The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) was formed in the early 1970s by a small group of disenchanted real ale lovers, and soon after branches were popping up all over the country. The Leeds branch was originally a spin-off of the West Riding branch and had it’s first ‘test support’ meeting at the Central Station (now the Wellington). Over 100 supporters turned up! Among them were such luminaries as their first chair Ed Anderson (recently retired MD of Leeds Bradford Airport) and press officer Barrie Pepper (local beer writer and famed storyteller).

These days Leeds CAMRA has a membership of over 1000, and has a full calendar of events for everyone to join in with. Our branch meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month (see above) and are friendly, informal affairs. Members are welcome to come along and find out what’s happening beer-wise in the area, and help organise campaigns and events. Added to this is the odd social to a brewery or beer festival, a pub trail or a trip out in a charabanc.

As you can see from our Awards page, we like giving out Awards! Always democratically chosen at meetings, our winners are worthy – support them if you can.

New Full Measure is the branch’s bi-monthly newsletter – look out for in Leeds pubs to get all the latest news and views on local campaigns, breweries, pubs and the beery scene in general.

Our most recent publication is The Leeds Pub Trail Compendium – a pocket-sized book containing 28 super pub trails and lots of other interesting things about drinking in Leeds. It’s the ideal gift, so look out for it’s orange cover at your local bookstore or Tourist Information centre.

We run our very own Leeds CAMRA Beer, Cider and Perry Festival at Pudsey Civic Hall every March. It’s been there since 1994 and has become known as one of the biggest and best value-for-money festivals in the region.

Leeds CAMRA also supports May is Mild Month by celebrating this special drink – look out for events near the time – we have been known to organise Mild Trails around the pubs of Leeds with beery prizes at the end! Likewise October is Cider Month, which sees the branch celebrating Real Cider in Leeds in various ways, be it mini ciderfests at the Grove or pub crawls around Leeds’ many cider and perry pubs wearing special T-shirts – why not join us?

CAMRA Membership in Leeds

There are currently over 1,400 CAMRA members in the Leeds area. To join CAMRA and to read about the benefits of membership, visit the Campaign for Real Ale website.