Members' Weekend, AGM & Conference 11 - 13 April 2025 - CAMRA

Getting to Torquay

Torquay is easily reached by public transport. Train operators are GWR and CrossCountry. Popular routes are Exmouth to Torquay (1h 24m), Paignton to Torquay (5m), and London to Torquay (3h 24m). The Riviera Centre is a ten minute walk from the station.

Find out more about getting to the Centre here.

Visit NationalRail.co.uk for train times and fares.
Buses and Taxis

View the local public transport guide: www.torbay.gov.uk

View Stagecoach pubs by bus guide
Great Western Railway Travel

You can save on rail travel with GWR (Great Western Railway) by booking a Conference ticket. All you need is your registration confirmation email. Find out more here: Conferences and accommodation

Here is a link to the Great Western Railway map
Accommodation

CAMRA is unable to recommend any particular booking site or accommodation and advises all members to check cancellation policies and reviews before booking.

Being a holiday destination, there is no shortage of hotels, b&bs and other accommodation options in and around Torquay.

Visit the English Riviera site or search online to find your preferred type of accommodation for a memorable weekend!
Camping & Caravanning sites

There are plenty around the area – please use your search engine to find what’s best for you.

For those arriving/staying in campervans and live-in vehicles, please check the town’s guide on where you can park and stay.

All timings are approximate and subject to change.

- 16:00
  - Registration & sign-in open
  - Shop opens
  Arena & Forum entrance area
- Members’ Bar opens
  
  Arena
- Food area opens
  
  Arena (upstairs)
17:45

Maltings Beer Festival Group meet

Riviera Centre entrance
- 18:00
  
  Trip to Bay’s Brewery departs*
  
  Coach departure point
- Conference Procedures Committee meeting
  
  Arena Bar
- Cider Talk & Tasting*
  
  Grace Murrell Suite
- Fringe Activity: The State of UK Brewing with Tim Webb
  
  Grace Murrell Suite
- CPC meeting
  
  Arena Bar
19:00

National Executive Committee meeting

Arena Bar
20:00

Registration closes
21:00
- Shop closes
- Food area closes
23:00

Members’ Bar closes

- 8:30
  - Registration & sign-in open
  - Shop opens
  Arena & Forum entrance area
- Food area opens
  
  Arena (upstairs)
9:30
AGM opens
- Chairman's opening remarks
- Appointment of tellers
- Housekeeping
- Apologies for absence
- Notice of AGM
- Minutes of the 2024 AGM
- Finance Director’s Report
- Adoption of 2024 Accounts
- Appointment of Auditors
- Authorise the National Executive to set the renumeration of Auditors
Forum
10:15

AGM closes
- 10:20
  Conference opens
  - CPC Chairman’s opening remarks
  - Appointment of Conference Tellers
  - Motions for debate
11:00

Keynote Speaker: Steve Darling MP
11:30

Presentation: Good Beer Guide Review
12:15

Speech: Ash Corbett-Collins CAMRA Chairman

12.45

Lunch. Members’ Bar opens. Shop opens.
14:00

Motions for debate
15:00

Presentation: Inclusion and Activation
15:30

Fringe Activities

Grace Murrell Suite & Burdett Room
18:00

Beer & Music Matching Activity

Burdett Room
18:00

Registration closes
18:00

Cider Talk & Tasting*

Grace Murrell Suite
21:00
- Shop closes
- Food area closes
23:00

Members’ Bar closes

Please note: you will need to show your badge for entry on Sunday morning. The food area will be open from 8.30am for breakfast snacks, hot drinks etc.

9:00

Shop opens

Arena & Forum entrance
9:30
- Conference opens
- Motions for debate
Forum
10:00

Fringe Activities feedback
10:20

Presentation: Campaigning Strategy
10:40

Motions for debate
11:00

Speech: Tom Stainer, CAMRA Chief Executive
11:20

Motions for debate
12:30

Conference closes
12:30

Members’ Bar opens

Arena
14:00

Shop closes
16:00

Members’ Bar & food area closes
17:00

Venue closes

*Tickets required via tckty

Paid for tickets are non refundable unless the event is sold out. Tickets may still be available on the day.

