It is with great regret that we are announcing that the Belfast Beer & Cider Festival will not be running in 2019.

Earlier this year our traditional venue (the Ulster Hall) announced a massive increase in the fees they wanted to charge us, which made the entrance price we’d have to charge to break even just too high.

We felt the festival went well in 2018, with some great improvements, and a great atmosphere, so it was with a heavy heart that we concluded that there was no viable way for us to afford their fees, and had to walk away and start looking for another venue.

From that point we’ve been working hard to try to secure a workable venue for the festival for this year, but I’m afraid we’ve simply run out of time and options to deliver a festival in November 2019.

This is not the end for the Belfast Beer & Cider Festival. Having made the final call not to go ahead with this year’s festival, we are already looking at options for next year. It may not be in the Ulster Hall or in November, but we’ll continue working to bring an even better beer and cider festival back to Belfast

We hope to be back in 2020 with a great event to celebrate the 20^th Belfast Beer & Cider Festival.

We understand that Belfast Council, the owners of the Ulster Hall, have tasked it to make as much profit as possible, ignoring all wider cultural and tourism implications of their decisions and pricing. We feel how the council should have aims other than immediate profit, and as a long-standing, reliable and popular customer of the Ulster Hall, we are very disappointed to leave in this way. If you have enjoyed the festival in the Ulster Hall in the past, would like to see it continue there, and are a resident of Belfast then please get in touch with your councillors.

If you have any suggestions of venues which you think may be suitable, please drop us an email on organisers@belfastbeerfestival.co.uk. Amongst the criteria we have to consider are access to good public transport links across Belfast & Northern Ireland, as well as availability for the 8 days we require and cost of a venue.

We, the volunteers who organise the festival, would like to thank you for your support and custom throughout the years. We hope you’ll continue to attend the Belfast Beer & Cider Festival long into the future.