The Branch covers the Metropolitan Boroughs of Rochdale, Oldham and Bury and here is a map of the ROB Branch Boundary

It is one of 8 CAMRA Branches within Greater Manchester Region.

History of the Branch

The inaugural meeting of the branch was held on 25th March 1975 at the Kings in Heywood. This followed a "test" meeting in February 1975 to see if there was likely to be any support for the formation of the Branch. Obviously, there was!

Attendees at these two meetings included present day regulars Ken Holt, Bernie Jackson and Graham Chinn. First chairman was the late Bill Calvert. Other chairmen have included Ken Holt, Bernie Jackson, Graham Chinn, Graham Mason, John Lewis and currently, Peter Alexander. Paula Waters (then Carder), ex National Chair of the Campaign, was at one time the ROB Branch Treasurer.

We are researching further History of the Branch and this will be posted sometime soon.

How the Branch is Managed

The Branch is run on behalf of members by a Branch Chairman, currently Peter Alexander, and a committee elected by the members each year at the Annual General Meeting.

Please follow this link for current Committee Members

Branch Membership

The ROB Branch membership stands at 2036 members, as of August 2022 Branch Meeting

ROB Camra is the largest branch in Greater Manchester!

Camra National membership stands at over 190,000

Branch Meetings

Branch Meetings are held on the first Tuesday of every month at the Flying Horse Hotel, Rochdale, at 19:30

All members are welcome, come and join in with the craic.

For getting around the Branch go to Transport for Greater Manchester.

Branch Magazine - More Beer

As most of you will also be aware we publish a quarterly free Branch Magazine, More Beer, that is distributed throughout the Branch area (and beyond). If you have any news at all about pubs, breweries or anything in the beer scene please let the Editor know. Better still, come to one of our Branch Meetings. If you are a publican, Brewery, supplier or want to advertise any events please contact the Editor.

How We Contact You

Our preferred method of communication is by e mail.
If you have an e mail address and would like to be contacted on a more regular basis please contact the Branch Membership Secretary.
Those that supply an email address receive a monthly newsletter "CAMRA Calling" with up to the minute news from the branch, as well as reminders about meetings and socials.

You can also read "CAMRA Calling" by signing in to the Members Area using your CAMRA membership number (less any 0's at the front) and your postcode as the password, no spaces. This site is case sensitive!

Changed your e mail address and not told us? If so, please contact Branch Membership Secretary.

Social Media

Rochdale, Oldham and Bury Camra Facebook

@CAMRA_ROB

Recognition of Pubs

As a Branch we do this in various ways. We obviously include our best pubs in the Good Beer Guide. Our pub of the year is chosen by branch members in an annual vote, usually conducted online to enable as many branch members as possible to participate. The competition is restricted to the ROB pubs which are in the current Good Beer Guide. Members can vote for 3 township pubs of the year - Rochdale, Oldham and Bury - plus an overall Branch pub of the year which goes on to the Regional competition and hopefully beyond. The results are usually announced at the March branch meeting with award presentations as soon as possible after.

As far as the regional competition goes, If each of the 9 Branches (or more than one Branch) in Greater Manchester Region nominates a POTY then a Regional competition is run. This means that judges from the 9 Branches visit each of the pubs and using the CAMRA PUB OF THE YEAR - Criteria they complete a form and the one with the most points becomes the Regional POTY. This winner then goes forward to a "Super Regional" competition until the last 4 pubs are judged and the National winner is decided.

Branches pass their POTY winner to their respective Regional Director (RDs), normally by the end of March. The Regional Winners are then passed to a CAMRA National Co-ordinator by mid August. The results of the Super Regional Winners pass from the RD's to the Co-ordinator by the end of October. The announcement of the National Winner is made during February the following year. So you can see that the Branch nomination is potentially the National Winner for any year, but announced in the following year. The winner in 2012 was our very own The Baum, Rochdale

Get your pub on the Map!

Download the What Pub survey form which you can fill in and send to The Branch Pubs Officer. Alternatively log on to What Pub? to submit updates and corrections.

Beer Festivals

The ROB Branch organises a beer festival in Oldham in conjunction with the Mayor's Charity Appeal.

The 34th Oldham Beer Festival will be held at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 12th and 13th April 2024

As well as being directly involved in running beer festivals in the Branch area at present, many of our members are also involved in running various other events in Greater Manchester. These include:

Social Events

As well as campaigning for real ale, we like to drink some too. Our social calendar is important to us too. Like most of the other 200+ CAMRA Branches we organise various events that take place both within the Branch area and quite often outside it! These events will include the Social Events listed in the we try and ensure that all members are advised about our Social plans.