Festivals are a beery delight

They are the sort of people who make it almost impossible, at times, to enjoy a night out without worrying about the threat of violence or someone being ill over your shoulder.

Everyone has seen something outrageous on a night out in any of our town centres as the so-called binge drinker ruins it for everyone else.

So how it is that you can pack 2,700 into one venue over one weekend, ply them with almost 12,000 pints of beer between them and leave the venue and the surrounding area unscathed?

There is a simple answer.

And that answer is that despite the omnipresence of large amounts of beer and people eager to partake in it, a well organised beer festival will almost always pass without incident.

I am a veteran of all but one of the 10 Pendle Beer Festivals.

I have attended similar events at the Mechanics in Burnley and at a variety of local pubs and clubs.

And like the weekend’s beery extravaganza in Colne, they all pass without the need for the police to come and sort things out or for paramedics to scrape people up off the floor.

They are well organised events for “grown-up” drinkers of all ages.

People travel from outside the area to attend beer festivals, especially when the organisers have the foresight to give designated drivers free soft drinks rather than clatter them with exhorbitant “parking fees” for their choice of cola.

And they travel safe in the knowledge that it does not matter where they are in the country, a well organised beer festival will be a safe haven for anyone who is a devotee of the Good Beer Guide.

Pendle won some new friends at the weekend as people attended for the first time.

The same will happen at Padiham Town Hall next month and at The Mechanics and all the other venues following suit later in the year.

How? Simple really. There won’t be lines of shots and bombs and alco-pops. But there will be people having a good time - and doing so responsibly.

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