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Award-winning newsletter of the Bristol & District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale

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www.camrabristol.org.uk

CAMPAIGNFOR

REAL ALE

No. 65Spring2005

CAMPAIGNFOR

REAL ALE

THE Campaign for Real Ale, concerned local residents,and former pub regulars, need your help. Suddenlyand without warning, following a normal evening’strading, the Rose & Crown in Iron Acton closed. Bymorning a notice had appeared in the window. Itsimply stated: “We have now closed, thank you for yourcustom over the years.”

The Rose & Crown has been recognised for manyyears as an outstanding example of a freehouse, a pubstrongly supporting real ales from independent brew-eries, and a regular entry in the Good Beer Guide.

Now a local action group, with support from CAMRA,is attemping to save their pub. Can you add your voice?See inside for further details.

Join our fight

to save top local real ale pub

Smiles brewery closedShock news recently has been the closure of Bristol’sfamous Smiles Brewery following a short period inadministration. Staff have been unceremoniously dis-missed, and production of the Smiles beer range has

been transferred to the Highgate Brewery in Walsall.The future of the brewery site in Colston Yard remainsuncertain, though the Brewery Tap seems to be safe.Richard Brooks takes up the story inside on page 5.

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Local CAMRA web site : www.camrabristol.org.uk2

What is it?CAMRA is an independent, voluntary,consumer organisation. Membership is opento any individual, though corporate entitiessuch as breweries and pubs are not members.Most of its work is done by volunteers at alocal level, reinforcing national drives.

The Campaign was founded in the earlyseventies with the aim of restoring drinkers’rights and promoting consumer choice. A greatdeal has been achieved over the years andCAMRA has made a major contribution togetting a fairer deal for pub users.

CAMRA is financed through membershipsubscriptions, sales of products such as booksand sweatshirts, and from the proceeds of beerfestivals. We are a not-for-profit company,receiving no funding from the brewing industryother than a limited amount of advertising inour monthly national newspaper What’sBrewing and local newsletters such as this.

CAMRA’s mission is to act as championof the consumer. It aims to:! Maintain consumer rights.! Promote quality, choice and value for

money.! Support the public house as a focus ofcommunity life.! Campaign for greater appreciation oftraditional beers, ciders and perries as part ofnational heritage and culture.! Seek improvements in all licensed premisesand throughout the brewing industry.! CAMRA also seeks to promote real ciderand perry through a sub-organisation calledAPPLE. Like ale, these are traditional Britishdrinks and, like ale, the traditional product isvery different from the ‘dead’ version.

While CAMRA is a single-industry group,it has a very wide area of campaigninginterests. At present, campaigns we areactively pursuing include the following:! Improved competition and choice in the

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Alebrewing industry.! Preserving the British pub.! Seeking a fairer tax system for smallerbrewers.! Seeking fuller information about the beer wedrink, such as ingredients labelling.! Reform of licensing law.! Fighting take-overs and mergers.! Encouraging higher standards of pub design.! Encouraging brewers to produce a widerange of beer styles such as porter, mild andstout, in addition to their bitters.

Real ale, real beer, traditional beer, cask ale,cask-conditioned beer — whatever you preferto call it — this is of course the Campaign’stop priority. It is no exageration to say thatCAMRA saved real ale, and as a result savedmany independent breweries. No new alebreweries were set up in the UK for the fiftyyears before we were founded. There are nowaround 300 new brewers producing real ale,part of a massive real ale revival.

In total there are currently around 75,000CAMRA members, from all walks of life. Ifyou haven’t already, why not add your voiceto that of the most successful consumerorganisation Europe has seen? Fill in thatmembership form inside the back page now.

And what is Real Ale anyway?Definition

‘Real ale’ is a term coined by CAMRA inthe 1970s to describe draught or bottled beerbrewed from traditional ingredients, maturedby secondary fermentation in the containerfrom which it is dispensed, and served withoutthe use of extraneous carbon dioxide. It mayalso be called ‘cask conditioned’ or ‘naturallyconditioned’.

Real ale is a living thing, and thereforerequires some care and attention, unlike kegbeer (and most commercial lagers) which aregenerally pasteurised, chilled and filtered tomake them chemically inert, and can behandled by anyone with a minimal amount oftraining.

IngredientsThe traditional ingredients of real ale are

malted barley, hops, water and yeast; dispenseis usually via a handpump, or occasionallystraight from the barrel (“gravity dispense”).Electric pumps or air pressure systems canalso be used, but are often hard for thecustomer to distinguish from the ones used forkeg beers and lagers.

DispenseReal ale is usually delivered to the pub

cellar in either metal or wooden casks. Thecask is placed on a ‘stillage’ in a horizontalposition to allow the hops and other sedimentwhich results from fermentation to settle in itsbelly. A wooden bung on the side of the caskis pierced to allow excess carbon dioxide gas

resulting from the fermentation process toescape. As with home-made beers and wine,real ale is truly a living liquid; the live yeastcells will continue working to convert thenatural sugars into alcohol, and develop theflavour, long after it has left the brewery.

After the barrel has been on the stillage fora day or two, it should have cleared and beready for serving. The landlord needs toexercise skill here, for if the beer is sold at thepeak of its condition it will taste like nectar,but if sold too soon, it will have little body orflavour, although it may be clear in appearance.

Distinction from other beersThe most easily recognised differences

between real ale and other beers are:! Taste – traditionally brewed beers canproduce an amazing variety and range offlavours; keg ones, and lagers in particular,have a much more restricted range of tastes.! Diversity – real ale covers a panoply ofstyles, with names like mild, bitter, pale ale,strong ale, brown ale, stout, porter, barleywine – and that’s only the British ones! Crossthe water and you can find Irish red ale, wheatbeer (made with wheat instead of barley),black beers, Bavarian smoked beers, beersfermented with wild yeast… I could go on…! Fizziness – real ale should have enough ofthis to give it a sparkle, but not so much thatyou start burping after the first mouthful.Other beers are usually stored under pressure,to prevent contamination by airborne bacteria,

and dispensed using the same gas pressure; gastends to dissolve in the beer in these condi-tions, and to emerge in the drinker’s stomach,causing discomfort and embarrassment.

Real ale without a barrel!Bottled beers can be ‘real ale’ if they have

been allowed to mature in the containerwithout filtration or pasteurisation. Some ofthese will carry on improving in flavour foryears. Brands include Worthington WhiteShield (although some say this is not the beerit once was), Gale’s Prize Old Ale, and locallynumerous beers from Wickwar and RCH.

StrengthIt is a common fallacy to think that all real

ale is very strong; at every CAMRA beerfestival, we have some customers whose firstquestion is “what’s your strongest?”, and whoare not interested in drinking weaker beersuntil there is nothing else left. Strong beershave their place, and indeed some of the mostrenowned examples of the brewer’s art are highin alcohol; but the great majority of drinkersare not out to get as drunk as possible asquickly as possible, and the typical brewer’srange of real ales reflects that. Social drinkingcan be refreshing and enjoyable, and evennutritious. Well kept real ale will accompanyany social occasion, and need not break thebank.

If you haven’t ... try some!Norman Spalding

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National CAMRA web site : www.camra.org.uk 3

The fight to save theRose and CrownThe Bristol & District branch ofCAMRA, the Campaign for RealAle, has joined forces with con-cerned local residents and formerpub regulars, to attempt to save thewell known and much loved Roseand Crown in Iron Acton.

The pub – an inn since 1680 – closedsuddenly and without warning after 11p.m. on Tuesday, 23rd November, 2004.

A notice appeared in the windowovernight saying “We have now closed,thank you for your custom over theyears”.

Allan and Gail Didcott had run theRose and Crown as a free house sincebuying it in 1985. It was a strong sup-porter of independent real ales, especiallyfrom Uley brewery – indeed it was theonly regular outlet for these fine beers inour area.

It had appeared in each of the last 12editions of the Good Beer Guide. Unusu-ally, the pub did not open at lunchtimes,except on Sundays, and never servedfood other than a few filled rolls.

We contacted Allan about a week afterthe pub closed to seek clarification. Hesaid that they had been unhappy for sometime with falling turnover, and poor profitmargins, and they had now decided thatthe pub was “no longer viable”. They hadclosed without warning to “avoid thefuss”. He said they he would definitelynot be reopening and that he doubted thatit would ever be a pub again. He felt thatit would not generate a good enough priceeither sold or leased out. He was alsoreluctant to leave his home.

Shortly after that conversation, anumber of people contacted us to expresstheir dismay at the closure. They alsodisagree strongly with the claim that thepub was unviable. One said that “IronActon had lost its heart and soul”.Several said that they had moved to thevillage to be close to the pub. There are

two other pubs in Iron Acton but they arevery different in character.

It has now been decided to hold apublic meeting to establish how muchsupport can be mustered, and to exploreall possible ways to get the pub reopened.All interested people are welcome toattend and have their say.

The meeting will be jointly hosted byCAMRA and the local action group.Allan and Gail will also be invited toattend and to speak, if they wish. Detailsof the meeting are as follows:

MEETING: 7.45 pmMonday, 14th Marchat the Village Hall,High Street, Iron Acton.

Further information can be obtainedfrom Vince Murray (CAMRA) by [email protected] orfrom Hilary Connors (action group) byemailing [email protected] head your email either “Rose andCrown” or “Iron Acton”.

We obviously cannot predict theoutcome of this meeting, but it is likelyjust to be the start of things to come. Tokeep abreast of developments, or to offer

advice or support, please do email theabove contacts, and keep an eye on theBristol & District CAMRA branch website at www.camrabristol.org.uk.

If you do not have access to email orthe web, then you can keep in contact bypost — send your correspondence toVince or Hilary, care of the editor at:Garden Flat, 6 Royal York Villas, Clifton,Bristol BS8 4JR.

To remind everyone just how good theRose and Crown was, we have reprintedon the back page a pub profile which firstappeared in Pints West in 1998 — theonly things that had changed by 2004were that Whitbread IPA had beenreplaced by Timothy Taylor’s Landlord (achange for the better most would agree!),and that Uley Old Spot had replaced OldeMerryford.

We have only a handful of genuinefree houses left around here (we lost theOld Fox at Eastville last year) and canill afford to see them close. If you careabout this then please make every effortto attend the meeting – or support it insome other way – and show that we cansave this historic pub.

