How to live in Beer

Welcome to Beer

Beer village has about 1,300 residents and is a friendly and welcoming community. The village has much to offer new residents and we’re delighted to provide you with some useful information.

Beer Parish News

The best way to find out what’s going on in the village is to read the monthly publication. You can pick it up at St Michaels Church or many of the shops. It’s also published online on this website just follow this link.

Clubs and Associations

If you have an existing hobby or are looking to expand your horizons you can find our list of Clubs and Associations to join here.

Amenities

The village is lucky still to have shops and amenities on Fore Street, and as a new resident you are encouraged to shop and buy locally whenever you can. We realise that supermarkets are necessary, however Beer Village Stores and Woozies are well stocked with items to tempt you!
There are also numerous businesses in the village that can help you with services you might require. Again we encourage you to buy local.

There are two major tourist attractions in the village. We’re sure that when you move to the seaside you’ll have lots of visitors, especially in the first year! Do support Pecorama and Beer Quarry caves: your visitors will love them.

Transport

Our nearest train stations are at Honiton & Axminster which are about a 20 minute drive away. If you are travelling to Exeter you should get on the train at Honiton and if you are going to London, get on at Axminster. You can find more train information here, South Western Railway.
There are bus services that serve the village that go to Axminster, Lyme Regis, Seaton, Sidmouth and Exeter. You can find more bus information here: link to AVMT

Play areas

Other than our beautiful beach there are various play areas for toddlers, children and teenagers. The play parks at the top of Sea Hill and in Jubilee Gardens are both popular areas as is the green space near Beer Head Caravan Park.

Beach huts

The beach huts on Beer beach are very popular. They are run by East Devon District Council and there is a waiting list. To enquire about the waiting list call EDDC on 01395 516551. You can also rent beach huts from the beach traders on a daily or weekly basis.

Beer Sailing Club

If you want to get out on the water, whether you are a serious sailor or a beginner, then Beer Sailing Club is the place to be! It also has a very active social calendar for sailors and non-sailors. You can find more information on its website.

Churches

For a small village we have two churches – St Michaels Church of England and the Congregational Church. Service details for St Michaels are published in the Beer Parish News or you can find the Church website here.
The services at the Congregational Church are shown on its noticeboard by the church.

Mariners’ Hall

The hall hosts numerous group activities including badminton and table tennis, the ‘Beer Best Years’ club (a bi-weekly gathering and social event for the over 50’s), monthly screenings by Beer Film Society, craft fairs, coffee mornings and regular visits by popular bands. To make a booking email: booking@marinershall.org.uk

Beer Parish Council

Our Parish Council has dedicated Councillors who play an active part in life in Beer. Should you wish to know more it has a web site where it publishes its meeting agendas and minutes of the monthly meetings and the planning meetings. It also has a Facebook Page.

Property

If you are buying a property in Beer and wish to renovate or maybe extend it we hope you will pay attention to some of Beer’s policies on planning and alterations. There are various documents that can assist you when planning your alterations including the Beer Village Design Statement.
We hope that you will appreciate our beautiful village and bear this in mind when choosing sympathetic materials for your renovations. We have a variety of very competent local building companies in both Beer and Seaton.

Environment

Beer is lucky to have both the Jurassic Coast and wonderful countryside. The landscape within the built-up boundary has quite a lot of trees and hedges.
However, most of this vegetation (apart from the Jubilee Gardens and other small patches) is on private property and so we are very reliant on individuals to provide and care for trees, hedges and Devon banks. We hope you will join in with this provision.
In recent years much of this greenery has come under pressure and has been replaced by fences or concrete walls. We would ask that if it is absolutely necessary to do this that you cover or screen the wall or fence with vegetation.

We also ask that any new build includes some of the local geology – local stone walls are far more interesting and keep the village look of Beer rather than urbanising the street scene. Local stone is still available from many of the Stone Mason companies in East Devon.

If you are digging foundations into the chalk please keep any fossils you may find. Beer Village Heritage is very interested in recording these finds and of course is interested in displaying local fossils at the Fine Foundation Centre.

Community Land Trust (CLT)

Beer has a CLT that has recently built new houses in the village. The Trust is currently working on the development of the old Beer Social Club site. For more information please see its web site.

Coastal Community Team (CCT)

Beer has an active CCT which is made up of the Beer Village Manager and a group of volunteers (both individuals and businesses) who support the village to continue to be a wonderful place to live, work, visit or holiday in. If you are interested in getting involved you can find details of meetings and past meeting minutes on the Parish Council web site.

Village History

Beer was mentioned in the Doomsday book so it has been around a while.

Village News

Our news section publishes notable stories from in around the village.