What’s Brewing, the long-standing monthly newspaper from the Campaign for Real Ale, has undergone a digital overhaul and been re-launched as a dynamic news website.
The platform underwent a significant makeover to provide a new look and feel, content tailored to individual visitors, easy to search for articles, plus greater ability to share video, audio and imagery and full mobile optimisation. The changes will open the platform up to volunteer writers from across CAMRA’s 200+ branches and the wider beer blogging community.
Editors will welcome article submissions on local and national stories, helping to spread the word about CAMRA campaigns that take place in the (virtual) halls of Westminster to the streets of local villages.
In addition, the site has been brought behind a membership log-in – once logged in, members will be able to select news preferences, such as filtering by region or topic interests, and opt-in to a regular news alert sent direct to their inboxes.
The move comes as the campaigning organisation celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, a landmark occasion which powerfully illustrates how far the industry has come since its inception in 1971 when the market was dominated by just four national brewers.
CAMRA’s National Chairman Nik Antona said: “I am thrilled to be revealing the new What’s Brewing online platform. A dedicated team of volunteers and staff have been working hard on delivering this new service over the past few months. What’s Brewing has evolved from a monthly printed publication to a new and improved digital platform to meet the needs of our members and bring them the news they want, – when they want it. I hope that members enjoy exploring the new website. As we celebrate our 50th year, it is important to be looking to the future.
“This is just one of the many decisions to make CAMRA’s campaigns more well-resourced and agile to support the industry in these challenging times. The CAMRA team has worked hard to develop a range of digital materials to meet the challenges brought about by COVID-19, from our newly enhanced Learn & Discover platform to the highly popular podcast Pubs. Pints. People., the Red (On)Lion virtual pub and the Brew2You app. The evolution of What’s Brewing is just another initiative to ensure that membership benefits are available at the touch of a fingertip.”
The change from a printed newspaper to online platform was announced in February 2021, with the last print newspaper published in March. CAMRA’s award-winning BEER magazine will continue to be published in print four times a year, and its readers will be pleased to learn that an eight-page What’s Brewing section will be included in the publication from the Autumn 2021 issue onwards, replacing the current monthly What’s Brewing print schedule.
Visit the new What’s Brewing platform at http://wb.camra.org.uk/
To join CAMRA for as little as £26.50 a year, visit https://join.camra.org.
ENDS
About CAMRA:
CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is a not-for-profit consumer group with over 180,000 members that has been operating since 1971. Our vision is to have quality real ale and thriving pubs in every community.
Press release from CAMRA
Media Contact:
CAMRA Press Office:
press@camra.org.uk
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