Vince Murray

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SIBA beer festival tobe held in BristolBetween the 7th and 9thof April the Society ofIndependent Brewers(SIBA) will be holdingtheir National BeerFestival.

Luckily for us, this year it is beingheld at Horts on Broad Street in centralBristol.

The festival will comprise around 60beers, all of which have been short-listedfollowing competitions held in the sevenSIBA regions.

BristolBeer

Festival2005

This year’s Bristol Beer Festival will be /is / was a fantastic event (delete asappropriate depending on when you’rereading this).

This is the eighth annual festival, organisedby the Bristol & District branch of CAMRA,and is making its second appearance at theBrunel Passenger Shed, Temple Meads, onFriday 4th and Saturday 5th March.

At the time of Pints West going toprint, there were only Friday lunchtimetickets remaining, all other sessions forthis ever-popular festival having sold out.

If you’re reading this in time and requireFriday lunchtime tickets, they should beavailable by post from:CAMRA, c/o 7 Kellaway Court,142 Kellaway Avenue,Golden Hill, Bristol BS6 7YP.

The session is from 11.30am to 3pm andtickets are £3.50 each.

Please note the above is a postal forward-ing address only – tickets will not be sold tocallers. Enclose a cheque payable to “Bristol& District CAMRA”, together with astamped (first-class), addressed envelope.

Please also supply a telephone numberand/or email address in case of queries. If yourapplication is not in time or there are notickets left, your cheque will be returned afterthe festival.

If you wish to take the risk, if you turn upfor the Friday lunchtime session without aticket and there are still some remaining, youmay be in luck and be able to buy one on thedoor. However, we cannot accept anyresponsibility if you turn up without a ticketon the off chance and are unable to buy one.Note though that all other sessions aredefinitely sold out and there will be no ticketsfor those on sale at the door.

If you manage to attend the festival, youshould have the chance to sample a fantasticrange of well over a hundred real ales plus agreat selection of around forty real ciders andperries.

Cheers and wassail!SP

This should mean that all of the beerson offer will be good ’uns, although theywill all be hand-pumped so there will notbe 60 available at any given point in time.

There is no admission charge, so thisevent should be a must for any real ale fanin the Bristol and surrounding areas.

Tim Nickolls

CAMRA has criticized the Trade &Industry Select Committee for failing totake a harder line to curb the power of pubchains and for not calling for the introduc-tion of a guest beer for pubs owned bypub chains.

Mike Benner, CAMRA Chief Execu-tive, said: “I think the outcome is awhitewash, which doesn’t really call foraction on anything”.

The Committee found that no onepubco or brewer held a dominant position,however they were concerned thatnational brewers retain a stranglehold onthe distribution of beer via distributioncontracts pubcos have with the nationalbrewers. They therefore want the Office ofFair Trading to keep an eye on thesituation.

They however ruled out the removal ofthe tie, which they said would not benefittenants but would advantage the nationalbrewers.

The Committee ruled out the introduc-tion of a “guest beer” for pub chains

Pub companies givena clean bill of health:“It’s a whitewash”,says CAMRA

which Mr Benner claimed “would provideconsumers with more choice and smalllocal brewers with improved access tomarket”. The Committee however claimedthat to allow tied tenants the option of aguest beer of a particular type would runcontrary to EU Competition Law andcould lead to the UK Government beingchallenged in the European Courts.

The Committee recommended thatpubcos allow their tenants more flexibilityin the choice of products they sell.“CAMRA will be urging all pubcos toadopt this recommendation and pressingall pubcos to introduce a ‘guest beer’clause in their tenants’ agreements,” saidMr Benner.

Benner concluded that he thought that“The report was a missed opportunity”.

The Committee has also fought shy ofimposing a statutory code of practice onpubcos but said that if the industry doesnot show signs of accepting a voluntarycode then the Government should nothesitate to impose a statutory code on it.

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Smiles brewery closed

Pub newsJust after the last issue of Pints West went

to press, the Gloucester Arms in Horfieldreopened under the livery of John Barras &Co. There has been a complete refurbishment,with an expanded food menu, and CourageBest Bitter plus a guest on handpump.

Bar Sixty Four is the new name of thepub on Park Row formerly known as ThePrince and The Prince of Thieves. There’sbeen another refurbishment, designed to givethe place a lighter, airier, more up-market feel.No real ales available when we visited.

The burgeoning number of Sharp’s fans inBristol will be interested to know that a newIndia Pale Ale was recently tested at the CaskMarque accredited Royal Oak in Clifton.Sold as “Royal Oak Special”, it weighed in at4.8% ABV and was declared a massivesuccessive by Landlord Simon Dauncey.Sharp’s are now hoping to make the beeravailable to all outlets during the first part of2005.

The Rose of Denmark in Hotwellsunderwent a major refurbishment in December.Now just a single bar, with stripped floor-board, pine tables and a real fire in one corner,it seems to be doing very well. Certainly, thebarrels ranged along the back of the bar offeringCourage Best, Bass and Butcombe are a verypleasant site, and the Thatcher’s TraditionalCider goes down very nicely too.

The Grosvenor Arms by the river inSouthville has also had a complete refurbish-ment, and is now known as the LittleGrosvenor, described as a “Wetherforks” pub(geddit?).

The Red Lion in Mangotsfield is nowunder new management, and a lot of work iscurrently being done on it inside and out. Wewill keep an eye on the real ale offering (a goodpint of Bass when last we checked) and letyou know in a future Pints West.If you’re a landlord/lady or regular with somenews about your pub, please feel free to [email protected] [email protected](we’ll share the info) and we’ll be glad toconsider putting it into the next issue of PintsWest.

Duncan Shine

To coincide with this year’s NationalPubs Week, the Bristol and Districtbranch of CAMRA has picked out sevenpubs in the Centre of Bristol that,although located close together,illustrate some of the diversityavailable.

Whether due to their size, age, design,entertainment or some other reason, theseshould certainly appeal to range of clientele.

Some branch members will be taking awander around them on Thursday 24 Febru-ary, starting at the Brewery Tap at 7:30pm.Or you could of course visit one each day ifyou prefer. Research shows that 20 pubs are

IN the period leading up to Christ-mas it was announced that theSmiles Bristol Brewery had goneinto administration.

An immediate result of this wasthe closure of the brewery and thetransfer of production to theHighgate Brewery, located inWalsall. They are managing theSmiles brand and any SmilesBlonde, Best, Bristol IPA or Herit-age you drink from now on willhave been brewed there.

As well as the blow of losing theactual brewing of Smiles fromBristol, brewery and sales staff alsofound themselves unceremoniouslyout of a job.

This is a sad state of affairs,particularly as it happened scarcelya year after the purchase of Smilesby City Centre Breweries, headedby ex-Mansfield boss Ron Kirk, for£1.1 million in December 2003.What happened to those greatplans for the future?

It is generally believed that theunderlying financial problems ofSmiles date back to the over-expansion of the pub estate thattook place in the 1990s and re-sulted in the need to sell that estateto Young’s, with the sole exceptionof the Brewery Tap. It seems thatthis eventually deprived the brew-ery of the secure outlets it neededto survive.

To try and look on the brightside of the current situation,

Highgate are viewed as a capablebrewery and it’s hoped that theywill make a decent job of theSmiles beers. It has also beenclaimed that the involvement ofCoors and the Trade Team willactually open up new markets forthe brand.

A new, separate pub-owningcompany will take over theCornubia (a former Bristol & Districtbranch pub of the year purchasedby Smiles in 2004) and the BreweryTap. The good news is that itappears that the people who areintending to take this on want tokeep the Cornubia pretty much as itis now, with the possible exceptionof a much overdue new carpet!

Plans for the Brewery Tap areinteresting. The closure of thebrewery means that there is plentyof space to expand the pub, al-though we hope that the original,CAMRA award-winning bar will be

National Pubs Weekclosing every month, so it is important toappreciate the choice that is out there and toencourage people to visit and support pubs,even if you have to try a few to find the rightone for you!

!!!!! Brewery Tap!!!!! Zerodegrees!!!!! Griffin!!!!! Hatchet!!!!! Bunch of Grapes!!!!! White Lion!!!!! Watershed

There will also be a feature on these pubsin the “Seven” supplement of the BristolEvening Post.

Richard Brooks

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has announced that NationalPubs Week 2005 will take place between Saturday 19th andSaturday 26th February as a celebration of British pubs.

retained.In addition, there are plans to

set up a new micro-brewery on thesite that will supply real ale to theBrewery Tap and Cornubia. Itwould of course be great to seebrewing return to the site, althoughthere is no confirmed time scale forwhen this might happen.

Richard Brooks

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Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2005Supreme Champion: Robinson’s Old TomSilver: Bath Ales FestivityBronze: Woodforde’s Headcracker

Category winnersOld Ales & Strong Mild categoryGold: Bath Ales Festivity (Somerset)Silver: Gale’s Festival Mild (Hampshire)Bronze: Theakston’s Old Peculier (North Yorkshire)

Stouts & Porters categoryGold: Bateman’s Salem Porter (Lincolnshire)Silver: Big Lamp Summerhill Stout (Newcastle)Bronze: Spectrum Old Stoatwobbler (Norfolk)

Barley Wines categoryGold: Robinson’s Old Tom (Stockport)Silver: Woodforde’s Headcracker (Norfolk)Bronze: Moor Old Freddy Walker (Somerset)

Old Tom ChampionOLD TOM from Robinson’s in Stockport hasbeen named as the Supreme Champion WinterBeer of Britain 2005 by a panel of judges atCAMRA’s national winter celebration of beer.

The barley wine has an ABV of 8.5 percent and is described in the 2005 edition of theGood Beer Guide thus: “A full-bodied, darkbeer, it has malt, fruit and chocolate in thearoma. A delightfully complex range offlavours including dark chocolate, fullmaltiness, port and fruits lead to a long, bitter-sweet aftertaste.”

At the announcement, Steve Prescott,Organiser of the National Winter Ales Festival,congratulated Robinson’s on their victory. Hesaid, “Old Tom is no stranger to awards. It’s afabulously rich beer and thoroughly deservesthe top prize.”

On hearing the news Oliver Robinson,Commercial Director at Robinson’s brewery,said, “I’m absolutely thrilled. We won theaward back in 2000 and it’s wonderful toachieve that once again. Old Tom is ourflagship beer. We’ve been brewing it since1899 and it’s still very popular. It’s great toget this recognition and I hope the award willhelp Old Tom to reach its true potential as aclassic British beer and a great brand. Mythanks go to our excellent brewing team and toall the staff at the brewery.”

