The biggest Beer Festival in the North is making a return on 5-8th October, and tickets are now on sale at special ‘presale parties’ held at Port Street Beer House and The Beagle from 6pm-9pm on Wednesday 17th May.
General tickets start from £14.50 and will go on sale on Thursday 18th via the website. For the first time ever you’ll be able to pre-order bundles of tokens alongside your ticket
With prices frozen from last year at a discounted rate of £25 for 10 that won’t be available anywhere else.
Organisers have been super organised with a detailed list of answers to FAQ’s.
WHAT BREWERIES & BEERS WILL BE THERE?
As in previous years, we’ll only be able to confirm the breweries who’ll be at IMBC, and the beers they’ll be pouring, closer to the festival itself (from July onwards). Some of these breweries will be with us for the entire weekend, and others will only be with us for either the first half of the festival (Thursday/Friday) or the second half (Saturday/Sunday), with the changeover happening inadvance of the opening session on Saturday. We do this both to give the many people who attend multiple sessions some variety, and also to allow as broad a range of breweries as possible.
JUST UK OR INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES?
We are committed to ensuring that the festival remains sustainable in every sense of the word – in that light, we’re working with a handful of international breweries to have their beers transported to the festival in a way that uses the most carbon efficient modes of freight.
These will supplement the best independent breweries currently operating across the UK of whose beers the festival was set up to celebrate and advance.
There are always breweries that we’d like to have with us, but who are unable to attend due to various circumstances: if your favourite brewer isn’t on the list when we do announce, we can only apologise. If you are a brewer and have questions for our beer team, you can find them on beerteam@indymanbeercon.co.uk
FOOD, NON-BEER, & TASTINGS
There’ll be alcoholic drinks that are not beer, as well as soft drinks, and a food village and tastings operating at every session. All details will be revealed as soon as possible, and well in advance of the festival.
TICKET PRICES & REFUNDS
Despite a rise in associated costs due to – well, the world – we’ve frozen our ticket prices for IMBC 2023. We’re also doing the same for tokens for those who purchase them before the 17th June.
Tickets will be priced at:
- Thursday Evening (5.30pm – 10.30pm) £14.50
- Friday Morning (11am – 4pm) £14.50
- Friday Evening (5.30pm – 10.30pm) £19
- Saturday Morning (11am – 4pm) £19
- Saturday Evening (5.30pm – 10.30pm) £19
- Sunday (1pm – 6pm) £14.50
Your ticket gains you admission to the festival, as well as a commemorative glass to keep. To be clear: drinks tokens, ticketed tasting sessions, and food are not included with your ticket.
Refunds on both tickets and pre-ordered tokens will be available up until 11:59pm on Wednesday 20th September 2023 – after this point, we will be unable to provide any refunds under any circumstances as all of our team will be on site, preparing for the festival.
TOKENS
For the first time ever you’ll be able to pre-order bundles of tokens alongside your ticket, at a discounted rate that won’t be available anywhere else – £25 for 10. We’re able to say definitively what the token price will be at the festival due to inflationary pressures, but our price for tokens on the door will be higher in a not insignificant manner.
Pre-order can only be done at the point of the ticket being purchased, as your pre-order will be linked to your tickets – we’ll be handing them out as you enter the festival. This ability will also only be available for the first month of tickets being on sale, as a thanks to those who purchase early.
In most cases it’ll be one token for one third of a beer across all three days.
Following feedback, we will also be reinstating the ability to sell back unused tokens to the festival at the end of each session. We’ll have a completely new token for IMBC so we won’t be able to accept tokens from previous years.
ADMISSIONS
We are reviewing our processes to make sure you’re in Victoria Baths for as early as possible: we’ll communicate these closer to the festival.
As with previous editions, for security reasons we’re unable to allow re-admittance to the festival once you have left your session, and tickets are not transferable between sessions under any circumstances.
