were.

 

The Horse & Jockey in Unstone was surprisingly good on the day. The beer might not have been a big draw at the Yew Tree in Coal Aston but fortunately they had the best live music.

[euroout23 10]

The outside bar at the Pioneer club was provided by the new Drone Valley Brewery and manned by volunteers. The bar outside bar at the Manor came from Abbeydale. Some of my neighbours were helping out behind the bars at the Miners.

But punters take their choice. There were rather a lot more folks there than last year. Perhaps rather more than the FREE buses can handle. A group of us hired our own bus (with toilet) and went round in that.

It seems to be rapidly developing into the most successful of the festivals around the region. If a few with gripes stay away I doubt anyone will mind or indeed notice. There were many hundreds of casks of ale set up purely for the festival and most sold out long before the finish causing panic deliveries from local brewers, so someone will have to add these on to the final cask count.

 

There is no need for it to be a free festival. I have heard suggestions regarding wrist bands to board busses. Perhaps if a lot of folks moan that it took them all day to get paralytic, charging a fiver for entry might cut numbers and allow folks to get served 30 seconds quicker.

 

 

---------- Post added 10-06-2016 at 16:53 ----------

 

 

We went round the lot. I can't say I ever went thirsty. But then when the festival goes on all day I might just be more patient than some.

 

Regarding affording extra staff. As virtually every pub in the area was participating, and the rest were cashing in, I wonder where you image the extra staff would come from or where they would fit. When pubs put extra pumps on the bar and had extra staff pulling pints, and often several extra bars in the beer garden and car park...with extra staff pulling pints. And they had barbecues, pizza ovens and extra staff serving. Just where do these folk come from. I imagine that between 50,000 and 100,000 pints were pulled in the day. Hardly an ordinary day. But if you fancy working behind a bar next year to speed things up be my guest.

 

It has just occured to me why you seem to have had problems getting served when we never did. If you went round on one of the service buses and 75 of you all unloaded at each venue and attempted to get served at the same time you may well have problems. If there was a crush at the bar we just chilled, watched a band or bought an ostrich burger and got a drink later. It all went quiet after the bus left. I even got a girl to make me a coffee at the Manor House. I was the only one in that bar despite about 1000 folk being in the yard outside.

 

and Breathe!! please remove your head from your rear!!! stop being so condescending:o i and many others thought the same on the day:thumbsup:

[foxy lady 10]

and Breathe!! please remove your head from your rear!!! stop being so condescending:o i and many others thought the same on the day:thumbsup:

 

You remove your head from your rear. Many thousand attend the beer festival every year and have patience and respect for those who organise and staff and fund the event. In the event of bad weather the folk who pay for the buses, the tents, the toilets, the beer, the staff end up with the same bills but no return.

 

If you don't like what you find you are welcome to stay away. Indeed why not put some of your undoubted talents into organising a festival as you feel it should be run.

[euroout23 10]

You remove your head from your rear. Many thousand attend the beer festival every year and have patience and respect for those who organise and staff and fund the event. In the event of bad weather the folk who pay for the buses, the tents, the toilets, the beer, the staff end up with the same bills but no return.

 

If you don't like what you find you are welcome to stay away. Indeed why not put some of your undoubted talents into organising a festival as you feel it should be run.

 

:hihi: what is your problem dear, calm down:loopy: read what i said ? i have said on a number of occasions it was great BUT the bars could have done with some extra staff and that some punters left the facilities in a mess nothing more:love:

[DnAuK 10]

 

There is no need for it to be a free festival. I have heard suggestions regarding wrist bands to board busses. Perhaps if a lot of folks moan that it took them all day to get paralytic, charging a fiver for entry might cut numbers and allow folks to get served 30 seconds quicker.

 

Yes, you heard that suggestion from me. But Mr C is keen to keep it free and that's his call. It's his baby after all. Another suggestion of mine was to revisit the idea of having a second festival later in the year, maybe in September. You probably won't get all the same venues going for both but, given the venues that missed this year, it gives everyone two bites of the cherry, and may even water down the demand on the day a little. But again I appreciate that would take some organising and have already said that I'm sure people would step in to help.

 

Ultimately, however, the fact it gets off the ground at all every year is an amazing achievement and one that has eclipsed anything that could have originally been envisaged. If you don't like it, don't go. Or do what we do and go early, then get the hell out of there before it get's too mental and while there is still some beer left!

[foxy lady 10]

Yes, you heard that suggestion from me. But Mr C is keen to keep it free and that's his call. It's his baby after all. Another suggestion of mine was to revisit the idea of having a second festival later in the year, maybe in September. You probably won't get all the same venues going for both but, given the venues that missed this year, it gives everyone two bites of the cherry, and may even water down the demand on the day a little. But again I appreciate that would take some organising and have already said that I'm sure people would step in to help.

 

Ultimately, however, the fact it gets off the ground at all every year is an amazing achievement and one that has eclipsed anything that could have originally been envisaged. If you don't like it, don't go. Or do what we do and go early, then get the hell out of there before it get's too mental and while there is still some beer left!

 

Hey.. It was no problem to me. I was addressing the Moaning Minnies. If they want to stay away that's OK by me. We had no problem with the event. We hired our own bus. It had a toilet which was handy.

We also didn't take the venues in the order that the service buses did. There were crowds and the odd queues, but the outside bars helped. I'm puzzled that at an all day festival some folk were worried that it took them a bit too long to get served. It was a festival not a race. A day out to have fun and chill out to the music and get a bite to eat on your travels.

 

Here is the key...It is not necessary to have a drink at every pub you visit.

[DnAuK 10]

Here is the key...It is not necessary to have a drink at every pub you visit.

 

With all due respect, then what is the point in visiting? Also I'm not sure the manager or owner of the pub would be very happy with you stood around sponging off the entertainment they have paid good money to put on while swigging from a bottle of Evian you bought from the newsagent down the road.

 

We actually had a similar problem last year as, by the time we tried to get food, there was a wait of an hour at the Three Tuns so we went out o the Jolly Farmer only to be told they had nothing left so we ended up munching on a packaged sandwich from the Spar shop while waiting for the bus back into town.

[foxy lady 10]

With all due respect, then what is the point in visiting? Also I'm not sure the manager or owner of the pub would be very happy with you stood around sponging off the entertainment they have paid good money to put on while swigging from a bottle of Evian you bought from the newsagent down the road.

 

We actually had a similar problem last year as, by the time we tried to get food, there was a wait of an hour at the Three Tuns so we went out o the Jolly Farmer only to be told they had nothing left so we ended up munching on a packaged sandwich from the Spar shop while waiting for the bus back into town.

 

What's the point? Well it's a festival. You can eat, drink and watch bands as you see fit. If there is music in a car park it isn't even necessary to visit the pub in order to listen to it. But 37 of us travelled on a bus. So if the bus stopped we were there until we left. I'm pretty sure someone bought food or drink at every venue we visited. If not it hardly matters as they were selling beer as quickly as they could serve it. But these are public houses. So what makes you think we need to buy at every one. It sounds like you did pretty much the same last year, and TBH I'm not really in to drinking 8 or 9 pints even if some on our bus drank that and a bit more.

 

You see here is the rub. If the landlord doesn't like me being in his pub without a drink he can pop over and mention it to me. I'd be quite happy to ask him to bring a coffee over and might even give him a tip when it arrived.

Edited June 13, 2016 by foxy lady