Sussex pubs join CAMRA Ale Trail
Pubs from Midhurst, Selham and Lodsworth have joined the CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) Ale Trail, offering stamps to ‘passport holders’ who are being encouraged to try new pubs and ales.
The last few months and years have been tough for the pub trade, and landlords have been under immense pressure due to rising prices and an increase in business rates.
CAMRA’s Ale Trail is designed to bring existing, new, and regular real ale and real cider drinkers together and lend support to the industry.
350 “Passports” are being issued free to all Ale Trailers by Western Sussex CAMRA Branch. Participating pubs will stamp each passport whenever an Ale Trailer purchases a pint or half a pint of Cask Ale, Real Cider or Real Perry in their pub.
If drinkers manage to collect stamps from each pub, they will be rewarded with a free pin. The first 15 people to finish the trail will also get a commemorative Ale Trail t-shirt.
Over 30 pubs across the region are taking part, but local watering holes include The Three Moles at Selham, Langham Brewery Tap Room in Lodsworth and The Foresters in Graffham. The Swan Inn in the centre of Midhurst is also part of the trail, as is the Royal Oak at Hooksway and the Bluebell in Cocking.
The 2026 Real Ale & Cider Trail will be launched at the annual Yapton Beerex (15 - 17 May), and will run for four months, giving drinkers plenty of time to visit participating pubs throughout the summer and get their passports stamped.
It comes at a pivotal time for the industry. Last year, across the UK, approximately one pub closed per day. Landlords and breweries cite a need to change business rates, VAT and rising inflation.
CAMRA says it campaigns against this by making sure that the full benefits of our pubs are recognised and that UK legislation is stronger in preventing closures.
The organisation also says the pressure on rural pubs is particularly acute: “The large rise in the minimum wage over the last 6 years has reduced the opportunities for young people to be employed in the pub sector.
Taken together with the rise in employers’ National Insurance costs in the last budget, this means that employment is reduced, hours cut, and pubs close early or do not open at all earlier in the week. This affects all pubs in our area, but particularly rural pubs.”
The CAMRA Ale Trail is part of their “Save Our Pubs” campaign, which aims to support pubs during this difficult time.