The silver prize went to Somerset basedBath Ales brewery for their superb Festivity,and the Bronze award went to Woodforde’sbrewery from Norfolk for their fantasticHeadcracker.

A panel of CAMRA experts and beerwriters at the National Winter Ales Festivaljudged the competition. Drinkers at thefestival, held in Manchester at the end ofJanuary, were able to sample the winners aswell as try over 120 old ales, milds, stouts,porters, barley wines and bitters.

Category definitionsStout: One of the classic types of ale, asuccessor in fashion to ‘porter’. Usually a verydark, heavy, well-hopped bitter ale, with a drypalate, thick creamy head, and a good grainytaste.Porter: A dark, slightly sweetish but hoppy alemade with roasted barley; the successor of‘entire’ and predecessor of stout. Porteroriginated in London around 1730, and by theend of the 18th century was probably the most

popular beer in England.Old Ale: Now virtually synonymous with‘winter ale’. Most ‘old ales’ are produced andsold for a limited time of the year, usuallybetween November and the end of February.Usually a rich, dark, high-gravity draught aleof considerable body.Barley Wine: A strong, rich and sweetish ale,usually over 1060 OG, dark in colour, withhigh condition and a high hop rate.

Andy and Heather Harvey invite you to sample thelocal ales, the home-made food, and a real local pub

atmosphere.We organise specialist ale drinkers’ weekends

including visits to Cotleigh and Exmoor breweries,with bed and full English breakfast, provided for £20

per person per night.Reductions available for group bookings.

WiveliscombeTauntonSomerset TA4 2JYTelephone and fax:(01984) 623537

THE BEAR INNFree House

The Bag O’Nails141 St. George’s Road, Hotwells,

Bristol BS1 5UW Tel: (0117) 9406776

A Real Ale Pub

At least 12 different real ales a weekImported German wheat beersEnglish bottle-conditioned beers

Unpasteurised imported bottled lagersWeb : www.bagonails.org.ukEmail : [email protected]

Bristol & District CAMRAPub Of The Year 2000

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Success for Bath Ales in the ChampionWinter Beer of Britain awardsBATH ALE’s gloriously dark, complexand tasty Festivity has taken first prizein the Old Ale & Strong Mild categoryat the recent CAMRA Winter AlesFestival in Manchester. Perhaps aneven greater achievement is taking theSilver medal for all styles of beer. At awinter ale festival the majority of beersare a much higher strength than Festivi-ty’s 5% specific gravity; this meantthat Bath Ales’ reputation for brewingbeers that punch above their weightwas put to the test. The Gold medalwinner was Old Tom at 8.5% and thebronze went to Headcracker at 7.5%.

This prize is a fair tribute to themaster brewing skills of Head BrewerCraig Lewis, ably assisted by his teamof Gerry Condell and Darren James(pictured). You can sample Festivity atBath Ales pubs in Bristol and Bath.Success at a major national festivalmeans that demand for the beer willprobably ‘go through the roof’ perhaps making it difficult tofind. Don’t worry, as Bristol CAMRA have secured a vintagebarrel for the Bristol Beer Festival. Bath Ales is major sup-porter of the Bristol Beer Festival this year. They supply boththe stillage and bar and have sponsored the glasses for thisyear’s event. Paul at The Wellington, Gloucester Road,Horfield is aiming to keep back some of the Manchesterbrew for the pub’s own beer festival planned for the 28th

May 2005. This is a date for your diary as, despite thephenomenal success of last year’s event, Paul has promisedthat this year will be even bigger and better. Alternatively,Festivity is available in bottles, mini-casks, or boxes from thepubs or from the brewery’s on-line shop.

The Wellington, the current Branch Pub of the Year, isnow hosting live Jazz on some Monday evenings in additionto the regular show-casing, top-quality live blues music onSunday evenings.

Demand for the range of Bath Ales beers has continued togrow following the move to bigger premises last summer.The increasing workload has led to Mark Harding joining asSales Director from Weston’s Cider and Wendy Haslermoving over from Smiles. Brewing capacity will soon beincreased to 225 barrels by the addition two more fer-menters.

More information about the brewery is available at theirnewly revamped website, wwww.bathales.com. This nowincludes an on-line shop and gives details of brewery tours.

Steve O’Shea

b a t h a l e sTo enjoy the full range of bath ales beers

at their best, pay a visit to one of our pubsThe Hop Pole

Upper Bristol Road, Bath (opposite Victoria Park playground)

The Hare on the HillDove Street, Kingsdown, Bristol

The Merchants ArmsMerchants Road, Hotwells, Bristol

The SalamanderJohn Street, Bath

The WellingtonGloucester Road, Horfield, Bristol

and atThe Bridge Inn

Passage Street, BristolCasks and beer boxes available for parties and functions

Contact bath ales on 0117 9527580 or email [email protected]

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Reputedly Bath’s oldest inn steeped intradition and renowned the world over.Described by The Campaign for Real Ale as a rareand unspoiled pub interior of outstanding historic

interest and listed on the National Inventory of Heritage Pubs.

Serving traditional English ales including:Bellringer brewed in Bath

and Burton’s favourite brew Bass.

23 THE VINEYARDS, PARAGON, BATH Tel 01225 425072

THE STAR INNOrganics at theHobgoblin in BathOK, so you missed it!Missed what?The Bath Hobgoblin festival of organic alesmentioned in the previous issue of Pints West is‘what’.

For those of you that like to know these things, the list of beerspassing through the pumps during the week was:! Chimera Gold from Downton! Jurassic from West Dorset! Ben Nevis 80/- and Glencoe Wild Oat Stout from Bridge of Allen! Halzephron Gold, Lizard Point, Wolf Rock, Black Rock and WinterWonderland from Organic Brewhouse! and finally Traditional, Barbus Barbus, Blackguard Porter, BitO’Posh, Le Butts and Jester from Butts.

I have made a point recently of visiting the Hobgoblin regularly.Pretty well every time I have found that they have something there thatI have not tried before or occasionally have never heard of. This placeis rapidly becoming a must for those that like a ‘tick’ or two.

To whet whistles further, John tells me that he has another twotheme weeks in the planning. At the end of February 2005 a winter beerfestival is being proposed. And later in the year the Hobgoblin plansto hold a spring/summer fruit beer festival. It’s possible the former willhave been and gone by the time you read this, but do keep an eye openfor more events like this in the future.

Phill the Pint

THE release date for Salvation, the recent‘seasonal’ ale from Bath’s Abbey Alesbrewery, was brought forward to allowlocal drinkers to contribute towards theAsian tsunami disaster relief appeal.

For each barrel (36 gallons) of Salva-tion sold, Abbey Ales has been donating£20 to the appeal fund.

Released at the end of January,Salvation boasts an ABV (alcohol byvolume) of 4.8 per cent. It is slightlydarker than the brewery’s classic Bell-ringer ale, being produced from MarisOtter and Crystal malts and finished withChallenger hops.

Managing Director, Alan Morganexplained: “We hadn’t intended to launchanother beer so soon after Christmas buteverybody involved with Abbey Ales feltthat we should do something for thetsunami disaster appeal fund, and a newbeer with some of the profit going to thefund seemed a sensible idea and a posi-tive way in which we as a small brewerycould contribute.”

Drinkers boosttsunami appeal fund

LAMPLIGHTERS(Riverside Bar)

Station Road, ShirehamptonBristol BS11 9XA Tel: 0117 9823549

(2 mins Shire station)

Real AlesHomemade FoodSunday Lunches

Quiz Night Sunday 9pmOpen Mon-Sat 11-3 / 6-11

All day Sunday

The Victoria(next to the Clifton Pool)

Butcombe BitterWadworth 6Xguest ales planned

2 Southleigh Road, Clifton0117 - 9745675

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Extra discountfrom Abbey Ales

Mention “Pints West” when ordering aBellringer beer box from Abbey Ales and youwill get an extra discount of £5 per 36-pint boxfor all orders collected from the brewery orfrom the Star Inn. 18-pint boxes are alsoavailable.

The Raven(ex-Hatchett’s)SOME visitors to Bath may remember alittle pub tucked around the back streetsof Bath called Hatchett’s. The pub wason the corner between Quiet Street andthe quaintly-cobbled Queen’s Street, andat one time in the Good Beer Guide if mymemory serves me correctly.

Well it isn’t any more (in the Guide orcalled Hatchett’s). The pub is still a pub,thank goodness, but it is now called theRaven. And it seems that the lease is ingood hands. The couple of visits that Ihave made have found that there are fourhand pumps in regular use and a cheerywelcome. So I stopped off to ask whatwas happening and this is what I found...

The lease is now held by Jill Forseywho reopened the pub last October underits new name. The place has been redeco-rated and fitted out with some comfortableseats downstairs and upstairs. Of particu-lar interest to me is the fact that the

upstairs bar is exclusively non-smoking.This bar has only recently opened andthere are plans to provide bar games(including shove halfpenny) there.

An eclectic mix of organic and home-made food is available at lunch-timeswhich may be extended to the evenings ifthere is demand. I am a sucker for bangersand mash so I plan to make a visit to try itout some time, but also listed wereunusual soups, tagliatelle, salads andhoumous.

And what of the liquid refreshment?The beer side of the business is run byTim Perry who chooses the stock. Thepolicy at the present is that they willalways stock Abbey Ales Bellringer plusSpeckled Hen. Tim says that it is hisintention to keep a malty and a bitterflavoured brew and that he is always opento suggestions regarding the two guestpumps (so I made one). I was alsopleased to see that there was a reasonableselection of single malts. Jill told me thatshe wanted to make sure that there wassomething for the women as well so theystock ten different wines, five white andfive red. (But women like beer too! Ed.)

For my part I left there with a nicefeeling and the resolve to visit there moreregularly than I have I the past. With thepossible demise of my works canteen thismay be more regular than I first imagined.

Phill the Pint

Real beer andreal football,the perfectcombination!And it is available at Bath’sTwerton Park on the weekend ofthe 1st and 2nd April.

Bath City Football Club will be holding itsfirst beer festival at Randall’s on Friday 1st andSaturday 2nd April. There will be 40 premierreal ales to taste and, if you can tear yourselfway for 90 minutes or so, a game of footballwhen Bath City take on Stamford in theSouthern Premier League at 3 p.m. on Saturdaythe 2nd.

