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It is with great sadness that we have to call "time"on "Beer and Buses".
Isle of Wight Classic Buses, Beer and Walks Weekend, which ran annually from 2014 until 2019, will not return in future
The event, a collaboration between the IW Bus Museum and IW CAMRA, had grown from an initial attendance of 3,000 visitors and 40 buses to 20,000 visitors and 105 buses by the 2019 event, contributing £0.5m each year to the Island economy with visitors travelling from all over the UK, as well as international visitors including a vintage bus driven across from Belgium. The Covid-19 pandemic prevented the 2020 and 2021 events from taking place, but equally gave the organisers an opportunity to reflect on the stress and strains of previous events.
The decision to "bring the curtain down" was not an easy one to make. The event was organised by a small group of volunteers with specialist backgrounds who gave their time at no cost, but with planning taking 9 months to complete, this would be unsustainable in the long term. Also, the loss of some key members from the organising team, including the sad passing of IW Bus Museum chairman Bill Ackroyd during 2021, had been contributing factors, alongside many restrictions that would be necessary to implement even in a post-Covid world.
Although the event will no longer be held in the same way, true enthusiasts of beer and classic buses are promised to still be well catered for. The IW Bus Museum will hold major weekend events on 14/15 May and 8/9 October 2022, where it is hoped to still attract a reasonable number of visiting classic buses to the Island and operate services in the Ryde area and beyond. It is hoped that visitors and locals alike would make a weekend of it and visit the IW Bus Museum, ride on the classic buses in service, whilst also visiting local pubs and venues.
Isle of Wight CAMRA(Wightwash) are hoping to collaborate with the IW Bus Museum in the future on some small pop up events. A joint campaign with Southern Vectis is also likely, reminding the public that it is possible to travel around the Island 365 days of the year, visiting many great pubs and venues whilst seeing the sights from the top deck.
On behalf of their organisations, the event co-ordinators would like to thank the landlords, the advertisers & sponsors, the dozens of volunteers but most of all, the bus drivers and owners who brought their buses from all over the UK and beyond.