The Richmond and Hounslow (originally Richmond and Twickenham) Branch of CAMRA was formed in 1974, when the West London Branch, which was becoming too large and successful to manage effectively, split into three. The new branch was soon thriving due to a tremendous enthusiasm for Real Ale in this area. Then, as now, two famous local brewers, Fuller's and Young's owned many of the pubs in the area. The branch campaigned tirelessly to ensure that as many pubs as possible continued to serve Real Ale and, even in the darkest days of the late-seventies when pub after pub had become keg only, it was always possible to find local Real Ale on handpumps in the Richmond, Hounslow and Twickenham neighbourhoods.
Throughout the 1980's, the tide slowly started to turn as more and more Real Ale re-appeared in pubs throughout this and other areas. All over England, small breweries started up from scratch and many of the larger brewers resumed the production of the Real Ales they had considered killing off only a decade before.
In the 1990's the focus of the local campaign changed in order to reflect and promote the wider availability of Real Ales that could now be found. To help achieve this, the annual Twickenham Beer Festival was started at the Feltham Assembly Rooms in 1992. The Beer Festival was an instant success and has nearly always been a sell-out. By 1998, we were too big for Feltham so we moved to our present location at York House. The CAMRA Twickenham Beer Festival at York House is now one of the most popular and eagerly awaited events on the local calendar. 2014 also saw the branch celebrate its fortieth birthday and a party was held at The Express Tavern in Brentford, where the branch was formed in 1974. Supporters, old and new, joined us at this milestone event.