VOLUNTEERS
If you want to get involved on the day of the festival, we’d love to hear from you. In exchange for working one session at the festival, we’ll give you:
- £25 Nell’s voucher upon completion of your shift
- A free session at IMBC, with 10 free tokens
- Other goodies
Our volunteers will be responsible for working the bar, but can ask for FoH, and we’ll always do our best to match up your skills with a role suited to them: however, we’re unable to guarantee any particular role. In advance of the festival, we’ll throw a briefing session where we’ll feed you (probably Nell’s Pizza) and get you a pint while we go over what helping out at the festival may be like. Apply to be a volunteer here.
TRADE SESSION
Following some hiccoughs with the issuing of tickets last year, we’re opening applications for our trade session NOW, and will be closing at midnight on the July 31st. Email trade@indymanbeercon.co.uk and our team will get back to you.
Our trade session will be starting at 2pm on Thursday 5th October and rolling through to that day’s evening session. It’s open to those who work in the industry, as well as hospitality at large. Numbers are limited and this year we will be asking for a £5 donation to be made for every ticket, which will go towards supporting the excellent work that Mind Manchester do.
Please note that an application for a ticket does not guarantee that you will be allocated a ticket for this session, with the decision of our team being final.
In addition, for the first time ever we will be running a series of industry only events around the festival. Details on these will be announced closer to the festival, and these will be open to all in the industry, regardless of whether you are attending the trade session.
INDY MAN BEER CITY (IMBC FRINGE)
One of the best parts of getting these great brewers together is that they all want to have a party somewhere – which is why Indy Man Beer City, our fringe event program – is such a big part of the festival. These can range from Meet The Brewer events, through to tap takeovers and – in some cases – just full on all-night parties.
We’ll publicise all fringe events across Manchester and beyond on our website, to our mailing list, and through our app. If you’re a bar throwing your own fringe event and would like us to tell people about it, or would be interested in hosting an event with a brewery, email lucy@commsbypear.co.uk.
Tickets gain you access to the festival, as well as a commemorative glass to take home: tokens, food, etc need to be purchased separately.
ACCESSIBILITY
We will have measures in place to make sure everyone is able to enjoy their time with us comfortably and safely. Victoria Baths is a Grade II* listed building, which presents various barriers to creating an accessible event for all. We’ll be continuing with our previous measures, like lifts into the pools and queue assistance, but we’ll be expanding on these to help you enjoy your time with us in the best way possible. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Festival Coordinator and Inclusion Lead, Becca, at becca@indymanbeercon.co.uk.
CHILDREN / DOGS
Children are welcome to attend IMBC, but our licence means it can only be before 7pm, and they must always be accompanied by a guardian. Guide dogs are welcome but the rest of our canine friends have to stay at home.
INCLUSIVITY & SAFETY AT IMBC
IMBC does not tolerate any type of harassment, bullying or assault based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, sexual orientation, disability, body size and physical appearance. The festival was created to bring like-minded people together to celebrate what we all love in an environment that is as safe as possible and we continue to uphold this.
Whenever safe, practical and possible, we will be led by the needs and wishes of the person who has been targeted when we are planning and determining the consequences for inappropriate behavior, or abuse at our event.
We will not serve products with branding that we perceive to be sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, ableist or promoting or inciting any other form of discrimination. Our decision on these matters is final.
We’ll be ensuring that our staff team, breweries, traders, security and volunteers are all clued up on our processes and what to do in the event of an incident, and we’ll have members of the core team trained to support anyone that may experience anything that stops them from having a good time. We can prepare for all of this, but the overall aim is to prevent anything from happening in the first place. Please act responsibly, call out any problematic behaviour and tell us if you have any concerns. If you have any questions about any of this, please contact our Festival Coordinator and Inclusion Lead, Becca, at becca@indymanbeercon.co.uk
Independent Manchester Beer Convention (Indy Man Beer Con/IMBC) is a world class showcase for the best breweries from the UK and beyond. Taking over the stunning surrounds of the Grade II listed, architectural gem Victoria Baths 5 – 8 October 2023. Tickets can be purchased HERE.
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