PRESERVATION UPDATE
IN MEMORY OF THE IOW BUSES & BEER WEEKEND
One of the most successful running events of the immediate pre-pandemic years, the Isle of Wight Classic Buses, Beer & Walks Weekend, is no more. The Isle of Wight Bus Museum and the island’s branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) feel unable to continue with the event in a post-Covid world and the museum will instead host a more conventional running weekend in October.
It hopes to attract visiting vehicles to join its own working collection to take part in the new Wightrider event on October 8 and 9, the Saturday and Sunday when the Buses, Beer & Walks weekend would have been held. This will complement the Rydabus weekend on May 14 and 15, which returns after a two-year absence.
Camra says it hopes to cooperate with the museum in the future on what it describes as smaller pop-up events.
The Buses, Beer & Walks weekend grew rapidly, from 3,000 visitors and 40 buses at the first event in 2014 to 20,000 UK and international visitors and 105 buses in 2019, contributing around £500,000 a year to the local economy. The three aspects of the weekend meant that it appealed to a much wider audience than just transport enthusiasts.
