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CAMRA stereotypes, 1977

Michael Hardman: “It is seen by many people as a trendy organisation. The archetypal CAMRA member is a 20-year-old, male, with long hair, wire-rimmed glasses, drinking half pints of strong beer… I would prefer the archetypal member to be a steel worker in Scunthorpe, downing a gallon of the stuff after the shift has finished.”

One of the founding members of the Campaign for Real Ale, interviewed in What’s Brewing, March 1977.

9 replies on “CAMRA stereotypes, 1977”

1977 : Comedy beards and chunky jumpers fighting keg
2013 : Comedy beards and ironic t-shirts drinking keg

40-something, beard, paunch, heavy metal or Hobgoblin t-shirt. Mind you, last beer festival I went to I was genuinely surprised at how few blokes fitting that profile I saw. Perhaps the clue’s in the demographics – they’ve all put on another 10 years, lost a few pounds and put the t-shirts away.

That said, this whole discussion has been moot since the big membership push – the archetypal CAMRA member these days is the guy who signs up for the Spoons tokens and forgets to cancel. Hardman was describing the (first-generation) Real Ale Tw*t, and his place in the ecosystem of caricatured subcultures has surely been taken by the Craft Beer P*nce.

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