The event is sponsored by Bath Ales,producers of ‘The City Ale’ regularly on saleat City’s home games. Bath and BordersBranch of CAMRA are also lending theirsupport in helping to organise the event. Foodwill be available at all sessions.

Go along, enjoy the beer, take in the matchif you want to and help your local footballClub into the bargain.

Tickets are available by post from RobShepheard, 16 Entry Rise, Combe Down,Bath BA2 5LR and are priced at £3 each(cheques payable to Bath City SupportersClub). Please state the required session, andenclose a stamped addressed envelope. Cardcarrying CAMRA members will receive £1worth of beer tokens on the door. OpeningTimes will be:

Friday 1st April – 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.Saturday 2nd April – noon to 2.45 p.m.Saturday 2nd April – 4.30 p.m. to 11 p.m.The Saturday lunchtime ticket also

includes entrance to the Saturday eveningsession before 5 p.m.

Long term CAMRA member RobShepheard, one of the event organisers,explained how real beer and Bath City FC gotogether. “Bath Ales supply ‘The City Ale’(actually rebadged Gem) in both cask andbottle conditioned form for every home game,and away matches always involve a pre-matchwarm-up in a local CAMRA listed pub. It’s allpart of a good day out! The beer festivalsimply takes this one step further.”

“Any profits will go to the Football Clubto try and improve prospects on the pitch andmake a sustained effort to move back up thefootball pyramid”, said Chair of the Bath Citysupporters Society, Peter McCormack.

Roger Jones, Managing Director of BathAles, was happy to support the event. “It isan opportunity to showcase our own beersalongside some premier real ales from otherbreweries.”

For further information please contact RobShepheard on 01225 837938.

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Ten years at the topof the hillBRADD FRANCIS is intending to cel-ebrate ten years at the Highbury Vaults on27th February this year.

He actually took over the running ofthe pub, at the top of St. Michael’s Hill inHigh Kingsdown, Bristol, on 28th February1995, after some eight years as a reliefmanager for Greenalls in the Weymoutharea. (OK, so he is celebrating a day early,for those with a keen eye for detail.)

Under his stewardship the pub hasseen very few physical changes over theyears, except for the partial covering overof, and the introduction of patio heatersto, the garden. However, there has been achange to the beers available.

Originally a Smiles pub, Bradd wasallowed to have two or three guest beersin addition to the Smiles range and BrainsSA. However, when Young’s bought it,the guest beers went, but Bradd fought

and won the battle to keep Smiles Best,Heritage and the SA in addition to thethree or four Young’s beers.

The Highbury is still very much atraditional British pub popular with localsand students alike and, as well as a regularentry in the Good Beer Guide, was runner-up in the local CAMRA Pub of the Yearawards in 2003.

Pete Tanner

Building on the success of their previousfestivals last February and again in October,and to demonstrate their commitment to realale, the White Lion in Bristol’s city centrewill be holding another event they dub“Bristol’s smallest beerfest”.

This tiny Wickwar pub will be offering adozen or so beers from around the countryfrom Friday 25th to Sunday 27th February,some from handpumps, some directly fromcasks stillaged in the corner of the pub.

The Nova Scotia in Hotwells and theKing’s Head on Victoria Street are twoBristol pubs to have been cited recently as fineexamples of heritage pubs by appearing in anew book published for English Heritage,Licensed To Sell. The book recognises thepubs for their traditional, historical, unspoiltinteriors.

Author Bill Bryson, who launched thebook, said: “Pubs are part of what makesEngland what it is. And like so much of thealmost embarrassing richness of England’shistoric environment we need to hang on towhat we’ve got.”

The pubs both serve great beer too!SP

Pub snippets

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Coopers ArmsupdateIN the last edition of Pints West I advised that the Coopers Arms atHighbridge in Somerset, a long standing free house and supporter ofindependent brewers, had been sold to Scottish and Newcastle.

The hand-over took place on January 10th 2005. I was fortunateenough to attend the leaving party for John and Carol Hayes on theprevious Saturday, when a generous free buffet was washed down withpints of RCH Firebox, Santa Fé and B52, plus Hopback SummerLightning and Winter Lightning and others. A rattling good do all round.John told me that “the new owners had pledged to keep the beer policygoing”.

My spies tell me that all of those wonderful beers have gone andbeen replaced by Greene King IPA, Abbot and Old Speckled Hen, plusFuller’s London Pride. This would be a perfectly respectable range formost pubs, but not for a special place like the Coopers. I have beenvisiting for 27 years but will probably not bother in future – the detouris no longer worth it. I know many of the regulars and am sure that theywill follow suit. Why do the big national or multi-national companiesalways assume that they know better than the consumer? Have theykilled another golden goose?

Vince Murray

. . . Unsurprisingly, trade has suffered as S&N have ditched the beerpolicy that had made the Coopers successful. The new tenant isunhappy with the situation as is working hard to at least be able to offerRCH beers, which were previously very popular at the Coopers. Thenearby Highbridge Social Club has wisely decided to seize the opportu-nity to grow their own trade by introducing RCH beers.

Tim Nickolls

How much?!I HAD the pleasure of visiting Manchester in February. Notsurprisingly perhaps, during my stay I took the opportunity tovisit some of the finest pubs that great City has to offer.

Eccles is a suburb to the west of the City Centre, best knownfor the cakes that share its name. I was drawn to this area afterconsulting the CAMRA National Inventory of outstanding pubinteriors. Eccles boasts three pubs with classic interiors, all ofwhich are Holt’s pubs – one of Manchester’s fine breweries. Anadditional bonus is that two of the three also feature in the 2005CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

I was not disappointed. All three were indeed absoluteclassic multi-roomed pubs dating from the early part of the 20th

century.But here is the main point of this rambling – in the first pub, I

ordered one pint and one half of the splendid Holt’s Mild – thatcost a mere £2.03. Bargain, I thought! After consuming thisbeery delight, we moved on to the second Holt’s gem andordered the same. On presentation of our frothing pint, I wasasked for £2 !

So make of that what you will – but it is quite rare to get a pintunder £2.25 in the Bristol area, so to get a pint and a half for only£2 in a classic pub seems like a good deal to me.

There were other pubs we visited in Manchester that madeour prices look like, well, an awful lot of dosh for a pint of beer. Itmade me feel like selling up and moving to Eccles to live on beerand cakes!

Pete Bridle

GREAT BEER / GREAT FOOD / GREAT WINE / GREAT COMPANYBUTCOMBE BREWERY…01275 472240

www.butcombe.comPRIDE IN EVERYTHING WE BREW

To sample perfectly kept Butcombe Bitter andButcombe Gold, plus numerous Guest Beers,

why not visit a Butcombe Pub…

THE BELLHillgrove St, Bristol

01179 096612

RING O’BELLSCompton Martin

(A368 between Blagdon &West Harptree) 01761 221284

THE LAMBThe Square, Axbridge

THE QUEEN’S ARMSBleadon

Near Weston-super-Mare

OLD CROWNKelston

Near Bath01225 423032

THE SWANRowberrow

(Off A38 southof Churchill)

01934 852371

THE RED TILECossington

Near Bridgwater01278 722333

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OVER a hundred independent off-licencesand a national supermarket chain arebacking a scheme to enable consumers tospot real ale on shop shelves.

To showcase the great taste and thevariety available, CAMRA, the Campaignfor Real Ale, held a tasting for a selectinvited audience on the 27th January, atthe National Winter Ales Festival inManchester, to celebrate the launch ofthis accomplishment.

“As part of our programme to promotereal British Bottled Ales, we recruited 20people from a media competition”, saidCAMRA’s Marketing Officer, GeorgieHowarth. “The intention was to use thetasting as a fun way to illustrate a seriouspoint – many of the participants indicatedthey didn't know how to select real alefrom shop shelves. Our aim was to givethem a brief explanation on the quality ofthe tastes and the range of beers stylesavailable.”

The tasting was part of CAMRA’sReal Ale in Bottle Accreditation Scheme,piloted last August, whereby eligiblebrewers can opt to use the logo “CAMRAsays this is Real Ale” on their bottlelabels. The idea is that consumers canunderstand what type of beer they aredrinking, as often the real ale enjoyed atthe pub, can be different altogether oncebottled.

Ms Howarth continued: “The Real Alein a Bottle Scheme has come a long waysince its infancy in August last year, andseems to have captured the imaginationsof brewers and retailers alike. In less thansix months CAMRA has signed up over47% of all eligible breweries. Almost bydemand, we are pleased to announce thatwe have launched a Retailers’ Scheme toshow our commitment to the brewerieswho have participated, and most impor-tantly to educate consumers about thisexciting, quality beer category.”

Similar to the level of brewery interest,the Retailers’ Scheme has encompassedboth large and small companies.

“We are delighted that, during Febru-ary, as part of its drinks festival,Sainsbury’s is placing an emphasis on realale in a bottle. They intend to provideshelf-edge information from the scheme,and the accreditation logo, at the point of

sale in 350 stores across the country.They will also stock many bottle-condi-tioned beers exclusive to Sainsbury'sduring that month.”

Ms Howarth went to to explain: “Froma pilot to independent stores, which hasgained positive feedback, we haverecruited nearly 100 outlets. CAMRA hasprovided them with marketing materials,such as window stickers, leaflets, alongwith training and advice sheets to supportthe scheme free of charge. We would liketo see many more come on board.”

CAMRA hopes that the participantsof the tasting event at the National WinterAles Festival will maintain the existingenthusiasm and become new ‘real ale in abottle ambassadors’ of the future.

CAMRA asks retailersto show some real bottle!

THIS is the next best thing, and thebottled equivalent, of the draught real alesyou can enjoy at the pub. The beer isunpasteurised and is not artificiallycarbonated. It is a natural live productwhich contains yeast for a slow second-ary fermentation in the bottle.

This process provides wonderful freshflavours and a pleasant, natural efferves-cence. However, not all ale brands arebottled in this manner.

To check whether a product is a “realale in a bottle”, you can look for the term“bottle-conditioned” on the label. An-other term you might see is “conditionedin the bottle”.

To remove confusion CAMRA haslaunched a hallmark “CAMRA says this isreal ale” (illustrated above) to clearlyidentify for you products that are the realthing: natural, living beers. Over thecoming months you will start to see thislogo appearing on the bottle labels ofeligible beers.

What is RealAle in a Bottle?

