The first beers from new West Midlands brewer, Springbanks, will be launched at the Wolverhampton Summer Festival of Beer and Cider tomorrow, celebrating 150 years of brewing heritage in the city and the 50th anniversary of the local CAMRA branch.
Event sponsor Springbanks will be making its official debut at the festival, bringing along Springbanks Brewery IPA (4.5 per cent ABV), an all-English pale amber IPA, and Springbanks Brewery Mild, (3.6 per cent) a traditional mild pale ale with gently floral English hops.
Following the closure of Banks’s brewery by Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (now Carlsberg Britvic) in 2025, this marks a milestone for local cask beer. The new beers will be in local pubs soon after the festival.
Joint festival organiser Shelley Bentley said: “The closure of Banks's brewery last year left us with only one small brewery in Wolverhampton and caused much sadness. Springbanks has successfully installed one of the Burton union sets from Marston’s and had help from the brewers at Burton to get it running. It seems wonderful to us that another brewery is now producing ale in our city. Named in memory of Springfields and Banks’s breweries, which were both prominent in Wolverhampton for many years, this new brewery helps heal some of the loss felt when they closed.”
To celebrate the Wolverhampton CAMRA branch campaigning for a half century, two new beers will also be brewed by independent West Midland breweries, exclusively for the festival. Beerwolf Gold (5 per cent) from Newbridge and Golden Years (5 per cent) from Kinver will be available while stocks last.
Commemorative festival glasses will celebrate the inaugural branch meeting, held in November 1976 at the Clarendon Hotel in Chapel Ash, Wolverhampton.
The festival poster (pictured) celebrates the 100th anniversary of two six-wheeled, double-deck buses which entered service on 13 July 1926, both built by Wolverhampton’s own Guy Motors at Fallings Park – marking a significant moment in the city’s transport history.
One of the pioneering vehicles operated in Wolverhampton and earned pride of place as the first of its design to enter service.Â
The festival will be raising money in aid of Parkinson’s UK, in memory of John Hughes who reopened the award-winning Sarah Hughes brewery. A charity auction of rare, vintage bottles will be run from 5pm on 23 July. The bottles have been donated by Robin Shields (formerly of Black Country Ales), the family of the late John Hughes and Wombourne local Mark Rickard.
The festival takes place 23-25 July from 12pm at the Wolverhampton Arts Centre. Entry is free for CAMRA members, but a festival glass and tokens will need to be purchased. Advance tickets are available here.
