Is there something about tourism that encourages attractions and destinations to attract us with offers of drink or is it just coincidental that some events this week offer us this lure?
In the town hall in Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, the annual Camra Beer Festival starts tomorrow with free entry. After that it can cost you between £2 and £5 depending on when you go. Complementing this, in the market place there will be a background to the brewing heritage of the town including what is called a “taster” of the new National Brewery Centre. But Burton isn’t only about beer. The National Forest is nearby and Burton acts as one of the gateways to it.

The hotel chain, Jurys, has polled 4,000 Britons to see what they thought were the most unwelcoming cities in the UK. It will probably come as no surprise to you that London was considered to have the worst customer service. People also thought that the locals were ruder than other places. A third regularly didn’t say thank you and over half failed to smile at passers-by. Jurys concluded that this didn’t augur well for us when tourists visit us en masse for the Olympics in 2012.
Is all this a fair accusation at London or indeed, the next most unwelcoming cities of Glasgow, Bradford, Birmingham or Liverpool

[ March 17, 2010; 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm. ] www.gotobelfast.com/system_pages/whats_on_config/events_details.aspx?id=476
starts at midday at the City Hall with a carnival through the city and then a free concert buy you do need to obtain tickets from the Belfast Welcome Centre. The concert starts at 1pm.

[ March 15, 2010 to March 21, 2010. March 15, 2010 to March 21, 2010. ] www.britishtourismweek.com 15th-21st March

Over 200 events throughout England and Wales. The website is searchable on a regional and daily basis so you can find your nearest event.

Just one of the events is free entry to National Trust properties on 20/21st March; Not all events are free.

[ March 15, 2010 to March 19, 2010. March 15, 2010 to March 19, 2010. ] www.fallasfromvalencia.com, Valencia, Spain.

The huge cadboard statues called “ninots,” some 700 of them appear throughout the city.  there are firweork dispalys every afternoon in the Town Hall Square at 2pm. This culminates on the 19th of March when they are all burnt except 1

[ March 12, 2010 to March 17, 2010. March 12, 2010 to March 17, 2010. ] 6 days of celebration culminating in the annual parade through Dublin on the March 17th.
see www.stpatricksday.ie

[ March 11, 2010 to March 20, 2010. March 11, 2010 to March 20, 2010. ] held throughout County Cavan,
see www.cavanmusic.com/nyah.html for a list of all events and their location