Tag Archives: kings head and bell

2012 Beer Festivals in Abingdon-on-Thames

The first of this year’s beer festivals in Abingdon starts this evening (Friday 24th February 2012) at The Kings Head & Bell. There will also be a folk music session on Sunday afternoon starting around 3pm. Please come along with an instrument to join in with, or a song to sing, or come along to listen. The beer list is at the bottom of this post.

More beer festivals coming up in Abingdon in the next few months include:

  • 16th-18th March: The Cross Keys Spring Beer Festival
  • 23rd-25th March: The Brewery Tap Springtime Beer Festival
  • 6th-8th April: Broad Face Easter Beer Festival
  • 4th-7th May: Waggon & Horses in Culham, May Bank Holiday Beer Festival. It is worth making the short trip to Culham to visit this pub which has recently reopened as a freehouse with a good range of local beers.

Continue reading →

February 24, 2012Permalink Leave a comment

Kings Head & Bell’s 2nd Summer Beer Festival

The King’s Head and Bell on East St. Helen’s Street is holding its 2nd Summer Beer Festival this weekend. On Saturday, the Hook Norton draymen (Taffy and Roger Hughes) brought their shire horses to the pub. On Sunday afternoon, Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers will be doing some dancing and playing music from 2pm.

Hook Norton Dray (Picture borrowed from Kings Head and Bell facebook page)

There is a good range of 20 real ales outside (and 4 more at the bar). Many of them are from local breweries including:

From further afield are:

There are also 5 real ciders.

I haven’t tried everything yet, but probably the Hooky Flagship is my favourite so far.

You can also see more pictures of the horses on The Abingdon Blog

August 28, 2011Permalink Leave a comment

Kings Head & Bell – 1st Annual Abingdon Beer Festival

The Kings Head and Bell in Abingdon, which reopened last autumn is holding its first annual beer festival this weekend from saturday 29th August until monday. The festival features aproximately 20 real ales, which are all from local breweries including Appleford, Vale, Hook Norton and others that did not have pump clips on yet when I looked on friday.

Kings Head and Bell - Stillage, the day before

The full list of breweries is Hook Norton, White Horse, Abingdon’s own Loose Cannon, Oxfordshire Ales, Appleford, Box Steam Brewery, West Berkshire, Wadworth, Festival Brewery from Cheltenham and Vale Brewery.

The festival was officially opened at midday on Saturday by Beth Fleming, chairman of the Vale and Alastair Fear, deputy mayor of Abingdon.

Also this afternoon, members from the Oxford branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) members will be giving a tutured tasting demonstration and will be on hand to answer questions about real ale and what CAMRA does.

Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers will be performing on Sunday afternoon starting around 2:30pm and will be followed by a folk music jam session.

The Freedom brewery had a stand on Saturday where you could sample their Hand crafted English Lagers, which if you are only used to the bland mass produced lager brands will surprise you with their aroma, taste and body. The King’s Head and Bell regularly serve Freedom Four

There are other things going on as well including a BBQ serving local farm produce. The banner outside also refers to a local craft market and face painting.

August 28, 2010Permalink 1 Comment