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| Festival Description |  | |
N.B. These are the archived details for the 2010 festival. If you are looking for the current festival details ... this is not the place!!
Atherton and Tyldesley Round Table, in association with CAMRA, present the 21st Bent and Bongs Beer Bash, January 28 - January 30, 2010.
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| Dates and Times | | |
Opening times for the 2010 festival are:
| Thursday 28 January |
6pm - 11pm |
£4.00 |
| Friday 29 January |
5pm - 11pm |
£6.00 |
| Saturday 30 January |
12pm - 4pm
7pm - 11pm |
£5.00
£5.00 |
Admission includes programme and souvenir glass
CAMRA members receive a £1.00 discount on entry (proof of membership required)
We are again opening early for the Friday night session to try to reduce the queue times, however ...
The Friday session always fills up very quickly so please aim to arrive as early as possible to avoid having to queue
| Venue | | |
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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 about 5 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.
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| Beers | | |
With 2010 being the festival's 21st birthday, the theme for the beerlist is Bent and Bongs Classics. There are plenty of old classics as well as a few new ones.
Not quite as mysterious as The Stig, and not quite as common as Cheryl Cole is Mrs Otto, the Bent N Bongs Beer Bash resident Beer Svengali.
This year, for the first time in the history of the festival, Mrs Otto will be recommending a selection of beers. If you want to try something a little different, there's no better place to start than where Mrs Otto recommends.
Check out the 2010 beerlist.
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| Music and Entertainment | | |
All sessions will feature live entertainment.
The bands lined up for 2010 are:
| Thursday night |
One Hand Clapping |
A traditional Irish folk band to get the festival underway
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Friday night
Early guest spot |
Bottle Tops |
An accoustic rock group to get the night off to an early start
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Friday night
Main set |
Juke Box Heros |
They rock, they roll, and ladies - you'd best have your dancing shoes on if you plan on joining them on stage
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| Saturday afternoon |
Cracked Flag |
The festival's favourite folk foursome are back again. And try saying that after a few pints of Orkney Skullsplitter.
Check them out at the Cracked Flag website.
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| Saturday night |
Spider Monkeys |
Who else but the Spider Monkeys to make sure the festival ends on a high. It's blues-rock from the moment they start until either the time or the beer runs out. Get a sneak preview at the Spider Monkeys' website
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| Food and Festival Fodder | | |
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A wonderful selection of sausages, black puddings, home made pie and other fabulous festival fodder will be available at all sessions. The perfect partners for a few good pints.
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| New To The Festival - Getting Your First Pint | | |
As you enter the hall you will be given a festival programme and your souvenir glass. The glass will be your drinking vessel for the whole night (or afternoon) 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. 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 | | |
If you enjoy the festival, why not considering sponsoring it in 2011? Especially if you come with a group of friends? As well as the entries in the programme, sponsors are also invited to the Thursday early-doors secret tasting session. It's not to be missed!! Drop us a note if you are interested and we'll send you the details as soon as we have them.
| Merchandise | | |
Souvenir festival tee shirts will be on sale at the festival.
There may ... just may ... only possibly ... perhaps ... be a sealed bid auction for a full set of all 21 commemorative glasses. That's right, the full set of all 21 glasses. Perhaps!!
| Photography | | |
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Garry Rawlinson and Dave Green did such an amazing job of the photography for 2009 that we are trying our best to get them back for 2010. 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. 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.
For fanatics, regulars and perhaps those just a little bit strange the 2009 beer festival details are here for comparison.
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