Yesterday, I attended The Great British Beer Festival for the first time in a few years. Mainly because it was in Birmingham and I wanted to show up and support my community – it’s the first time the event has been hosted in Birmingham in over 40 years! Also, I like beer very much (including real ale friends) and want the industry to thrive and all the venues and breweries I love to survive in this tough climate. 

Well done to the organisers, CAMRA who pulled off the move to Brum.

Sadly though, after all these years attending I can still categorically confirm that I don’t feel comfortable at GBBF. 

Yesterday, I arrived and I instantly felt on edge. I felt eyeballs surveying me, judging me, looking me up and down. As a lone woman in attendance who was extremely anxious about going having previously experienced many unwelcome situations at previous GBBFs I was on alert. I convinced myself that this was all in my head and dashed to get my glass. 

As soon as I got my festival glass I made a beeline for a bar that didn’t look crowded, so I could get my back against a nearby table/bar so I didn’t feel so vulnerable. The vast open space and the weird “welcome” got me off to a ropey start. I didn’t even feel comfortable making the long walk to the bathroom in that wide open space. 

I knew I needed a gameplan to get through the trade session and because I was late, I wanted to stay a few more hours after because there were breweries I wanted to connect with and support. I’ll provide more context on why I was late to GBBF later – it’s relevant to give a whole picture of the day. 

In the first hour of being there I had several interactions that made me feel uncomfortable. I nearly left after just one hour – a friend reassured me I’d be ok staying.

Here’s a few things I did yesterday at GBBF to modify my experience there. I can’t just show up to GBBF and just “be”. It’s not possible. I wish it was. 

So here’s my game plan for how I made it through my day at GBBF. I wanted to highlight this because if you’re going and are anxious or aren’t male, these tips might help:

1. Kept my coat on. I was aware I was wearing a playsuit that showed “leg” but I didn’t feel comfy enough to show arms too. I feel the need to say this as I know some readers will be like: “well you attended and wore xyz so what do you expect?” Sad I have to say this. But I do still. In 2025. 
2. Find somewhere to stand/be with one approach route if alone. That way I wouldn’t feel as vulnerable. Example: next to a table facing outwards. 
3. Locate safe bars to stand at and come back to. Attic was the main one for me. I knew the team and Cath was already aware I felt anxious going, so she had reassured me I could use them as a base.
4. Tell trusted people how I was feeling. I use the word trusted because honestly you don’t know if people are going to rubbish how you feel or tell you you’re “making something out of nothing.” That did happen. 
5. Asked trusted parties to witness behaviour. Thank you Cath for being there for two uncomfortable interactions. This prevents gaslighting later. Or even self questioning – we are programmed to think it’s all us. 
6. Stop roaming and exploring alone. I didn’t feel comfortable at all doing this at GBBF solo. Unless I was desperate for the bathroom, I went nowhere alone for the remainder of the festival after arrival and before departure. 
7. Drink alcohol only with someone trusted present. There was one occasion I was brought a drink and I asked for a third and the person in question pressured us (there were two of us) to have halves. I said twice I didn’t want that measure. The person who brought the drink also said two inappropriate things which they most likely thought were harmless but they made me feel uncomfortable. I’d have left that situation sooner if I wasn’t with one person I trusted in my orbit. 
8. Ignore comments that made me physically nauseous. I didn’t feel in the right frame of mind to say “stop” and get into a more heated debate especially in light of what had happened in the morning (more on this later). It’s sometimes easier to exit the situation as quickly as possible. And just add it to the list of things that have happened at the festival. 
9. Find a trusted male to hang out with. My experience changed dramatically when I was with one lone man exploring the festival. 
10. Work out assigned escape routes / phrases. So I could get out of uncomfortable situations quickly. 
11. Find more than one woman to hang with. When I was with just one other woman the incidents escalated. More singular men and male duos approached and the “banter” escalated.  

I had many situations to contend with. Ones I didn’t want to be in. I won’t list them all and sometimes no matter how many of the tips I enlisted on my gameplan above, they still didn’t work. 

Two examples: 

1. I said “hello” to someone I’d worked with in the industry in the past. It took him a while to realise where he knew me from. After three sentences of small talk, he leaned in and got into my personal space, looked me up and down slowly and said: “well you’re looking well since you left xyx”. I felt sick. I can’t remember whether I replied with “gee thanks” or silence and changed the subject. An hour after this initial interaction happened I was stood by a trusted brewery with a friend. He then approached me, leaned in while I had my back to him and said: “great seeing you” while stroking my arm very slowly. Something I never asked for or invited. My friend said “what a creep”. And I replied with: “why did he touch me?” 

2. Another group of two men were talking to someone from a brewery who they didn’t know I knew well. I assumed they were saying something inappropriate about me because when I turned to face them, the brewery person I knew turned around and realised it was me and quickly changed body language. I really hope they veered the conversation elsewhere. My suspicions were confirmed that the initial conversation was about me as later, as I saw one of the men in question at another stand and he got close to me and said “are you following me?” in a flirty tone. Errrr no actually mate, tried my damdest to avoid you actually! 

There were so many more things that happened. 

I know CAMRA has done lots of work to produce a robust Code of Conduct and training etc and I’m not blaming them at all for some of these incidents. They can’t control who attends. I mean, some of the things that happened were at the trade session! However what I can’t ignore is that for some reason these trade people and the guests in question chose GBBF as a safe place for them to push the boundaries and behave inappropriately. 

Why is that? 

I posted a summarised version of this experience on Bluesky and was asked “How does it get fixed”. My reply: 

So will I go back to GBBF?

I’m meant to be going for a Brum Beer Babs meet up Friday and as an attendee with a few friends Saturday. I’m in two minds. On one hand, I know I’ll be with people I trust and I don’t want to let the bad eggs win and put me off attending. On the other hand, I’m exhausted by it all. And it feels too big to fight right now at the moment I’m typing this. 

Now it’s time to tell you what happened on my journey to GBBF. I left the house and on the next road to my house I was cat called by a group of construction workers. I ignored it the first time and looked down, staring at my phone. The second time they did it again, ignored. Third time, I swung round and gave them a ‘WTF’ look. The catcalls heightened as I walked. I then lost it a little and stuck my middle finger up and shouted “stop harassing me”.

It intensified. I grabbed my phone to video them and said: “Got anything else to say? I’ll be reporting to you all”. Again they intensified and laughed/whooped me. 

I asked a neighbour who the company was at the site because I didn’t feel comfortable to go back and screen grab the details and this is how the rest of the conversation went: 

Neighbour: “they were just whistling you and stuff”! 

Me: “errr so you heard all that and you thought it was ok? It was relentless – I asked them to stop and they continued.” 

Neighbour: “They are just doing the scaffolding.”

Me: “Well why don’t they do the scaffolding and focus on that then?! I’m reporting them regardless of if you think it is acceptable or not.”

Neighbour: “Good for you” in a mocking tone. 

I left that interaction, went to see a friend in a local cafe to calm down and ask if they could come back and get the details for the company involved. 

The cat callers were BSL Scaffolding. They were working on behalf of EMBER HOME CONSTRUCTION. I’ve emailed them about this experience.

I got to GBBF yesterday (Tuesday) two hours later than planned. 

I’M EXHAUSTED.