Bedford Corn Exchange
St Paul's Square
BEDFORD
MK40 1SL
Wednesday 7 to Saturday 10 October 2026

This year's logo celebrates Bedford athlete Harold Abrahams, gold medal winner at the Paris Olympics in 1924, who died 48 years ago. Harold was one of the elite British athletes portrayed in the 1981 film, Chariots of Fire.

In tribute to Harold, the festival will be formally opened by our Special Guest, his nephew Colonel Anthony Abrahams, at about 7pm on Wednesday 7 October.

Opening times. Wed 4 - 11, Thu/Fri 12 - 11, Sat 12 - 10.

Admission and bar charges. Entry £5, but CAMRA members free at all times. Glass hire £4, souvenir glass also £4 for purchase only. Beer token cards £5 and £10. Additional cards can be purchased from Glasses or the Festival Office.

Advance tickets. Admission tickets can be bought in advance from CAMRA's ticketing website, for one or several sessions, to guarantee entry at busy times. Advanced ticket package costs £14, comprising entry £5, refundable glass hire £4 and beer/cider tokens £5. For CAMRA members with free entry the £14 package includes £10 tokens. Click BBCF48 advance tickets to open ticketing website.

Beer, cider, perry and wine. The bars will offer about 100 cask, keg and international beers, ciders and perries, and a small selection of wines. All drinks are purchased with tokens, no cash is taken at the bars.
Cask Beer. Click BBCF cask beers to download the final cask beer list with detailed tasting notes. As there is a lot of information, you may find it easier to read the PDF on a desktop PC or laptop rather than a phone.
Cider & Perry.Click BBCF cider list and info to download the cider and perry list, with additional information about what is real cider.
Foreign beer. Click BBCF international beers to download a list of imported beers from Belgium and Germany.
Low alcohol beer. Click BBCF low alcohol beers to download tasting notes for 9 low alcohol or alcohol-free bottled beers from Scotland..

Mead and gin. A welcome return appearance by The Rookery Craft Mead, and, for the first time, a new stall for local distillery, Willow Tree Gin.

Please note that for everyone's safety, carrying glasses in neck lanyards is banned at this festival.

Food. We welcome the return of Milton Keynes based Better than Mamma's, with a new menu, taking into account customer feedback from last year. We also expect to offer award-winning pork pies!

Tutored tastings. Three tutored tasting panels are planned to help festival visitors learn more about some of our drinks:
Wednesday at 7.30pm: Christopher from The Rookery Craft Mead will explore Mead.
Thursday evening: Jarred from Tring Brewery on Dark Beer styles.
Friday evening: Bad Habits, Good Brews - Trappist beers, guided by two enthusiasts.
Book tutored tasting places with your advance tickets, or at the festival office if vacant places are still available.

Family area. Children’s play area in the Howard Room on Saturday, 12 - 6.30pm, but children must remain under adult supervision. No under 18's admitted at any other time.

Entertainment. We will have live, but unobtrusive entertainers in the main hall on Wednesday and Saturday evenings:
Wednesday: Ukulele Bedford
Saturday: Lily James

Festival clothing.T-shirts, polo shirts and hoodies with the festival logo are available in various sizes for order before the festival. Click BBCF shirts to see the range for sale. If you are a festival volunteer and intend to wear your shirt at the event, volunteer shirts are available at a bargain price. Email ku.oc.ebircsretwepeht@krow to order.

Staffing. Like every CAMRA festival, we need enough CAMRA members volunteering to serve behind the bars or glasses counter, sell drink tokens, answer questions at the festival office, or help set up the event and take it down after the close. Even a couple of hours will be gladly accepted. Volunteers are entitled to reasonable free beer or cider of their choice and to a discount on food from the caterer. Those working late are offered a subsidised cab service to get home safely within the wider Bedford area. To volunteer, click BBCF staffing form and complete the online Jotform. We look forward to welcoming you on board!

Charity. Our festival charity this year is Alec's Angels, which works with and for children suffering from cancer. A very worthy cause that we are pleased to support and hope you will too. Collecting tins will be available and boxes for you to donate unused tokens if you wish.

Festival flyer and poster. A colourful A5 flyer is available to promote the festival. Click BBCF48 A5 flyer to download. For the equally colourful and even more informative A4 poster, click BBCF48 A4 poster.

Video. Many thanks to our friends at local business Future Legend Media (FLM) for creating a short fun video celebrating runner Harold Abrahams to promote the festival. Click BBCF promotional video to play it.

Our grateful thanks to Gallagher Developments for being our main festival sponsor for the third year running.

Further details of the festival will be added to this page as they are decided. If you have any queries about the event or can offer useful skills or expertise to the organising committee, contact festival organiser Katherine Lilley at ku.gro.armac.sdebhtron@lavitsefreeb.