PRAISE be! The York CAMRA beer festival is back after a notable one year absence from the city drinking scene. The Evening Press has teamed up with the Campaign for Real Ale to help bring the ale extravaganza back with a bang.

The CAMRA crew have been working for months to plan a three-day schedule of beer-centred fun and revelry, to be held at the Priory Street Centre, Priory Street, York. The festival will have a ghostly theme, as suggested by its punning slogan: The Phantom of the Hopera.

Here at Bar Talk we have already begun practising our sipping technique and polishing our commemorative tankards in preparation.

CAMRA man Patrick Hickey says there will be a large contingent of Yorkshire breweries at the festival, with our own York Brewery featuring.

Products from Cropton, Rudgate, Daleside and Harrogate's Rooster will also be well represented among the 90 beers on offer. A handful of festival brews will stand alongside more familiar faces on the cask racks, and there will also be cider, wine and food.

"There wasn't a festival last year because of venue problems and it has been a headache for some time trying to find the right place at the right price," he says.

"The centre is a real godsend because it is available at the right time, and the most encouraging thing is that it could be a venue for years to come."

Drinking will be split into five sessions with the first beginning at 7pm on Thursday March 27. On Friday and Saturday, drinkers will be able to indulge themselves between 12noon and 4pm and 7pm and 11pm.

Up to 20 willing volunteers will be serving during each of the sessions, with the two halls of the Priory Street Centre, off Micklegate, accommodating about 250 drinkers at a time.

Patrick adds that two years ago organisers at the festival signed up CAMRA's 60,000th member.

With more than a thousand visitors expected to attend in March, it will come as no surprise if many more are converted to top-quality real ale. See you there!

- MORE big news for beer fans is that bosses at the famed Cropton Brewery are close to securing new premises near York, Bar Talk can reveal.

The much-loved micro brewery, bed and breakfast and restaurant near Pickering has now been around for 17 years and boss Phil Lee says it is time to expand.

The gaffer says he is keen to bring the Cropton Brewery "formula" closer to York to see if he can repeat the success. "It's an exciting time at the moment," says Phil. "An ideal location would be something in the city centre but we are looking closely at one in a big village nearby."

"York is ideal because it gets a good trade all year round - the problem is finding a suitable and affordable site," he adds.

Bar Talk understands that an announcement could be made within weeks about what is a clearly a great start to the new year for fans of quality beer in and around the city.

Meanwhile the brewery has added another string to its bow with a new all-singing, all-dancing website, set to come online at the end of the month.

The site will offer a mail order facility for Cropton's products and showcase much of what the New Inn has to offer for those planning a trip to the brewery.

Phil says the website will be ideal for people such as the real ale buff who drove up from London last week to stock up on beer for Christmas 2003. Now that is dedication.

The brewery has also started putting together gift packs of bottled beer - complete with specially-printed labels - for businesses in the region.

One East Yorkshire business snapped up a few hundred packs complete with bottle opener and glass as a festive present for clients and customers.

"It doesn't mean anything when you get a box of biscuits," says Phil, "but a few bottles of locally-brewed beer are bound to go down well."

Far-sighted Bar Talk family and friends might take note. After all, there are only 343 days until Christmas...

- WE came, we saw, we conquered... after much boasting about prowess at the table football in The Grapes in York (see last week's column), Bar Talk got to take on the visiting secretary of the Bar Football Association, and whupped him*.

The association is trying to organise a team national competition starting with regional heats, so if any pub, club or even office teams are interested taking up the challenge, check out the association's site at www.barfootball.com/NEW/Index.asp for details of how to join, which is free.

*Ok, so that was a lie. He won 17-3.

Updated: 10:06 Saturday, January 18, 2003