Norwich City of Ale will return next year

The 3rd annual festival celebrating city breweries, beers and pubs was held last month and proved once again that Norwich is the UK’s real city of ale.

The festival’s two co-chairmen, Phil Cutter and Dawn Leeder, were so impressed by feedback about this year’s event, they have decided to book a date in the diary for the fourth event next year.

Ms Leeder said:

“City of Ale 2013 was the best yet and has now become a firmly established event on the Norwich festival calendar.

“Next year’s dates are Thursday, May 22 to Sunday, June 1, once again taking in the May bank holiday weekend. It seems to be a winning formula and we’ve already had messages from visitors saying that they’ve got next year’s dates in their diaries and are looking forward to returning.”

Organisers hope to build on the success of previous events and, for the first time, commissioned market research to tell them where visitors came from and how they can improve.

She added: “Early signs are very promising with a lot of ‘out-of-towners’ having been spotted in the pubs and around the city, showing that there’s a knock-on effect for many city businesses not directly connected with City of Ale.

“We’re also surveying all the pubs and brewers who took part and will collate all the data into a final report over the next few weeks in preparation for next year’s festival.”

Mr Cutter, who is landlord at the Murderers in Timberhill in the city centre, said the event would be bigger and better next year.

He added: “The initial feedback from this year’s event is that publicans saw a significant increase in footfall and the number of real ales consumed across the 10 days.”