Gloucester’s historic Sheriff’s Assize of Ale is once again taking place this year.
The Assize of Ale will be touring pubs in the city centre and Kingsholm on Saturday 3rd October, and venues in the Docks and Quays will be visited on the evening of Thursday 22nd October to coincide with the Big Pub Push organised by Gloucester BID.
The Sheriff’s Assize of Ale dates back to medieval times when the Sheriff was responsible for ensuring the ale on sale in the city was of palatable quality and raises funds for the civic charities – this year Venture Community Hub, Gloucester District Scouts and Great Ormond Street Hospital.
The Sheriff, Councillor Anne Radley, together with an army of followers dressed in medieval clothing tour the pubs in the city’s historic core collecting cash for charity and carrying out a slightly bizarre ritual involving a wooden stool, someone dressed in leather breeches and an egg timer. The Sheriff has an “Ale Conner”, whose job it is to sit on a wooden stool, on which a small amount of ale has been poured, wearing a pair of leather breeches. If after three minutes the trousers stick to the stool, the ale does not pass the test. Conversely if the Ale Conner can move freely at the end of the three minutes, it does pass.
The tradition was reintroduced in 2003 by former City Council Leader Paul James during his year as Sheriff of Gloucester and has taken place each year since, other than a two-year gap for the pandemic, and has raised around £25,000 for charity. Paul continues to organise the event with Town Crier Alan Myatt, with a group of other local ‘characters’ taking part.
Paul James said, “The Assize of Ale has firmly established itself as an annual tradition in the city and still attracts a good deal of interest more than twenty years after it was introduced. It brings some colour and hilarity to the city and helps to raise money for some worthy causes.”