Rising to real ale challenge

DON'TSPILL BEER

WARNINGHOPE & ANCHOR

Exceptional Public House

From the Management of the

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IN previous issues of Pints West we havebrought you news of the Bristol Beer Factory,a brand new brewery set up on the same siteas Thomas Baynton’s Ashton Gate Brewery,which was closed by George’s in 1933, thusending over a century of brewing on the site.

We’ve covered the renaissance of thebrewery before — go to the CAMRA web siteat www.camrabristol.org.uk and look at PintsWest issues 62 (front cover) and 64 (backcover) — so let’s see what’s new!

Well, CAMRA was invited to pop roundon February 10th for a tour of the brewery andperhaps a small sample of some of the beer(purely for research purposes, you under-stand). So, the first question I ask SimonBartlett, our host for the evening, is “Sowhat’s new?”

“That, that and that!” he replies. The first

“that” is a brand new malt store, which hasbeen erected right next to the brewing line and,I’m reliably informed, painted by Simon’sfather. Before it was built, there was an awfullot of lugging about to be done. Now however,the malt can go straight into the grist case.And the grist case is the second “that”. Thishas been made by hand by Simon, no meanfeat as it is a sizeable wooden structure, with achute at the bottom, angled perfectly for thegrist to go straight into the pre-mash.

However, it is the third “that” that is themost noteworthy. This “that” is a six-footplus, shaven headed giant of a man withpiercing eyes and a warm smile. It is of coursenone other than Chris Thurgeson, erstwhilebrewer at Smiles, who has traded BS1 for BS3to lend his experience to the Bristol BeerFactory. For those who don’t know aboutChris’s brewing history, it is remarkable.About six years ago he got a job at Smileswashing out the barrels. He knew little aboutbeer, but he set about learning the trade,gaining his brewing qualifications off his ownbat, until eventually rising to the top of theheap at Smiles.

There have already been several advances

in the Beer Factory’s brewing process. Afurther heating element has been added, alongwith automatic cooling in the summer. Theseare important changes because controllingpitch temperature has been an issue in thepast. (Pitching, I’m told, is the process ofadding the yeast to the wort to start thefermentation. To get a consistently good endproduct, you need to be sure the yeast ispitched at the right temperature, but then youknew that, right?)

Talking of the yeast: another of Chris’s

innovations has been to introduce the cultureof wet yeast that he had been using at Smiles(and had – give or take the odd mutation –been used at Courage back in the 1970s). Thiswet yeast is a much more satisfactory solutionthan dry or powdered yeast.

The first beer sampled is “No 7”, atraditional bitter (abv 4.2%) with a goodbalance of malt and hops, and a clean, crisp,refreshing taste. CAMRA’s tasting expertsare heard to comment that this is showing greatimprovement on the experimental brews that

Bristol Beer Factory opens its doorsto CAMRA

were produced before Christmas.The second beer is Gold. This light-

coloured beer is very much a work in progress,put on especially for the CAMRA visit. Chrisuses caramalt – a lighter version of crystal malt– roasted after germination to bring out aslightly sweeter roundness in the flavour.Although we taste the beer twenty-four hoursbefore it’s due to be racked, and a full fortnightbefore it will be ready to serve as Chris wouldlike, we nonetheless get a good idea of thefinished product, and are looking forward toseeing it appear on the hand pumps of Bristol.

The beers are being aimed at the free trade,but good bets to find it in Bristol are theTobacco Factory, and the Cornubia. TheBrewery Tap, the Ship Inn on Lower ParkRow, the Sportsman in Bishopston and thePipe & Slippers in Stokes Croft have alsostocked the beer recently. Our thanks toSimon and to Chris for a very enjoyable andinformative evening, we hope they are brewingin Ashton Gate for many years to come.

If you want to sell Bristol Beer Factory beers inyour pub, contact Simon on (0117) 902 6317or email [email protected].

Duncan ShinePhotos by Richard Brooks

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THE last few months have provided a numberof very enjoyable visits to cider producers andhostelries — places which produce and sell thetreasured apple juice.

October is designated CAMRA ‘cidermonth’. For us the fun commenced with anevent on Saturday, 9th October, and a fullminibus travelling to the village of MuchMarcle. The object was to help celebrate anopen day for the local cider producers in thearea, namely the larger family producerWeston’s, and the smaller but no less impres-sive Lyne Down and Gregg’s Pit, all basedaround the village.

What a great day we all had, helpedsomewhat by good weather; something I recallwe didn’t get a lot of in 2004!

Weston’s gave us a full guided tour of theirpremises with a detailed history of thecompany, showed us their enormous storagetanks, and invited us to purchase goods at theirwell appointed shop. We completed the visitby having a few pints of their various brandsin their ‘brewery tap’.

Next was Lyne Down, where moreexcellent cider was quaffed, and many of theparty took advantage of a superb hog roast andan hour or so either sitting in the sun, oractually watching the apples being pressed.

Finally Gregg’s Pit, where we were metwith long queues before sampling more

wonderful product. Not surprisingly, theminibus was heavily weighed down on theway back with plenty of ‘carry homes’.

One more stop, at a pub with the car parkin England but a footbridge crossing into itsWelsh location, some more cider (although ittook a bit of investigation), and for a couple ofpeople what seemed like a keg beer masquerad-ing as real ale, and we meandered our wayhome. All in all, a fantastic day, and no doubtone we will repeat in years to come.

On Thursday, 14th October we held acider social at the Cotham Porter Stores,possibly the most renowned cider pub inBristol. Several pints of Thatcher’s Dry andCheddar Valley were quaffed, and our hostAndy kindly put on cheese and crackers toaccompany the beverage. We were joined byan Australian and his wife, who were research-ing the cider scene in this country, as theywere intending to set up a company in theirhome country.

If there are any readers who’ve never beento the ‘Stores’, I cannot recommend it highlyenough. It’s full of real character and characters– many of the locals have their own cider jugs,and the conversation is never less thanentertaining.

Our third social, on Thursday, 28thOctober, was a ‘cidersaunter’ in theBedminster/Southvillearea in conjunction withNorth Street Traders.On this evening, wetook in four pubsknown for selling largequantities of cider.These were the AppleTree, which sellscopious quantities ofTaunton Traditional,the Coronation, wherewe imbibed fantasticWest Croft Janet’sJungle Juice, theOrchard in HanoverPlace with superbThatcher’s Dry andCheddar Valley, andfinally a real classicBristol pub, the AvonPacket on CoronationRoad, for more excellentThatcher’s Dry.

A few of our groupalso managed to popinto the Holy Cross &Southville Social Clubclose to the Coronation(which any CAMRAmember can do onpresentation of theirmembership card) for an

extra cider on the way.Your scribe had to leave the Packet at

around ten o’clock, but I understand that thesocial carried on for quite a while after that,and some individuals sauntered in after theevent was supposed to have finished!

Saturday, 15th January saw what appearsto be becoming an annual event for the branch– a Wassail.

Wilkin’s Cider Works in Mudgeley, nearWedmore, was the chosen location for thisgenuinely traditional event. On a bitterly coldevening, 30 of us merry revellers travelleddown to the remote Land’s End Farm, which isnot the easiest place to find in the pitch black.

My thanks at this point to John Lansdall,who took on navigating duties for the evening.Had it been left to me, we could still have beenwandering those country lanes at this momentin time!

A very enjoyable evening followed, and foran entrance fee of £8 we were provided withunlimited cider throughout. There was alsocider with honey, cider with gin, cider withginger, and a generous ploughman’s, includingprobably the best pickled onions this writerhas ever tasted — and of course the traditionalWassail, which was very entertaining. Wereturned to Bristol in time for the midnightbuses, once again carry-outs being the order ofthe day for many of the attendees.

My intention over the coming months willbe to arrange more cider socials, visitingvarious producers within a reasonable distance,and supporting the local pubs which sell themarvellous liquid! If anyone is interested injoining the regulars, feel free to get in touchwith me via the normal channels (see our website or the contact details at the back of PintsWest).

The Beer Festival should also be fun, as Ihave ordered around 40 different varieties ofciders and perries which will, I hope, satisfymost tastes, so please come and join us at thestand.

Drink up thee zider, drink up thee zider,tonight we’ll merry be...

Richard Walters

Cider galore

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Ciderfestival

THE JUBILEE INN, on the A370 at FlaxBourton, is proposing to hold a real ciderfestival. It is at the early stages of beingplanned and managers Rich and Mel wouldappreciate any ideas and support that PintsWest readers and local CAMRA memberscould give. They can be contacted by ’phoneon 01275 462741, or by emailingjubileeinn.flaxbourton@ Eldridge-Pope.co.uk.

Cider SistersWITH the country moving into election mode,it seems appropriate that this article shouldhave a bit of a political flavour. Just beforeChristmas, courtesy of our friends in theWelsh Cider Society, we got notice of theParliamentary Cider Group’s AGM. Wedidn’t feel we could miss this – a chance tovisit the mother of all parliaments, drink ciderwith elderly red-nosed peers of the realm, andfind out if Gordon Brown prefers still orgently sparkling.

Cider Sister 1 being out of action due tochild-care responsibilities, it was down toSister 2 to blag an invitation. Thanks in part tothe similarity between “Pints West” and“Points West”, I was soon armed with ajournalist’s pass, bought a notebook to give anair of professionalism, and off I went.

The AGM was held in a marquee on theCommon’s terrace. It took me a while to findit but after wandering down endless grandcorridors and making my way throughnumberless security checkpoints, I was there –a great long room full of middle-aged men insmart suits.

I felt completely awkward – knowing no-one, and unable to tell the MPs from the cider-makers without peering a couple of inchesaway from their tiny name badges on theirchests. Luckily I spotted the Burrow Hilltable in the corner and quickly hooked up withShaun, their cider-maker, who was just asuncomfortable as me. They were doing aroaring trade in their excellent cider brandy andpomona, which seemed particularly popularwith the members of the upper house.

I managed to miss the business of theAGM while chatting with Shaun, whichwasn’t hard as it was all over in about twominutes. I managed to catch a bit of LordLarry Whitty’s speech, and then HughArchibald (chair of the National Association ofCider Makers) saying something about theimportance and relevance of cider. I was ratherdistracted by Lord Whitty’s thick mane of

silver hair, but I don’t think I missed much.From that point on, I decided the only

way forward was to get trying the ciders onoffer, and sure enough after a couple of glassesI was buttonholing all and sundry. I mostlytalked to the cider-makers present – a verydashing representative of Aspalls offered toget me a drink, I told him to surprise me, andhe came back with a glass of Aspalls.

