Derby Heritage Beer Festival at Derby Market Hall: Everything you need to know

Beer on table at Derby Beer Festival

The event will feature over one hundred cask ales, keg beers, ciders, and perries, plus a full schedule of live music from Wednesday 14 October to Saturday 17 October.

Organised in partnership with Derby CAMRA, this year’s beer festival will be held at Derby Market Hall for the first time. The ground floor will host dedicated North and South Cask Bars, a Craft Keg bar, and a Cider and Perry counter, alongside a special World and Bottled Beers selection. 

Three people cheersing with beers
Image: Pictoria Pictures

Drinks

Cask ales have been sourced from around 25 Derbyshire breweries, along with guest ales from Northern England, East Anglia, the South East and beyond. 

There will be special festival beers created by local breweries to celebrate Derby Market Hall’s 160th birthday, and the 50th anniversary of the twinning agreement between Derby and the German city of Osnabrück.

RBA Brewery, based in Oakwood, has brewed the one-off casks Market Hall 160 and Lock-Up Yard Porter, while fellow Derby-based brewery Pour Me has produced a mid-range pale called Guildhall Pale.

Dancing Duck Brewery has created a German-style cask Pils beer called Osnadück and Brunswick Brewing Company has a German/English hopped hybrid IPA called Twin Cities.

Crich Brewery, based in Belper, will again be supplying Voodoo Lady – a chocolate and vanilla stout described as ‘crème brûlée in a glass’ – which was the first beer to sell out at last year’s festival!

You can view a list of the cask ales available at the festival on the Real Ale Finder website.

In addition to real ale, there will also be a Craft Keg bar with craft beers from the UK and further afield, a Cider & Perry bar for cider lovers and a World Beer bar with bottles of brews from around the world.

Festival-goers can also visit The Spirit Run, the Market Hall’s on-site distillery, to sample locally crafted spirits and cocktails, the Market Porter bar, or head upstairs to Caffè Prosecco on the first-floor balcony for fine wines, sparkling aperitifs, and panoramic views of the main hall.

People eating Potful of Caribbean food
Food is be available from our permanent traders and pop-ups.

Food

To complement the extensive drinks selection, Derby Market Hall’s independent food traders will be serving up a delicious array of dishes.

Food outlets include The Market Deli (sandwiches, toasties, jacket potatoes and more), Olivia’s Coffee & Bakery (pastries, cakes and baked items), Bethel Kitchen (French-African cuisine including croque monsieur, fried chicken and rustic stews), Arepita (gluten-free Venezuelan arepas and empanadas), Potful of Caribbean (Caribbean street food), TikkaTales (curries, samosas, and tandoori chicken) Steve’s Hot Dogs and Mr Baguettes. 

Visitors with a sweet tooth can also enjoy desserts from Nico’s Gelato & Coffee (Italian gelato, pastries and more) and Potful of Crumble (apple and mixed fruit crumble pots).

Carl North on stage
Live music features throughout the festival.

Live music

The festival stage will host a diverse line-up of live entertainment across all four days, featuring acoustic sets, local choirs, and high-energy evening headliners from Derby and Derbyshire. Highlights include evening performances from ska and reggae band Skarantinos on Wednesday, pop and rock covers from Strange Days on Thursday, folk-rock group New Cranes on Friday, and classic pop/rock band Peashooter closing out Saturday night.

Afternoon sessions offer a blend of solo artists, duos, and community groups, including sets from Becki Sings, Sticky Bones Jones, The Desperate Cowboys, and Carl North and the Pointing Dogs, as well as choral performances by the Movember Shanty Buoys and G2S Choir. Also look out for performances by Sophie Sax, Wheels of Empire, Leah Wilcox, Henry John and Milly Ayesha. The full entertainment schedule is available on the Derby Market Hall website.

Customers at Derby Heritage Beer Festival
Tickets are available online via Tckty or pay on the door.

Schedule

In an update to this year’s schedule, the festival will operate as a single continuous session each day. Opening hours are 5pm until 10pm on Wednesday, and 12noon until 10pm Thursday through Saturday, with last orders called at 9:45pm nightly. Organisers encourage guests to continue their evening after last orders by exploring the many independent pubs across Derby city centre.

Derby Market Hall will remain open as normal for regular daytime shopping throughout the festival.

Essential visitor information

  • Tickets: Entry is £6 for non-CAMRA members and free for CAMRA members. Blue Light Card holders and students aged 18+ enter free on the Wednesday evening session (from 5pm) on presentation of a valid membership card/Student ID. All ticket holders are required to pay a £3 refundable deposit for their official festival glass at the time of booking. You can book your tickets now via Tckty or there will be the option to pay on the door. You can also join CAMRA on the day.
  • Arriving at the festival: On arrival, head to the dedicated sign-in desk, located behind Olivia’s Coffee & Bakery at the Osnabruck Square entrance. A member of the festival team will either scan your pre-purchased ticket or process your on-the-door payment and give you your festival wristband and glass. Your wristband and glass give you access to the festival bars to purchase drinks.
  • Bar locations: The Cask Ale, Craft Keg and Cider & Perry bars are located in the centre of Derby Market Hall, with the World Beer bar located in a separate unit, next to Goddess Beauty & Aesthetics.
  • Under 18s and Challenge 25: As the Market Hall will be open to everyone, Under 18s are welcome at the festival but children should be supervised at all times. Challenge 25 will be in operation at the bars so, if you are lucky enough to look young, you will be asked to show ID. All festival goers will need to obtain a wrist band to enable them to buy alcoholic drinks.
  • Dietary Needs and Allergens: Cask beers are clearly colour-coded (yellow labels for Gluten-Free, marked GF in the programme; green labels for Vegan, marked V). Allergen advice is available upon request from staff or at the Membership Stand during peak hours.
  • Facilities and First Aid: All toilets including a Changing Places toilet, are fully mapped in the official festival guide. Qualified first-aiders will be on-site, reachable via any Beer Festival Steward.

Information about Derby Heritage Beer Festival is available on the Derby Market Hall and Derby CAMRA website.