CAMRA membership reaches 75,000

March 5, 2005: CAMRA has signed up its 75,000th member and is three-quarters of the way to hitting its target of 100,000 members by 2007.

CAMRA, which was formed by four young journalists in 1971, concerned about the diminishing choice of real ale in the UK, has experienced impressive growth over the last 34 years. Events such as National Pubs Week, more than 150 beer festivals a year and the CAMRA Membership Challenge, along with national high-profile campaigns such as full pints and licensing reform, have all played their part in seeing membership figures increase by 25 per cent since January 2000.

These events and campaigns have ensured that pubgoers are more aware of CAMRA, the issues that the campaign addresses and how drinkers can become part of the UK's biggest, single-issue consumer group.

Colin Valentine, director of membership, said:"As people become more aware of the issues that CAMRA is involved with and how they affect us, we have seen membership greatly increase during our 34-year history.

"Reaching 75,000 members is a fantastic achievement, but we will not be complacent! We launched a challenge in 2003 to our members to hit 100,000 members by the end of 2006 and we realise that to achieve this we will all have to campaign hard."

l Single membership of CAMRA costs £18 per year. To find out more visit www.camra.org.uk or call 01727 867201.