All timings are approximate and subject to change.

Bays Brewery (Paignton) Brewery Trip £30 - Sold Out

Ticket includes (wheelchair accessible) bus travel to/from the brewery, tour of brewery, beer and pasty (vegetarian/vegan options to be ordered in advance). There is a disabled toilet at the brewery, but the upstairs area is not accessible. Ticket holders must be at the meeting point outside the Riviera Centre at least 10 minutes before departure.

Important information regarding accessibility for this trip
Maltings Beer Festival (Group event) £18 (leaving from outside the Riviera Centre at 17:45 to walk to station)

Ticket includes entry to the beer festival, glass, programme and 5 half pint tokens. This is part of a Group activity and ticket holders will have access to a dedicated seating area in the festival. Details about train times/tickets please read this important note.

The price includes lots of extras which aren't included in the general festival entrance price.

Book your tickets
Cider Talk & Tasting £15.00 (Grace Murrell Suite).

As 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of CAMRA promoting real cider and perry this is a great opportunity to hear from Devon producers and sample their products. Come and hear from Devon producers Courtney’s, Hunt’s, Bulkamore Orchards and Sam’s and sample their ciders.

This session lasts approximately 2 hours.

Book your tickets
The State of UK Brewing (Grace Murrell Suite)

It used to be that six large British firms produced 70% of the beer and owned half of the pubs in the UK. Fifty years on, four gigantic foreign firms control most of the UK beer business, from brewhouse to bar top, in a way that might be illegal. Use this session to understand who owns what, how their control works in practice, and what is needed to make vital changes to the current market. It is also a chance to get up to date with what has been happening to beer the UK, and to hear about some of the new ways in which CAMRA proposes to deal with the industry that supplies it. From the bigger picture to important local details – a CAMRA beer strategy to educate, and appeal to, the beer lovers of the future.

Book your tickets

Presented by Tim Webb, Beer Writer & Vice Chair RACPC.

Beer & Music Matching £10 (Burdett Room)

Join us for an electrifying event with award-winning beer writer Pete Brown, as he takes you on a captivating journey through the world of beer and music. The event is a dazzling audio-visual experience that blends passionate fandom, engaging storytelling, and genuine neuroscientific insights. Taste a selection of expertly crafted ales, paired perfectly with songs from a breadth of genres to bring out flavours and feelings you’d never expect. Over the past decade this event has captivated thousands, and CAMRA will be publishing Pete’s book on this phenomenon, Tasting Notes, later this year.

Book your tickets
The State of UK Brewing (Grace Murrell Suite).

It used to be that six large British firms produced 70% of the beer and owned half of the pubs in the UK. Fifty years on, four gigantic foreign firms control most of the UK beer business, from brewhouse to bar top, in a way that might be illegal. Use this session to understand who owns what, how their control works in practice, and what is needed to make vital changes to the current market. It is also a chance to get up to date with what has been happening to beer the UK, and to hear about some of the new ways in which CAMRA proposes to deal with the industry that supplies it. From the bigger picture to important local details – a CAMRA beer strategy to educate, and appeal to, the beer lovers of the future.

Book your tickets

Presented by Tim Webb, Beer Writer & Vice Chair RACPC.
Maximising New Member Recruitment at CAMRA Festivals (Grace Murrell Suite)

Come and hear about some easy wins for getting festival goers to join CAMRA, see the resources available, share best practice, and fire us some FAQs at this inter-active session. There might even be some role playing (if you are up for that). By the end of the session, we hope you will see that membership recruitment is not daunting and can be fun - with the right attitude and resources to hand (whether that includes wearing a wacky hat, dishing out free pints, or just being able to enthuse about how great CAMRA is to strangers). We promise that no idea is too ridiculous as long as it works (and is legal)!

