CAMRA's mission is to act as the champion of the consumer in relation to the UK and European drinks industry.
It aims to
- Maintain consumer rights.
- Promote quality,choice and value for money.
- Support the public house as a focus of community life.
- Campaign for greater appreciation of traditional beers, ciders and perries as part of national heritage and culture.
- Promote and preserve full flavoured and distinctive beers and decent pubs.
CAMRA's Mission Statement of Aims
Quality and variety of ale
We support the variety and distinctiveness of traditional beers.
We oppose the present trend towards blandness and the poor quality of much cask conditioned beer. CAMRA supports retention of low gravity beers and we encourage brewers to produce beers of different gravities and styles. We believe that secondary fermentation and proper conditioning is an essential part of the definition of real ale. CAMRA condemns returning stale or spoiled beer to the cask. We support proper ullage allowances to discourage publicans from filtering back. CAMRA supports bottle-conditioned beers - real ale in a bottle. CAMRA also sees a need to promote and protect some quality bottled beers that are not bottle conditioned, as survivors of certain styles, or as interesting beers in their own right.
Additives, purity and labelling
CAMRA believes that customers have the right to know what is in their drink and where it comes from. We support ingredient labelling at the point of dispense for all alcoholic drinks. The label should also state where the beer is brewed. CAMRA does not generally approve of beers from one brewer being produced elsewhere under the same name. We do not necesssarily disapprove of brewing under contract, provided that the place of brewing is stated, and the consumer is not misled.
Methods of storage & dispense
CAMRA opposes all practises and promotions which mislead the customer. CAMRA opposes all misleading forms of dispense.
In particular, we oppose serving keg beers or ciders through a hand-pump, which implies that these keg products are cask conditioned. CAMRA opposes the promotion and apckaging of so-called "draught" beer in cans, which implies that they are equivalent in taste to cask beers. CAMRA believes that the term "draught" should be limited to bulk beers. CAMRA opposes the use of top pressure, blanket pressure and the cask breather.
Weights and measures
CAMRA believes that customers are entitled to what they pay for. CAMRA supports full liquid pints. We believe that this is best implemented through hand- pumps, and 22fl. oz. lined glasses. The same definition should apply equally to beer dispensed by hand pumps, or through beer meters. We oppose metrication of draught and bottled beers. The customer is happy with pints.
Alcohol advertising and alcohol abuse
CAMRA supports the sensible and adult use of alcohol. We believe that drinking in a supervised and socially controlled environment such as the pub is less likely to lead to misuse of alcohol. We believe that off-licence sales should be subject to the same level of supervision and control as pub sales, and we condemn the unsupervised sale of alcohol, for example, in many supermarkets. CAMRA disapproves of promotions which encourage speed drinking, as we believe that these are irresponsible.
Excise duty
Beer duty in the UK is almost seven times higher than in France . CAMRA opposes rises in beer duty. We believe that excise duties should be harmonised across the European Union. CAMRA supports a sliding scale of excise duty as more equitable towards the smaller brewers. Our proposed scheme would also encourage larger concerns to retain local traditional breweries in operation.
Quality and character of pubs
CAMRA believes that the pub is an important social institution, and that pubs can fulfil this function even where they do not sell real ale. CAMRA supports the retention of multi-roomed pubs, and the public bar, allowing for different types of pub under one roof. Where feasible, we support separate rooms for non smokers, and rooms without electronic machines or piped music, for drinkers who prefer conversation.