The Derby Heritage Beer Festival has a habit of moving house, and this year it landed somewhere with a bit of character. For the first time the festival took over the newly refurbished Market Hall on Tenant Street, where it ran for four days from Wednesday 14 to Saturday 17 October. It was put on by Derby CAMRA and Derby Museums Trust, and the whole thing was built around a family-friendly atmosphere rather than a late-night session.
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The headline figure was the beer: more than 100 cask ales, kegs, ciders and perries. The cask ales came from around 25 breweries across Derbyshire, with guest pours brought in from Northern England, East Anglia and the South East. A few local breweries brewed something specifically for the occasion, marking both the 160th anniversary of the Market Hall and the 50th anniversary of Derby's twinning with the German city of Osnabrück. RBA Brewery in Oakwood did a Market Hall 160 and a Lock-Up Yard Porter, Pour Me turned out a Guildhall Pale, Dancing Duck Brewery went with Pils aleman Osnadück, Brunswick Brewing Company made a Twin Cities hybrid IPA hopped with both German and English hops, and Crich Brewery in Belper produced Voodoo Lady, a chocolate and vanilla stout described as crème brûlée in a glass.
The building was split by floor. Downstairs held the North and South Cask Bars, the Craft Keg bar, the cider and perry counter, world and bottled beers, The Spirit Run from the Market Hall's own distillery and the Market Porter bar. Upstairs, Caffè Prosecco served fine wines and aperitifs with a view over the hall. Food was spread across the market's usual traders: The Market Deli, Olivia's Coffee & Bakery, Bethel Kitchen, Arepita, Potful of Caribbean, TikkaTales, Steve's Hot Dogs, Mr Baguettes, Nico's Gelato & Coffee and Potful of Crumble.
Music ran alongside the drinking. The evening headliners were Skarantinos on Wednesday, Strange Days on Thursday, New Cranes on Friday and Peashooter on the Saturday night, with acoustic sets, local choirs and a long list of afternoon acts filling the gaps. On the practical side, sessions ran from 5pm to 10pm on the Wednesday and 12pm to 10pm the rest of the week, with last orders at 9.45pm. Entry was £6 for non-CAMRA members and free for members, Blue Light Card holders and students aged 18 and over with ID, plus a £3 refundable deposit for the official festival glass. Challenge 25 was in force, under-18s were welcome supervised, and cask ales were colour-coded yellow for gluten-free and green for vegan.
The move to the Market Hall is the latest chapter in the festival's history. It has landed at King's Hall, the Assembly Rooms, a marquee in the Market Place and the Museum of Making, where its first edition drew nearly 3,000 people. The change of venue came after the Museum of Making had to make some difficult decisions about large-scale events. The festival itself had been off for four years before Derby Museums Trust and Derby CAMRA brought it back to the city two years ago, so this year's edition was the third since its return.
Published Date
31 October 2026
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