"Awful people"

Awful people. We were last members over fifteen years ago but they keep taking my money every few years despite cancelling membership on two occassions (third time lucky). Thought I'd settled it in 2022, finally, but they've started doing it again. It seems they do not remove your details from their systems, even after cancellation, and revive it later when you think you're shot of them and forgotten all about them. Clear infringement of the data protection act at the very least and possibly criminal activity when they start taking your money again. Called them today and they say my address was made invalid the last time I called and they haven't been sending out membership cards, vouchers or handbook so we can't use any service they claim to provide, and I have paid for against my will, even if we wanted to. Also means I can't return the membership pack, which is how they say you cancel membership. How can we return a pack that they admit they never sent!!!!!! Very argumentative on the phone and continually talking over me.
The best way to avoid going through what we have had to endure would be not to join in the first place. Go to your local, choose a beer you like and spend your CAMRA membership money on a few extra pints instead.

"Festivals need seating."

Bought membership for the first time more than a year before the 2024 Summer festival. We drink real ale and were convinced that the cost of membership would be offset by the 50p beer vouchers that were included. It appeared that CAMRA associate with many 'member' pubs.
In fact , over the course of a year my wife and I landed in very few pubs of our choice that are signed up with CAMRA . This was a surprise . It seemed that we could go out of our way to find CAMRA pubs but most times they were not suited to our choice or in town centres.
It seemed to us that on most occasions when we asked if our 'real ale' pub of choice took the vouchers there seemed to us to be adverse comments about terms of being associated . We were not interested enough to ask exactly why .
So , there seem to be fewer pubs signed up to the scheme and we therefore found few opportunities to use the vouchers. At the end of the membership we personally saw few benefits from membership and did not sign up again .
Then, we paid the entrance fees and attended the summer festival which was very poor indeed from our point of view in terms of the provision of sufficient numbers of seats and tables . Organisers should perhaps take a look at continental festivals where tables and seats are absolutely key to comfort and therefore prolonged attendance/time patronage . We had no chance of seats nor table, tried to balance our glasses on rough grass whilst eating food but were finally just dismayed that we were even taking on board an attempt to make this event bearable .

"Hypocrisy "

I am a CAMRA member and a few months ago I visited a pub that appeared (and still appears) in their Good Beer Guide. I had no issues with the beer quality, however branches are supposed to take national policy in account when making recommendations for the Guide. One relevant policy promotes diversity and inclusivity. This particular pub had a poster in the Gents that in my opinion was offensively misogynistic. I wrote to CAMRA complaining that the pub should have been excluded from the Guide. I had acknowledgement and a request for further details and was told they would contact the branch responsible. Since then months have passed without further response, despite some reminders from me.
Some will claim that it's all banter and that I lack a sense of humour. To them I say, if it's so funny why not put it somewhere more public so the rest of the human race can have a good laugh.
It's less than two years ago that a Good Beer Guide pub in Essex hit the news over a racist doll collection. I looked at the time at the Guide entry and it was clear that the branch knew of the problem and chose to conceal it by misdescribing the collection. If the national organisation is so weak in policing and enforcing its policies, it's hardly surprising if the branches go rogue.
The poster that offended me was on the lines of contrasting things that women say and what they really mean. Perhaps we should contrast the things that CAMRA says and what it really means.

"Joke of an organisation "

They don’t “campaign” for anything
Either they’ve been paid off by pubs or they’ve lost the plot.
There is a pub in Richmond called The Roebuck which sells ice cold ale , absolutely disgusting, and they even promote it as being “recommended by the CAMRA Beer Guide”.
When I Write to Camra themselves I basically get fobbed off
And Greene King themselves don’t reply either.

I’m not sure what CAMRA stands for these days
I think it’s just a body of either fruit loops or corrupted individuals.

"recommended "

been good so far and nice of them to send vouchers

"Not enough CAMRA pubs"

I was told to join CAMRA its a no brainer because you get same value in beer vouchers as the cost of membership and loads of pubs are in the scheme. In other words I would rightly benefit from the membership.
Trouble is , after a whole year I still have most of the vouchers because so few pubs are in the scheme !!
Something about CAMRA membership and affiliated pubs is not as promised.

"How can you trust their reviews or even…"

How can you trust their reviews or even awards? The number of pubs I've been in because of them and been disappointed far outweigh the positive experiences. Case in point - Whitby. The best pub with six varied handpulls is The Waiting Room inside the station. Always a full pint, always as good as it can be and they give their yearly award to a pub that can't even serve a decent pint of Landlord. Ridiculous.

"No response on a real ale question"

I asked them a question about real ale (nothing to difficult) about 4-5 weeks ago never got a response
So much for the so called alleged experts !!!!

"This organisation seems to have taken…"

This organisation seems to have taken to campaign against free speech. Time to ban CAMRA.

"Racist"

I think the company must be racist as there promoting pubs with goliwogs in grays Essex I would not pay for a membership unless your racist your self