There was a really good range on offer,from big and small producers, and they wereall going down well with our elected repre-sentatives. At some point I expressed surpriseat just how many people were there, to whicha parliamentary old-timer replied simply:“booze”. A division bell rang and I expectedto see the place empty out as all the MPsexercised their democratic responsibilities.No-one went anywhere.

So what were the highlights? One wasdefinitely getting to talk to Kevin Minchew ofMinchew’s cider in Gloucestershire, a veryexperienced cider-maker who is particularlykeen to promote perry as a unique regionalproduct – he told me its use of the methodechampagnoise pre-dated Dom Perignon. Hisbottled cider was on offer, but he was alsocarrying around some secret under-the-counterunlabelled which was rather special. We hopeto go and visit him someday and report backfor a future column.

I also really enjoyed getting a rare taste ofthe Welsh Seidr Dai perry, which wasabsolutely delicious – very soft and complex.James Daley of the Welsh Cider Society wasthere, and told me it was produced from pearsfrom a 200-year-old perry orchard inMonmouthshire.

You’d expect the West Country to bewell-represented, but I also talked to Jim Hill,a cider-maker from Norfolk – I hadn’t knownthere was a cider tradition there, but appar-ently they use cookers and eaters and the cideris consequently a bit bland. Jim, from WhinHill Cider, on the other hand, uses proper ciderapples from down our way, with much moreinteresting results.

An hour or two into the evening and, withthe cider flowing freely, everyone wasloosening up nicely. I started talking to someof the politicians, including David Wilshire,who is MP for Spelthorne in Middlesex andthe only cider-making member in the House. Iwas proud to introduce Ray Beggs to thedelights of Burrow Hill Pomona – he’s an MPfrom Northern Ireland and he admitted that theclosest he’d previously got to an appleproduct was his wife’s crumble (which isapparently very good).

By this time, I’d had a few cider brandiesand was feeling very relaxed, enjoying somescurrilous parliamentary gossip from someyoung MPs’ researchers. In fact, it was luckythat I had a train back to Bristol booked andhad to head off, because I could see that all-outdrunkenness was just around the corner. I wasdisappointed not to see any household names– Gordon’s cider preferences will have toremain a mystery for now – but encouragedthat there were so many MPs and peers thereappreciating a drink they might otherwisenever try. How much it will have helped theBritish cider industry I have no idea, but Icertainly had a good time and that’s whatmatters after all.

Erica & Freya McLukie

DON’T FORGET TO INVITE ‘BOB’TO ALL YOUR PARTIES AND BARBECUES

GIVE THE BREWERY A CALL FOR COLLECTION PRICES

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Watering Holes in the Desertnews from Weston-super-Mare

Pints Weston

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Weston Whispers(pub and beer news)IT is pleasing to report that the Major FromGlengarry appears to be in a state of much-needed stability. Lesley Hunt and Rob Hasetook over at the Major at the end of lastAugust. Both are born-and-bred Westonianswho had never previously run a pub. Theirbackground was in retailing, having run twolocal shops. Both had been long-standingregulars at the Major and they had got fed-upwith seeing it in decline since the departure ofKen Oliver in June 2003.

The following 12 months saw no less thanfive different people running the Wadworth-owned pub. Lesley and Rob got heartily sickof seeing their local, a pub with a stronghistory and bags of potential, gradually goingdownhill and decided they had better have a goat running it themselves!

Sitting in a pub thinking that you couldmake a better fist of it than the landlord issomething that many of us may have thoughtat some time, but it takes some gumption toactually go for it. So far, Lesley and Rob arehappy with how things are going. They reportthat local trade is steadily building up. Theyrun various events such as quizzes, race nights,karaoke, discos and also offer good value food,with many meals costing less than a fiver.

On the beer side, they were recentlyawarded Cask Marque accreditation, which

recognizes a pub’s ability to keep and servereal ale in top-quality condition. They scoredfull marks across the whole range of beerswhen they got their unannounced visit fromthe inspectors in January this year. The beerson offer are Wadworth 6X and Henry’s IPA.In addition they offer a guest beer from a listprovided by Wadworth. On my last visit thiswas Bath Ales Gem in top-notch condition.

Long-standing Pints West readers will haveread these words several times before, but……… if you haven’t been to the Major for awhile, give it a try.

The nearby Criterion on Upper ChurchRoad is another pub that has recently changedhands. The ex-Ushers pub now advertisesBass and Young’s Bitter, although on my onlyvisit neither were available.

The lucky residents of Compton Martinwere able to see in the New Year sipping themarvellous London Porter from Fuller’s in theRing O’Bells.

The first birthday party for the Raglanunder Gary Havard’s stewardship took placeon Sunday 23 January. Apparently a goodtime was had by all. The excellent band FallenApples provided musical entertainment. Thepub was so busy that towards the end of theevening the glasses washer collapsed withexhaustion, flooding the bar.

In the last edition of Pints West wehighlighted a few pubs that were still providinga pint of real ale for less than £2. I did notexpect that the list would be exhaustive andother pubs have since been mentioned as beingin the “Under £2 a Pint Club”. The Regencyon Lower Church Road, referred to elsewherein the A Round With Robin column, is one suchexample.

Robin’s column touches on the question ofwhat makes a particular pub attractive to aperson and my raising the thorny issue of theprice of beer triggered some debate about whatmakes a pub worth visiting.

Clearly there are a wide number of factorsthat influence the decision on where someonechooses to go for a drink. For some price willindeed by a major factor. For others it will bebeer quality (who wants a pint of poorly keptbeer that costs £1.50?) or range of beers onoffer – the beer may be cheap and/or in goodquality, but some people don’t want to haveto stick to the same drink all night.

Other people will consider the quality ofservice (the beer may be good and cheap, but ifyou have to wait ten minutes for off-hand,inattentive staff to attend to your require-ments, can you be bothered?) or the generalambience of a pub – it may be worth an extra20p a pint for a warm, inviting atmospherewith a friendly, interesting/witty clientele.What is the food like? Is there a real fireblazing away on a winters night? Is there a nicegarden? Is there a family room? Is it toosmoky? Is there any music? How about a quizor race night? Can I watch sport? Is there askittle alley? These and many other factors caninfluence the decision over where is worthvisiting.

What is your favourite pub in the Westonarea and why? We would be interested to hearyour thoughts. These should be sent to StevePlumridge at the editorial address.

Finally, in the next Pints West, there maybe news on the rumoured Birnbeck Brewery,which, if our initial checks indicate, could bethe first brewery in the town since 1372.

Tim Nickolls

available at all Wadworth pubs and selected free houses

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Pints Weston

I SOMETIMES wonder if this article shouldbe called “Robin’s Ramblings” rather than “ARound with Robin”. That being the case thisRambling has as the main theme – my local, orrather, not to be too egoistic, local pubs. We allhave a local pub though it may be a local fordifferent occasions. However, your nearestpub is probably not your local. I have onlyvisited my current nearest pub The Ancasterin Drove Road, five times in 15 years.

But let us go back to my early years whenI lived in Selsdon, south of Croydon in Surrey.The village of Selsdon was built up just afterthe First World War, and due to a restrictivecovenant on the land no public houses could bebuilt there. Fortunately in 1956 there was a bigfire in one of the pre-1920 houses, andfollowing its demolition, some entrepreneurhad the idea of building “The Good Neigh-bour”. This was a Courage, Barclay &Simmons establishment where they also soldWatney’s, Mann’s, and other terrible stuff. Asthere were better pubs in the three-milestaggering radius from Selsdon, this was notmy local. One pub that I did frequent on aregular basis was The White Bear atFickleshole, near Addington (their glasses werestamped Davies 1870), which sold draughtBass and draught sherry! During the generalelections in the late 1960’s /early 1970’svarious wags at different times painted thestone white bear that stood outside the pub,both blue and red so that sometimes the localswould refer to the pub as “The colouredanimal”! The 15th century pub is still there,and happily Selsdon now has a second pub, aWetherspoon’s on the site of the old Co-opgrocers.

When I moved to Wells, my nearest pubwas The Mermaid Inn, but I preferred TheSun Inn, The Globe, The Fountain, or TheFull Moon in Southover. At The Sun Inn youcould buy the rawest rough cider I’ve evertasted, for as cheaply as you could get it atThe Lamb Inn in Glastonbury. One of thelandlords at the time seemed to spend most ofhis time on our side of the bar in slumber, andit was not uncommon for customers ingreatcoats to pull rabbits out of one pocketand ferrets out of the other. The Fountainbecame a local when the Wells Folk Clubmoved there from The Sherston Arms, nearthe old level crossing gates. Most pubs inWells in the mid 1970’s had at least one realale, but the pub I would have called my regularlocal then, was The Rifleman’s Arms inGlastonbury where there was always a choiceof three real ales including Royal Oak.

Moving to Weston-super-Mare in thespring of 1977, my nearest pub was TheBritannia or MacFarlane’s, or even TheLondon if the back door to Worthy Place wasopen. I used to enjoy sitting in the courtyardof The Brit on summer days, but later Ifavoured Maximillian’s in Wellington Place,where many had the doubtful pleasure offalling up or down the steps by the entrance.My local, however, soon became The SilverJubilee in Lower Church Road. I expect somereaders will remember the pale blue carpetwith the royal coat of arms on it, and theunusual ceiling decorations. This was the TopHat night club before it became a pub. At sometime in the early 1980’s David, Cynthia andPaul took it over and it became The Regency,and the long tradition of serving the best pintof Bass in Weston started. It was a genuinefree house and although Whitbread beersseemed to dominate, some exciting ales wereseen from time to time. These included (not inany order) Butcombe (in its infancy), Guvnors(from the Miners Arms at Priddy), Mendip,the Farmers Glory from Wadworth, andCotleigh Ales (also in their infancy). Laterowners added more pumps, and continued theexcellent “village pub” tradition of nibbles andsausage rolls on the bar on Sundays.

