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| Festival Description |  | |
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N.B. These are the archived details for the 2015 festival. If you are looking for the current festival details ... this is not the place!!
The Bent and Bongs Charitable Trust, in association with CAMRA, present the 26th Bent and Bongs Beer Bash, January 29 - January 31, 2015.
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| Dates and Times | | |
Opening times for the 2015 festival are:
| Thursday 29 January |
6pm - 11pm |
£5* |
| Friday 30 January |
4pm - 11pm |
£7* |
| Saturday 31 January |
12pm - 9pm |
£6 |
Note the change to the format of the Saturday session!
In order to make it possible for you to bob along to the festival for just a couple of hours, but not pay the admission price for the full night, this year we are trialling reduced admission for the last couple of hours of each session.
*Admission will drop to £1 (to cover the cost of the glass) after 9pm on Thursday and Friday and after 7pm on Saturday.
| Venue | | |
The venue is the Formby Hall, Atherton. Click here for a map.
The closest railway station is Atherton, shown on the above map (top right corner). Walking time from the station to the Formby Hall is around 5 - 10 minutes, although the return trip can take much longer after a few pints. A good place to check the train times is at The Train Line.
To walk from the station to the Formby Hall, exit the station and walk down to the traffic lights. Turn right onto the main road and walk down to the second set of traffic lights (the town hall will be on your right and The Concert Inn will be on your left). Turn left (at The Concert) onto High Street and then take the second left up to the hall.
Google has an excellent little map of walking directions.
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| Beers | | |
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2015 will be the 26th Bent and Bongs Beer bash. And there are 26 letters in the alphabet. So it seems to make sense to give the beers something of an A to Z feel. A to Z. 26 letters. 26 beers. Someone is bound to try it!
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| Music and Entertainment | | |
All sessions will feature live entertainment.
The bands lined up for 2015 are:
| Thursday night |
The Lazy River Jazz Band |
A blend of traditional New Orleans jazz.
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| Friday night |
Silverstone |
A rock and pop covers band with a repertoire from the fifties to the naughties.
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| Saturday 1pm to 3pm (ish) |
Chonkinfeckle |
A wonderful local folk band whose songs tell of everyday life in a Northern town. Expect to hear tales about work, wives and possibly even the mother-in-law. If you want to learn the words in advance, pick up the mp3s at Chonkinfeckle's website.
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| Saturday 4pm to 8pm (ish) |
Cracked Flag |
Let's face it, it just wouldn't be Saturday without Cracked Flag would it?
Dave, Pete and Paul will be back with their unique brand of songs, stories and merriment. Only this time they're here for longer! Woop woop!
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| Food and Festival Fodder | | |
All sessions will have a selection of wonderfully tasty festival fodder.
Fantastic sausages, Bury black puddings, roast beef sandwiches and if we're really lucky some hot pot. What more could anyone wish for? Put this fabulous festival fodder together with a few perfect pints and life truly doesn't get any better. (At least not without taking your clothes off!)
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| New To The Festival - Getting Your First Pint | | |
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As you enter the hall you will be given your souvenir glass and festival programme. The glass will be your drinking vessel for the whole session and is yours to keep when you finally head for home. Look after your glass. Treat it as your friend. Keep it out of harm's way as there are no spare glasses behind the bars.
Remember! No glass = no beer!
The festival runs on a token system. To buy beer you must first buy tokens. The tokens are then exchanged for beer, at face value.
When you first enter the hall the token desk will be on your right, past the lagers towards the front of the hall.
Once you have your tokens just head for the bar of your choice and start sampling the wonderful beers. Please do not try to pay with cash. Those nice people on the other side of the bar cannot accept it, have no way to give you any change and will just send you across to the token desk to buy tokens.
Remember! No tokens = no beer!
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The food stall is able to accept both cash and tokens.
The hall is organised into 3 bars. As you enter the hall and face the stage the bar to your right has the draught lagers, fruit beers and bottled beers. The token desk is next to the lagers closer to the front of the hall. The bar to your left is the smaller of the two real ale bars. The other real ale bar is in the seperate mini-hall off to your left. Festival fodder is at the front left, next to the stage.
The real ales are organised alphabetically (more or less) by brewery so when looking for the beer of your choice just follow the letters.
| Sponsor the Festival | | |
All the details for sponsoring the 2015 festival are available here.
Or click here if you only want the sponsorship form for 2015.
If you are coming with a group of friends, why not consider sponsoring the festival? It's fun, it's friendly, and if you can all get to the sponsors' hour on Thursday it's cheaper than paying on the door.
If you want to know more or if you want to take out a sponsor's package, drop us an email and we will get in touch.
| Photography | | |
Dave Green, Richard Moore and Steve Harrison pulled out all the (f) stops for 2014. We're trying to get them all back again for 2015. What say chaps???
If you are an experienced photographer and are willing to donate a few hours to a good cause to photograph future festivals please get in touch. Remember ... ask not what your festival can do for you, but what you can do for your festival.
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| Keep Me Informed | | |
We operate our 'better than a bookmark' service to let you you know what is happenning in the world of Bent & Bongs and to keep you informed about future beer festivals. You can register for this service here simply by telling us your email address. If you worry about giving out your email address and receiving lots of spam mail in return then please do read about why this website exists and how it treats your privacy.
Why do we call it 'better than a bookmark'? Well, let's face it, how many sites that you have bookmarked do you routinely check back with for changes? A couple of emails a year make a nice reminder to what is going on in the world of Bent & Bongs.
If you want more Bent and Bongs in your life, you can follow the blog at blog.bentnbongs.com and for more still, become a fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: @bentnbongs
The festival has adopted the hashtag #bentnbongs for chatter about the festival. Why not tweet what your drinking, or your favourite beer of the festival or even just sing along with the band.
For fanatics, regulars and perhaps those just a little bit strange the 2014 beer festival details are here for comparison.
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