Branch Area

The Ayrshire and Galloway branch of CAMRA covers the pre-1975 Counties of Ayr, Kirkcudbright and Wigtown plus the islands of Arran and Cumbrae from the old County of Bute. It has been in existence for 16 years although the boundaries have been extended twice.

Branch Formation

After a false start in the late 1970s, the present branch was formed officially in February 1984 following a year of informal meetings and a series of advertising features in the local press. At that time it covered Ayrshire only, but following an informal arrangement with the (then) Carlisle branch to survey Dumfries and Galloway for the Good Beer Guide the boundary was extended in 1993 to take in Galloway, with the former County of Dumfries being added to the re-named Solway branch. Finally, the Glasgow & West of Scotland Branch requested us to take over Arran and Cumbrae in 1999.

Branch AGM-Good Beer Guide Entries

The branch Annual General Meeting is held in March each year and, as well as electing office bearers for the coming year a major part of the business is choosing which pubs should be put forward for the following year's Good Beer Guide.

Branch Meetings

The branch meets on the second Tuesday of most months, using a variety of local pubs and hotels. Members are informed of the venue through What's Brewing and the local branch newsletter, but non-members are welcome and forthcoming meetings are listed elsewhere on this web site.

Brewery Visits & Arran Visit

In addition we organise pub-crawls, occasional brewery visits and surveying trips to check pubs for the Good Beer Guide. A very popular event, established long before 1999's boundary extension, is the annual trip to Arran on a summer Saturday.