I can’t remember when The Regency firstentered the CAMRA Good Beer Guide, but Isuspect it was at around the time Mark Shortand Mark Pullen came on the scene. It is nowover 11 years since they took over the runningof The Regency and there have been mini beerfestivals, mystery ale competitions, and agreater movement away from the Whitbreaddomination, at least as far as the six real aleswere concerned. Bass has continued to be thebiggest seller, and when The Raglan Armsand The Windsor Castle pubs in Westonwere closed, all the Bass drinkers came to TheRegency, some never to leave. When writingthis article there were but four real ales on, butthis may change according to the season. Atleast one real ale is priced at under £2 a pint.As regular readers of Pint West will know,Tim Nickolls wrote an article on the excellentfood here. This still remains in my heart as mylocal but there is now great competition fromOff The Rails and The Raglan Arms.

When the Raglan Arms in Upper ChurchRoad re-opened a year ago, there was muchspeculation about what real ales might beavailable. Gary, the landlord, has championedTom Newman’s brewery and has had ondraught, Wolver’s, Bite, Woolly Mammoth,Red Stag and most recently the Cave Bear

A Round with Robin WestonDiary

!!!!! Friday 4th, Saturday 5th March – BristolBeer Festival

!!!!! Wednesday 16 March – SkittlesEvening, White Hart, Palmer Row. 8.30start.

!!!!! Wednesday 20 April – Hotwells Crawl.Meet at The Merchants Arms 7.30-8.00.

!!!!! Friday 22 April – Maltings BeerFestival, Newton Abbot – Arrangements tobe confirmed. Further details from TimNickolls at the beginning of April ifinterested.

!!!!! Saturday 30 April – RCH BreweryCelebration Day – This day is RCH’s 21st

birthday. To commemorate this event, all 7of their regularly brewed beers will beavailable in Weston. There will be one ofthe beers at 7 named pubs. This will be agreat pub crawl to undertake. Full detailsavailable from Tim Nickolls at the begin-ning of April.

!!!!! Friday 6 May – West Mendips PubsCrawl. Minibus outing visiting pubs inCompton Martin, Blagdon, Ubley (there isone in Ubley, but only on the first Fridayof each month!) and Churchill. Minibusleaves Off The Rails, Weston Station at7.15. Cost £5.

!!!!! Wednesday 18 May – Off The Rails.8.30 start.

!!!!! Wednesday 15 June – Bath Crawl.Train from Weston at approx 18.30(subject to Summer timetable)

Non-members welcome at all ofthe above events.

ContactTim Nickolls - 01934 628996 (eves)or email [email protected]

Stout. This is not to say that he has neglectedother breweries. Far from it, as we have seenBath Ales, GFB from Hopback, Smiles,Butcombe, Grand Union, and RCH beers,always at £2 a pint, no matter the strength ofthe beer. Added to which, the Friday nightacoustic music sessions, and the warmth ofboth the open fire and the host, have made thisanother “local pub” about town for Robin’sRamblings.

Robin E Wild

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Pints Weston

In RCH brewery, based in West Hewishjust outside Weston-super-Mare, we arelucky to have one of the finest breweriesin the country on our doorstep, althoughin the murky pub world this does notmean that it is easy to find their excellentbeers in local pubs – more on that later.

RCH are celebrating their 21st anniver-sary this year, so I thought this would bea good time to visit the brewery to reflecton their beginnings, their substantialachievements, and to hear about theirfuture ambitions.

Paul Davey, the Managing Director,was a chef in Oxford until April 1984,when he bought the Royal Clarence Hotelin Burnham-on-Sea. A small brewingoperation was already in situ at the hotel,with the sole beer being brewed called KCBitter – the initials coming from theoriginal owners of the hotel. When Paultook over he changed the name of thebrewery to RCH.

One of the regular customers at theRoyal Clarence was Graham Dunbavan, anengineer working in Bridgwater, who waskeen on brewing and was also Chairmanof the Somerset Branch of CAMRA.Graham started doing some brewing forRCH on a part-time basis. A pivotalmoment in the history of RCH came whenGraham was made redundant from hisengineering job. The brewing had beenbuilding up, with demand starting to comefor the beers from beer festivals and beeragents. The decision was taken to takeGraham on as full-time Head Brewer. Thissparked further growth in the businessand the production of a stable of superb,award-winning beers.

In the early days the beers producedwere Clarence Pride and Clarence Regent,which Paul says was a fore-runner to EastStreet Cream. Then the following wereproduced, roughly in this chronologicalorder: Old Slug Porter, Pitchfork, Firebox,Santa Fé, PG Steam, Hewish IPA andDouble Header, with various “one-offs”produced along the way. Over the pastcouple of years the brewery has alsoproduced monthly specials.

A major milestone for the brewerycame when Paul sold the Royal Clarenceand the brewery moved to its current sitein West Hewish. This provided increasedcapacity, which enabled them to expand,grow the bottling side of their operationand start proactively pushing their beersin the local and regional pub market.When the brewery started, 120 barrels ayear were brewed. This figure is now up to3,500 barrels.

The brewery’s first award was Beer OfThe Festival at the Bury Beer Festival in1993 with Pitchfork. This was the first ofmany triumphs for RCH beers. To mysurprise Paul has not kept a record ofthese. However, he says that the mostmemorable ones were Pitchfork winning

the Champion BestBitter of Britain atthe Great BritishBeer Festival(GBBF) in 1998, OldSlug Porter winninga silver award at the1998 BrewingIndustry Interna-tional Awards,Double Headerbeing crownedSupreme Championat the 2000Maltings Festival,and East StreetCream winning asilver award at the2003 GBBF.

The quality ofRCH beers hasbeen recognisedbeyond theseshores, with 1,000cases of bottled

Pitchfork, Ale Mary and Old Slug Porterheading westwards to the USA everyyear. Most of these go to the east coastcities where there has traditionally beeninterest in good beer (as opposed to theBudweisers and Rolling Rocks that tendto dominate the local markets), but Paulreports that there is now growing interestin Miami!

The brewery’s 21st anniversary iscoming up on the 30th of April and theyare planning an open day to celebrate theevent. This is expected to be held duringlate May or early June. Their anniversarywill also be commemorated by a new beer– probably to be called “RCH 21” whichPaul says will be a 4.5 per cent ABVgolden brew.

I concluded by asking Paul what hismain frustrations were and his expecta-tions for the future. On the issue offrustrations, Paul spat out the words “pubcompanies” before I had finished thequestion. As regular readers of PintsWest will know, pub companies ownabout a third of the country’s pubs andmost of these use their clout to preventtheir tenants from stocking the beers thatthey would like to and to force them tobuy their beer from the pubcos at inflatedprices, which are then of course passedon to customers (or at least the dwindlingband of drinkers who have not alreadydeserted the pub – seduced into theirarmchairs by the much cheaper beer onoffer in supermarkets).

Despite constantly having to battleagainst the increasing stranglehold thatthe pubcos have on the market, Paul isreasonably upbeat about the future. Hehas recently seen a number of hotels andrestaurants ordering real ale, as moreoperators realise that it can be beneficialto their trade to offer a beer of goodquality alongside the more accepted mealaccompaniment of wine. Also, there is anincreasing interest from pubs and restau-rants in offering local produce. Even someof the pub companies are realising thisand graciously allowing their pubs in thearea to stock a beer brewed in Somerset,rather than making them have one from,say, Yorkshire. RCH’s beer sales havegrown by around five per cent over thepast year and Paul Davey is only inter-ested in continual growth.

RCH is one of the finest breweries inthe country. I am not being parochial, justbecause it has Weston-super-Mare in itsaddress. There are plenty of breweriesthat produce a really great beer – or eventwo or three – but I don’t feel that thereare many that can boast such a widenumber of excellent ales covering such adiverse range of tastes and strengths.

RCH — a jewel in the

RCH Brewery

Guest Beers and Beer Festivals catered for

""""" P.G. Steam""""" Pitchfork""""" East Street Cream""""" Firebox

Brewers of award-wining beers including

West HewishNr Weston-super-Mare

Tel: 01934-834447

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Pints Weston

They say this desert could beawash with RCH beer if it wasn’t

for the pubcos

These are the regularly-produced beers and adviceon where to get them...

The Beers(with tasting notes courtesy of the 2005Good Beer Guide)

Hewish IPA – 3.6% alcohol by volume(ABV) – Light, hoppy bitter with somemalt and fruit. Floral citrus hop aroma, palebrown/amber in colour.

PG Steam – 3.9% abv – Amber-coloured,medium-bodied with a floral hop aromawith some fruit. Hoppy and bitter.

Pitchfork – 4.3% abv – Yellow/gold incolour, hops predominate in a full-bodiedtaste, which is slightly sweet. Long finish– a class act.

Old Slug Porter – 4.5% abv – Chocolate,coffee, roast malt and hops with lots ofbody and dark fruits. A complex, richstout, dark brown in colour.

East Street Cream – 5% abv – Superbpremium ale, pale brown in colour, it ismalty with chocolate hints, hoppy, fruityand bitter-sweet. All flavours vie fordominance in what is a notable and well-crafted ale.

Double Header – 5.3% abv – Light brown,full-bodied strong bitter. Beautifullybalanced flavours of malt, hops andtropical fruits. Very refreshing and easydrinking for its strength.

Firebox – 6% abv – Aroma and taste ofcitrus hops and pale crystal malt. Astrong, complex, full-bodied mid-brownbeer with a well-balanced flavour of maltand hops.

Where to get themThis is the hard bit. However, this is aguide to where you may find these beersin and around Weston.

Off The Rails – This nearly always hasHewish IPA, the regulars getting throughfour casks a week. OTR usually takes themonthly guest beer. Old Slug Porterappears about every three months (and atCAMRA socials!) and always stocks thewonderful Xmas beer, Santa Fé.

The Dragon – This has Pitchfork and EastStreet Cream on a regular basis.

The Raglan – “The Rag” has startedstocking Pitchfork as a guest beer on afairly regular basis, but it is having to fightfor bar space with the large number oflocal breweries that landlord Gary Havardis trying to support.

The Crown, Churchill – PG Steam is apermanent beer here. The Crown is wellworth the trouble to get to, not just for thesuperb Steam straight from the cask.

The Woolpack, St. Georges – The localslike their East Street Cream, which appearson a fairly regular basis. You might getlucky and see Pitchfork as well.

In terms of the bottled beers, which arealso excellent, Tesco stock Pitchfork, Asdausually have Double Header, Pitchfork willbe featuring in an up-coming beer festivalat Sainsbury’s, Waitrose often has an

nation’s real ale crown

RCH beer (usually Firebox), Safewayshave been blowing hot-and-cold since theMorrison’s takeover so aren’t reliable, andUnwin’s stock Old Slug Porter. Availabil-ity cannot always be guaranteed at localstores.

