{"id":635104,"date":"2026-10-03T10:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T10:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/635104\/"},"modified":"2026-10-03T10:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-03T10:50:08","slug":"its-not-just-about-getting-drunk-how-oktoberfest-took-over-the-uk-festivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/635104\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s not just about getting drunk!\u2019 How Oktoberfest took over the UK | Festivals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Under a sea of Bavarian bunting, vendors hand out steins of pilsner, dunkel and weissbier, alongside platters of bratwurst, pork knuckle and pretzels. The lederhosen-clad Bettesteiner Footstompers<\/a> lead the cheering crowd in a boisterous oompah singalong: \u201cEins, zwei, g\u2019suffa!\u201d (\u201cOne, two, drink up!\u201d) Foot-tapping, glass-clinking and swaying soon turn into dancing, and eventually a full-blown conga.<\/p>\n

The spirit of Oktoberfest<\/a> is well and truly upon us \u2013 but Munich is more than 500 miles away. My friends and I are at W\u00fcnder Harbour<\/a> in Folkestone, Kent, a homage to the German event. W\u00fcnder Harbour has been held since 2023, first over one weekend, and now four as its popularity has rocketed. It is just one of scores of Oktoberfest tributes all over the UK, from tiny bars<\/a> to enormous marquees<\/a> in pretty much every major city.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a wedding disco vibe\u2019 \u2026 oompah music isn\u2019t all you hear at British Oktoberfest events. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

The original Oktoberfest was held in Munich in 1810 to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria, later King Ludwig I, and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. It involved a horse race and a five-day party; the latter was such a hit it has been repeated every year since \u2013 except during wars and pandemics \u2013 and now lasts more than two weeks. Despite the name, Oktoberfest mostly takes place in September (19 September to 4 October this year).<\/p>\n

Munich\u2019s Oktoberfest is the world\u2019s biggest beer festival: last year, 6.5 million people drank 6.5m litres of the stuff. Brits tend to associate the event with bratwurst, but by far the most eaten dish is Wiesnhendl, or roast chicken. It\u2019s not just about boozing, either. According to the official report on 2025\u2019s event, \u201cThe festival audience was a colourful mix of families with children, groups of work colleagues, young people and senior citizens \u2013 all coming to the Theresienwiese [the festival grounds] to stroll around for a few hours, try out the rides, eat, drink and celebrate in the festival tents and beer gardens.\u201d About 30% of visitors were from abroad, with Britons in third place after Americans and Italians.<\/p>\n

Many people associate Oktoberfest with bratwurst. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

In the UK, the Campaign for Real Ale<\/a> and other drinking enthusiasts have long held autumn beer festivals inspired by Oktoberfest. But outright copycat events \u2013 German-themed, often held in large tents \u2013 are a newer phenomenon. Belfast was one of the first UK cities to host one, in 2008, followed by London in 2011, Edinburgh in 2013 and Cardiff in 2014. Now they are everywhere, in city squares (such as Newcastle<\/a>), parks (Cambridge<\/a>, Chichester<\/a>), racecourses (Beverley<\/a>, Doncaster<\/a>) and town halls (Portsmouth<\/a>). Southampton<\/a> claims to hold the UK\u2019s biggest Oktoberfest.<\/p>\n

Some are daytime, family-friendly affairs, like Folkestone\u2019s. Dan Johannsen, the marketing manager for Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/a>, tells me it was deliberately named W\u00fcnder Harbour rather than Oktoberfest to give it a broader appeal. There are certainly as many families eating fish and chips and ice-cream, and enjoying the free entertainment, as there are groups getting stuck into the steins. \u201cThe world needs more of this!\u201d one man tells the band after a rousing chorus of Edelweiss.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, things can get a bit boozier. British beerhalls have got in on the action, such as Albert\u2019s Schloss<\/a>, whose branches in Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and London celebrate Oktoberfest for five weeks. I braved the opening night at another, the Bermondsey Bierkeller<\/a>, which claims to host \u201cLondon\u2019s wildest Oktoberfest\u201d. Within minutes my friends and I were standing on the table, beers in hand, singing along to an oompah version of Don\u2019t Look Back in Anger by Oasis.<\/p>\n

