Bury St Edmunds Ale Trail

With an incredible and unrivalled brewing history dating back 1,000 years, historic Bury St Edmunds is the perfect place to experience delicious real ale and unique craft beer.

Now real ale and craft beer enthusiasts can explore the town’s licensed premises with the Bury St Edmunds Ale Trail, giving visitors the chance to try ales brewed in the town itself or from further afield.

In 1086, monks were brewing ale on the site of the Great Bury St Edmunds Abbey using water from Bury St Edmunds' chalk wells which are still used today by Greene King, one of the UK’s largest breweries.

The special ale trail map, produced by Our Bury St Edmunds BID, gives information on all the participating venues. Copies of the Bury St Edmunds Ale Trail can be found at pubs and bars throughout the town centre, as well as at Visitor Information Points in the town and can be downloaded at the Our Bury St Edmunds BID website.

Bury St Edmunds’ links with brewing go back a long way – almost 1,000 years in fact. Long before Benjamin Greene’s family name became one of the best known in the business, the monks at the Great Abbey were brewing ale in 1086. In those days everyone – men, women and children – would drink ale for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The water was drawn from the same chalk wells used today by Greene King, the company that grew from Benjamin Greene’s brewery that started in Bury St Edmunds in 1799.

Mark your place in history, share your experience, tell others about your favourite pub, bar or speciality shop on social media using the hashtag #BuryAleTrail