Welcome to the South East London Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale. Our area covers the boroughs of Southwark, Lewisham and Greenwich, and the parts of Lambeth with an SE postcode.
Welcome to our branch website.
The purpose of the site is to highlight activities within our area primarily in the areas of brewing, cider making and supporting pubs. It also provides reference material to members and the general public on how to resist pub closures and details of some of the local campaigns.
We organise social events both within the branch area and beyond. We try to make these a mix of both weekday evenings and weekends.
Check out the Diary for more details up coming events.
See a brief summary of our history here.
2nd Dulwich Beer and Cider Festival
Following on from the success of the inaugural Dulwich Beer and Cider Festival last year we are back at Dulwich Hamlet FC this year.
The festival will run from Thursday 22nd May to Saturday 24th May 2025.
See our Festivals page for more details, including a link to the beer and cider lists.

We are still looking for volunteers to help run the festival. If you would like to help, please complete the volunteer form here and we will be in touch.
Pub Of The Year 2025 Area Votes
We are pleased to announce the winners of the area votes are as follows:
SE1: Royal Oak, Borough
Lambeth / Southwark (not SE1): Mayflower, Rotherhithe
Greenwich: Park Tavern, Eltham
Lewisham: Dog & Bell, Deptford
There now follows the second stage of voting to determine the overall branch winner. Each pub will be assessed according to the Regional/National judging criteria, which may be found here:
https://london.camra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=146639
Any current South East London branch member can take part. The judging forms may be found and downloaded here:
PDF version – printable, not editable:
https://sel.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/PoTY-Judging-Form.pdf
Word version – printable and downloadable and “Enable editing”:
https://sel.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/PoTY-Judging-Form.docx
Completed sets of the 4 forms should be submitted to:
chair@sel.camra.org.uk
Please note that in order for votes to count, judges need to have visited all 4 pubs and submit forms for all 4 by the closing date on Tuesday, 11th March 2025.
50th Anniversary Of South East London CAMRA

We met in the Great Harry in Woolwich for an initial pint or two before taking the train one stop to Plumstead. Here, we took photos and had a look around the once great Lord Derby where the first branch meeting was held. It’s currently closed, having been converted to a restaurant a number of years ago. We then headed up the hill on the 53 bus to the Plum Tree, a relatively new venue which did not exist when the branch was formed. There, we had a party with a few more cask ales and ciders, a cheese board and a commemorative cake. It was great to see so many long standing members and former committee members without whom, we would not still be around campaigning for real ale , cider, and pubs and clubs in general. Special thanks to Nick at the Plum Tree, the team at the Great Harry and Roger Warhurst for pulling it all together. See article with more pictures here
Dulwich Beer and Cider Festival 2024
We are delighted that our festival, held at Dulwich Hamlet FC on 23-25 May, was a great success. We were blessed with fine weather, there was a great atmosphere and all 52 casks virtually sold out.
Huge thanks to the 1200 attendees, our great team of volunteers, main sponsors Southwark Brewing and Portobello Brewing, bottle bar supplier WaterIntoBeer, the staff at Dulwich Hamlet FC and everyone else who played their part. We couldn’t do it without you all!
We are currently planning the 2025 beer festival to be held in the same venue. More information including links to the beer and cider lists will be available in due course.
South East London CAMRA Branch Pub of the Year 2024
The final round of our branch Pub of the Year competition for 2024 is now complete.
We are pleased to announce that the winner is:
River Ale House, East Greenwich.
Congratulations, and the date for the presentation of the award will be made on Thursday 30th May 2024 at 7:30pm.
And also congratulations to our area winners:
Greenwich
River Ale House, East Greenwich
Lambeth & Southwark (not SE1)
Mayflower, Rotherhithe
Lewisham
Dog & Bell, Deptford
SE1
King’s Arms, Roupell Street
South East London CAMRA Branch Cider Pub of the Year 2024
The voting for our branch Cider Pub of the Year competition for 2024 is now complete.
We are pleased to announce that the winner is:
River Ale House, East Greenwich
Congratulations, and the date for the presentation of the award will be made on Thursday 30th May 2024 at 7:30pm.