\u2018There are no airs and graces\u2019 \u2026 a conga line forms at W\u00fcnder Harbour. Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a German-themed bar, so it would be criminal not to celebrate Oktoberfest,\u201d says Jim Gallivan, the Bierkeller\u2019s general manager. He says the event started after Covid and has got busier every year since. He estimates that on Saturday nights, about half the crowd is in fancy dress, and we certainly spotted plenty of lederhosen and dirndls. Why does he think it is so popular? \u201cIt\u2019s immersive, with actors, stilt-walkers and a seven-piece band. There are no airs and graces \u2013 it gets pretty rowdy,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople are looking to get as much as they can from a night out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s it. With socialising now so expensive, people want more for their money. \u201cI think it\u2019s partly down to social media,\u201d adds Beth Heath, the co-owner of Shropshire Festivals, which runs an Oktoberfest in Shrewsbury<\/a>. \u201cA themed event works as an Instagram moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heath organised the first Shropshire Oktoberfest in 2017 for her husband. \u201cI\u2019d been running events for years and he moaned there was nothing for blokes,\u201d she says. \u201cWe had a festival for kids, a food festival for me, so I decided to do a beer festival for him.\u201d About 6,000 people came \u2013 about 40% of whom were women. \u201cThere weren\u2019t enough toilets! You need a lot more loos than you think at a beer festival.\u201d By last year, attendance had doubled to 12,000 (the facilities have been scaled up accordingly).<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s the last hurrah of the season.\u2019 Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Heath says the festival is especially popular with groups of friends. \u201cWe get big groups of about 15 people, such as university reunions,\u201d she says. \u201cThey can drink, dance and party, and still be in bed by 11. People come from all over the UK. Accommodation in Shrewsbury is booked out a year in advance.\u201d About 70% of people come in \u201cincredibly creative\u201d fancy dress: \u201cWe\u2019ve had giant pickles, sausages \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as the usual oompah music, there are skiffle groups and local party bands. \u201cIt\u2019s a wedding disco vibe,\u201d says Heath. Other entertainment includes carpool karaoke, a giant silent disco and a big comedy tent. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about coming and getting drunk,\u201d she says. Of course, lots of people are there for the beer, which is sourced from Shropshire breweries. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to be authentic but put a Shropshire spin on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heath thinks celebrating Oktoberfest is a way to beat the post-summer blues and add some excitement to a quiet time of year, before the countdown to Christmas starts. \u201cIt\u2019s the last hurrah of the season. We have two 130-metre marquees, so there are no weather worries. Wellies and lederhosen \u2013 that\u2019s a look!\u201d Ultimately, she says, \u201cIt\u2019s about bringing people together and making memories. It\u2019s about the beer, the food and the vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eins, zwei, g\u2019suffa! Photograph: Jill Mead\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

No wonder more and more Oktoberfests are springing up. New ones this year range from a down-to-earth beer and bratwurst knees-up in Darlington Market Square<\/a>, County Durham, to an upmarket event at Horsley Towers<\/a>, a country house in Surrey, with craft beer, wine and gin.<\/p>\n

What do the Munich organisers of a 200-year-old tradition make of these British upstarts? \u201cThe city of Munich is very proud that many events around the world, including in the UK, are inspired by Oktoberfest,\u201d says a spokesperson. \u201cWe are delighted that our festival has such international appeal and helps to share Bavarian culture and hospitality with a global audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

You sense there\u2019s a \u201cbut\u201d coming. \u201cAt the same time, the Oktoberfest in Munich remains the one and only official Oktoberfest. It is a protected name and a unique tradition that has been celebrated on the Theresienwiese since 1810. While many \u2018Oktoberfest-style\u2019 events capture the spirit of beer, food and music, they cannot replicate the history, scale and local roots of the original festival in Munich.\u201d<\/p>\n

True. But not everyone can make it to Munich. For many British beer-lovers, it\u2019s much more convenient to raise a stein in your nearest town square or park. Or, as in Folkestone, to combine it with a fun day out at the seaside. All together now: \u201cProst!\u201d<\/p>\n

W\u00fcnder Harbour continues on 3, 4, 10 and 11 October, folkestoneharbourarm.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Under a sea of Bavarian bunting, vendors hand out steins of pilsner, dunkel and weissbier, alongside platters of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[146,85,46],"class_list":["post-635104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}