Norwich Pub and Beer Survey 2012

The Norwich & Norfolk branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) will be organising the biggest pub crawl of the year later this month, in their annual quest to prove that Norwich is the UK Capital of Real Ale – but this year they’re looking for help to beat off a head-to-head challenge from the city of York, which is running a similar survey on the same day, Saturday 30th June.

Norwich was first declared Capital of Real Ale last year, after volunteers visited over 130 pubs on the same day, and discovered a grand total of 215 different real ales on sale.

Since then Sheffield, Derby and Nottingham have all tried to claim the title, but the challenge from York may turn out to be the stiffest one yet, as the city has a similar number of pubs per head of population as Norwich.

“We expected a big number, but 215 was massive, and as we all had a great time surveying the pubs, we thought we’d do it again this year!” said Ian Stamp, N&N CAMRA’s Pubs Officer.

“Norwich has a great pub scene, as we’re seeing this week with the City of Ale, and we need to keep shouting about it to get the national attention our brewers and landlords deserve”.

“Helping with the survey is easy” Ian says, “You don’t need to commit to anything more than visiting a pub sometime during the day of the survey on the 30th June”.

And there’s even the chance to win a few bottles of beer if your guess is one of the nearest to the final total of real ales found on the day – which will be announced the same day – in one of the pubs, naturally!

Anyone who would like to help can email pubsofficer@norwichcamra.org.uk for details.