Campaign for Real Ale

The Campaign for Real Ale is an independent voluntary consumer organisation headquartered in St Albans, England, which promotes real ale, real cider, real perry and traditional British pubs and clubs. With nearly 190,000 members, it is now the largest single-issue consumer group in the UK, and is a founding member of the European Beer Consumers Union .

The organisation was founded on 16 March 1971 in Kruger's bar in Dunquin, Kerry, Ireland by Michael Hardman, Graham Lees, Jim Makin, and Bill Mellor, who were opposed to the growing mass production of beer and the homogenisation of the British brewing industry. The original name was the Campaign for the Revitalisation of Ale. Following the formation of the Campaign, the first annual general meeting took place in 1972, at the Rose Inn in Coton Road, Nuneaton. Early membership consisted of the four founders and their friends. Interest in CAMRA and its objectives spread rapidly, with 5,000 members signed up by 1973. Other early influential members included Christopher Hutt, author of Death of the English Pub, who succeeded Hardman as chairman, Frank Baillie, author of The Beer Drinker's Companion, and later the many times Good Beer Guide editor, Roger Protz.

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