Planning is now moving apace for our 2023 festival at our prestigious new venue of St Lawrence Church, Lawrence Street, York and it is now time for us to recruit the volunteers who will deliver the event itself.

York Beer and Cider Festival is only made possible through the generosity of our volunteer staff of CAMRA members. We invite you to apply to come and ensure a successful and enjoyable festival.

Please read the information on this page carefully as there are a number of important changes from our previous festivals as a result of our move indoors and to a smaller venue. Please then fill out our volunteer staffing form. (link below)

We have a wide range of roles available, before, during and after the festival and need people with a diverse range of skills. No experience is necessary as full training will be provided. When you work a full session, we will give you a drink and food allowance as a thank you.

Setup & Takedown

It's not just whilst we are open (Wednesday 13 - Saturday 16 September), before and after is what makes the festival happen! There are no ‘shifts’ on these days but we work from 9am to 6pm and it is particularly helpful if you can spare us at least five hours on each of the days you volunteer.

Setup is from Thursday 7 - Tuesday 12 September with the main activity from Friday 8 September as the beer is delivered. We need a lot of help to turn an empty church into an amazing festival! Take-down is on Sunday 18 and Monday 19 September.

Festival Open Days Unlike in previous years, the festival itself will be open for two separate five hour sessions each day, as follows:

Session 1: 12 noon to 4.30pm

The site will then be cleared and closed before re-opening for:

Session 2: 6pm to 11.00pm

There will therefore be only two staff shifts each day, each of six hours, i.e.:

Shift 1: 11.30am to 5.00pm and Shift 2: 5.30pm to 11.30pm.

We will have fewer volunteers working at our new venue and we need to ask everyone to please be flexible and prepared to work in other areas besides bar work for at least part of the time. For example, most bar staff will be needed at the entrance to help get the initial influx of customers through the door for the start of each session. It may even be that we will need to decline some volunteers, especially if they have specified that they are only prepared to carry out a single role which then becomes over-subscribed. That said, please assume your offer of help has been accepted unless we let you know otherwise.

T shirts are available for all staff who sign up for at least two sessions at the festival and who register before 15th August. We will aim to provide a T shirt for those who register after this date but cannot guarantee this.

All volunteers MUST read these three documents: 2023 volunteer information, Volunteer Charter and the CAMRA Health and Safety Handbook for Volunteers which will download to your device. By completing and signing the staffing form you are agreeing to adhere to the health and safety and hygiene rules within the Handbook and other festival rules.

Important Note re Camping at the Festival

We regret that we do not have the space afforded to us when the festival was held at the racecourse. So, we are unable to offer camping at the festival except for a very small number of staff in key roles who have already been notified separately.

There are some commercial campsites located around the city, but please be aware these do tend to get booked up well in advance, so you are advised to book early.

Finally, please remember that capacity limits when the festival is open may cause us to have to decline volunteers for certain roles/sessions.

So, if you are ready to join our team of happy festival volunteers, please complete the 2023 staffing form here .