Welcome to Wolverhampton CAMRA
Founded in November 1976, the Wolverhampton branch of the Campaign for Real Ale has campaigned against pub and brewery closures, encouraged publicans to stock real ale, rewarded pubs with our annual Pub of the Year, Cider Pub of the Year and Mild Merit awards and maintained an active social community, organising trips and ‘get togethers’ since our inception.
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Beginnings – The formation of Wolverhampton CAMRA
As part of CAMRA’s 50th birthday celebrations, we are republishing this look back at the first part of Wolverhampton CAMRA’s…
CAMRA is one of the most successful consumer organisations across Europe. Founded by four real ale enthusiasts back in March 1971, today we represent beer drinkers and pub-goers across the UK. Our vision is to have quality real ale, cider and perry and thriving pubs in every community.
CAMRA was formed by Michael Hardman, Jim Makin, Bill Mellor and Graham Lees on a trip to Ireland.
At the time, the ‘Big Six’ brewers (Allied, Bass, Courage, Scottish & Newcastle, Watneys and Whitbread) had monopolies on entire regions of the country, owning hundreds of pubs that could only sell their brews. They were pushing tasteless kegged beer onto consumers because it was easier to produce, store and serve, and as a result quality real ale was incredibly hard to find. In fact, there were just five bottle-conditioned beers in existence in the world.