Book your tickets

Presented by Laura Coles, Event Recruitment Officer and Val Langford, Volunteer Support Manager.
Branch and festival marketing: Working together for a stronger future (Grace Murrell suite)

Join us as we explore how to get the best from our collective marketing and communication approaches. This session will look at how we engage and encourage more people to get involved in CAMRA events and campaigns. This will include discussions on various channels, online platforms, tools and resources which are readily available to our volunteers. It will also celebrate and share great examples of Branch communications and approaches, while offering tactical help and support. Get involved in this engaging session on how we can attract more people to support a range of CAMRA local and national initiatives and events, including campaigning, marketing and membership messages.

Book your tickets

Presented by Dean Barrett, CAMRA Commercial Director, assisted by Jane Eason, Chief of Campaigns & Communications.

Cider Talk & Tasting £15 (Grace Murrell Suite)

As 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of CAMRA promoting real cider and perry this is a great opportunity to hear from Devon cider makers and sample their products. We are delighted to welcome Rull Orchards, Yarde, and Bollhayes to this session.

This session lasts approximately 2 hours.

Book your tickets
Beer & Music Matching £10 (Burdett Room)

Join us for an electrifying event with award-winning beer writer Pete Brown, as he takes you on a captivating journey through the world of beer and music. The event is a dazzling audio-visual experience that blends passionate fandom, engaging storytelling, and genuine neuroscientific insights. Taste a selection of expertly crafted ales, paired perfectly with songs from a breadth of genres to bring out flavours and feelings you’d never expect. Over the past decade this event has captivated thousands, and CAMRA will be publishing Pete’s book on this phenomenon, Tasting Notes, later this year.

Book your tickets

There will be a range of 'Drop-In' sessions taking place over the weekend in and around the Bar area:

The Future of Members’ Weekend

The Members’ Weekend Improvements Implementation Group is making some improvements to Members’ Weekend to enhance the experience for members.

Drop in for a chat with us about these plans, give feedback on how we currently run Members’ Weekend and suggest other improvements for the future.

Discovery Bar

Pop along to the pop-up Discovery Bar where Alex Metcalfe, Campaigns & Communications Manager, along with volunteers from the Discovery Bar team, will be demonstrating the benefits of ‘Disco’ Bars at festivals. We'll have visuals showing the bars in action, explaining their use as a powerful tool for educating festival goers about the ingredients and processes behind the drinks we campaign for. We'll show how they align with membership recruitment to enthuse visitors about CAMRA and showcase our resources to encourage more festivals to host a ‘Disco’ Bar.

Tckty Drop In – with Amy Nash, Senior Events Manager

Join me for a drop-in session on CAMRA’s event ticketing system, Tckty. Whether you're new to the system or need a refresher, this session will provide hands-on guidance on setting up and managing ticket sales for your event. I’ll be available to answer questions, troubleshoot issues, and share best practices to ensure a smooth ticketing experience. No booking required — just drop in and get the support you need! 5-7pm Friday & Saturday.

GDPR - with John Cottrell

Wondering what you can and cannot do in relation to GDPR? Come and chat to John, CAMRA’s expert, who can make sure we’re all keeping it legal.

NBSS

Come and speak to our expert beer scoring team and see what resources are available to help get more members scoring their beers. Remember, scores contribute to the Good Beer Guide selections so this is important stuff!

Members' Bar & Food

The food area is located upstairs in the Arena (above the bar) and will be serving hot & cold drinks, breakfast rolls, sandwiches, crisps, pasties and salad bowls. Please note that payment in the food area is by CARD ONLY. View our Beer & Cider Lists

Members' Bar

You can buy tokens from the dedicated stand with card (all except AMEX) or cash, or pay by card/phone on the bar itself. No cash at the bar..

Beer Magazine

Find a place to visit

CAMRA Member Benefits

CAMRA Discount Scheme

CAMRA Voucher Scheme

Bailey Head, Oswestry

Firs Club, Codsall