Your best bet may be to simply visitthe brewery. There you can get any oftheir bottles, as well as some intriguingitems from other parts of the country.Even better, you can get polypins of theirbeer in 18 or 36 pint denominations – idealfor parties. Ring in advance on 01934834447 to order these. The shop is openMonday to Friday from 8.00 to 4.00.

If you can’t be bothered with makingthe effort to get to any of the above, thennag your local landlord to try stockingone of their beers!

Tim Nickolls

Mark Davey, Paul Davey and Graham Dunbavan outside the RCH brewery

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Island in the sea By your Nailsea correspondentLaurie Gibney

Island in the Sea

Well done, Sawyers Arms

The generosity of customers at theSawyers Arms in High Street, Nailsea hasbeen phenomenal recently. A £1,000 chequefor the Children’s Hospice South West’s BabeAppeal was presented by landlady JoycePeters to Radio Bristol’s Nigel Dando. Soonafterward,s Radio Bristol’s Ben Prater, as partof their “Bring Home the Bacon Day”, arrivedat the Sawyers in a stretched limo to bepresented with a further £1,500.

Customers have also raised £315 for theAsian Tsunami Appeal and held a race nightwhich raised £503 for the Boys and GirlsWelfare Society that arranges breaks fromhome at farms, etc. for children in need.

Landlord at the Sawyers, Ron Peters, isalso chairman of the Bristol Licensed Victual-lers Association, which raised a further £1,000for the Children’s Hospice South West’s BabeAppeal that Ron presented at the BLVAAnnual Dinner to Radio Bristol’s Nigel Dando.

It was at about that time that SmilesBrewery agreed to sponsor an LVA projectwhich Ron arranged and paid out £900 for,soon after which the company then runningSmiles Brewery went into administrationleaving Ron holding the bill for “their”sponsorship. Understandably, Ron hasstopped stocking “Smiles” ales and concen-trated sales of cask ales on Courage Best andlocally-brewed Newman’s Wolver’s Ale since.

At the time of writing – though that timewill have passed by the time you read this –the Sawyers Arms is planning to supportCAMRA’s National Pub’s Week by holdinga mini-beer festival between the 19th and 26th

February with beers at just £2 per pint.

Pub with no beer?

Carlsberg’s distribution system almost leftthe Moorend Spout in Kingshill, Nailsea withno real ale on New Year’s Eve by failing tomake a scheduled delivery, which was notrectified until Tuesday 4th January, and theyhad to wait until Monday 10th January for adelivery of Courage Best. Luckily, landladyLorraine Flower had plenty of ButcombeBitter in stock, but the other three cask alesran out on New Year’s Eve!

Changes at the Star Inn,Tickenham

Landlord Hugh Dash and his wife Kim arerunning the Star Inn on their own now thattheir business partners Paul and DebraCheesley have moved on. They have alsorelinquished their interest in the Moon andSixpence at Clevedon.

The menu is to be revamped with lotsmore choice of fish and exotic meats, and Hughand Kim have introduced a senior citizens’two-course special at £5.95 for a starter andmain course between 12 noon and 2 pm onMondays to Fridays (01275 858836 fordetails).

A chalk board changed every week on thebar at the Star Inn shows some interestingfacts from yesteryear. During the week ending16 January this year it showed that on theMonday of that week in 1840 the BritishPenny Post was introduced; on the Tuesday in1569 England’s first State Lottery was held;on the Wednesday in 1970 the first jumbo jetcrossed the Atlantic; on the Thursday in 1926the creator of Paddington Bear was born; onthe Friday 1900 Puccini’s Tosca was per-formed for the first time; on the Saturday 1922the Irish Free State was established; and on theSunday 1920 Prohibition in USA came intoeffect.

The menu at the Star also contains someinteresting local history. We learn that thevillage of Tickenham was apparently once thelongest village in England; the children’s roomat the pub was once the home of Nailsea RifleClub; the Home Guard were based duringWorld War II in the skittle alley which is nowthe children’s room; and the first bomb fell inthe area on Valley Farm adjacent to the pub.

Real ale at the Star now includes CourageBest, Bass, Greene King’s Morland OldSpeckled Hen, Wickwar BOB, and nowButcombe Bitter which has recently replacedSmiles Best.

Jubilee revival

After years in the doldrums the Jubileeon the A370 at Flax Bourton is enjoying arevival under the management of Rich and Melwho are now stocking Butcombe Bitter andGold, but regrettably have ceased to stockSmile’s beer while the beer production isrelocated.

Real ale sales have hit an all time high atthe Jubilee. A beer festival is planned for thestart of the summer and once again there willbe a good selection of real ales, with entertain-ers for the kids during the afternoons andmusic and fun for the adults in the evening. Areal cider festival is at the very early stages ofbeing planned and Rich and Mel wouldappreciate any ideas and support that readerscould give (01275 462741).

A “Working Lunch” collector card schemestarted at the end of January and is provingvery popular. Every time you have lunch atthe Jubilee you can collect a stamp: six stampsgive you a £5 voucher to spend on food, drinksand snacks. Something very similar when youbuy beer is planned.

Pub and club shorts

A third pub to stop selling Smiles Best inthe area during the last few months is theBlack Horse at Clapton in Gordano.

Craig and Cherona, licensees of the WhiteLion in Silver Street, are back in charge on afull time basis, their manager Ralph Milnehaving left and returned to Scotland.

The Mizzymead Club has lost its barmanager Dave Unwin, who has looked after itsreal ale well for a number of years. Dave isgoing to work in Portishead at the ClarenceClub for ex-Mizzymead manager RichardCole.

In nearby Clevedon

Pints West is saddened to report that theRegent in Hill Road Clevedon will closedown on the 9th July despite a petition withgetting on for 2,000 signatures, the support ofthe Hill Road Traders Association, and therehaving been a pub on the site for 115 years.

The Hall & Woodhouse Badger Breweryhave sold the site for development as 17 flatsand three shops. Landlord Tony Antoni islooking for alternative licensed premises in thearea and it looks as if he will take a good teamof staff with him, as well as 2,000 customers!Readers will probably be able to work outwhether or not they will be having Badgerbeers on the bar!

Go along and support this community pubbefore it closes. Maybe phone 01275 872460to reserve a table in the restaurant. Don’t delay– these “closure” dates have a habit of beingbrought forward!

The Salthouse, close to the Marine Lakein Clevedon, has reopened after a long closureperiod. Under-18-year-olds are not allowed inthe bar, only in the restaurant. If dining, phone01275 871482 to book a table. The three realales include locally-brewed Butcombe Bitterand Newman’s Wolver’s Ale.

The Moon and Sixpence, near the pier inClevedon, has until recently been under thecontrol of the licensees of the Star atTickenham, but due to changes at the Starreported elsewhere in this article they haveceased any association with the Moon andSixpence.

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Island in the SeaOther than publishing an article in the last

Pints West, CAMRA could do little toactively support the battle against closure ofthe Regent as we are short of “active”supporters in Clevedon, which was a greatpity. If you would like to help in Clevedonand District by distributing Pints West,publicising CAMRA’s campaigns, supportinglocal real ale and cider sales, collectinginformation for inclusion in Pints West andkeeping CAMRA informed, please initiallycall the branch contact, Ray Holmes, on 0117960 5357.

Away from Nailsea & District

There is no excuse for drinking and drivingif you want to enjoy real ale away fromNailsea and District in the Bristol direction,with regular bus and train services to and fromthe city (call Traveline on 0870 608 2 608 forinformation). If travelling by bus I recommendyou purchase a “Greater Bristol Ten JourneyCard” for about £20 on the bus or at PS Travelin Nailsea – it is the cheapest way to travel toand from Bristol by bus.

All buses from Nailsea and Backwell travelalong Hotwell Road with stops, just aftercrossing high above Cumberland Basin atDowry Square, just before the SpringGardens bistro pub and in Anchor Roadoutside the college.

In Hotwells you will find ample pubsalong the road or on the nearby waterside toserve you more than a fair variety of real ales.As you arrive off the raised section ofroadway the Rose of Denmark, and aroundthe corner the Bear, and a little further on theSpring Gardens, all serve a couple or so realales. Just off Dowry Square, the Adam andEve supports four real ales, some from micro-breweries. Around the corner from the Bear,opposite a return bus stop, is the Merchant’sArms, a Bath Ales pub listed in the Good BeerGuide with a good selection of their own realales and perhaps a guest beer.

At the city end of Hotwell Road is aroundabout with the Anchor Road bus stopsshortly after it. On the roundabout is theMyrtle Tree, a gravity-fed Bass house, andthe award-winning Bag O’Nails, with half adozen changing real ales. A short distance upJacobs Wells Road from that roundabout is theHope and Anchor with up to six real alesmostly from micros. Back down atCumberland Basin on the waterside will befound the Pump House with a couple of realales. It recently looked as if it might closedown but seems to have been revived. Almostfacing it is the Nova Scotia which has a goodselection of real ales.

Half way along Hotwell Road are two busstops at which the buses from Nailsea and

Backwell don’t stop. Close to the city-boundbus stop is the Mardyke which on my lastvisit had no real ale. Up the steps near the busstop, on the hill behind the Mardyke, is theLion in Church Lane, with a few real alesincluding some from micros, and across theHotwell Road is the Plume of Feathers,which is now a hive of activity and a haven forreal ale fans following a long period in thedoldrums under the banner of Marston’s andGreene King breweries.

Mark Farrell has been the licensee of thePlume of Feathers only since March 2004,and with the help of ex-Merchant’s Arms manCyril Standbridge as his manager has succeededin turning the Plume of Feathers into a “must”venue for real ales fans. The bar is quitenarrow but opens out into two seating areas atthe back of the pub. Leading off the bar is aspiral staircase at the top of which is a poolroom. The Split Tin Bakery supplies the pubnot only with pies, pasties and sausage rolls,served with or without baked beans or mushypeas, but also jars of pickles for sale behindthe bar.

In mid-September last year a verysuccessful mini real ale festival was heldsupporting over twenty real ales, withtemporary racking in one of the seating areaserected with the help of customer Alec Tilley.The regular real ales at the Plume areAdnams Broadside, Bass, BlacksheepBitter, Butcombe Bitter and TimothyTaylor Landlord. The guest ale is everchanging and when compiling this articlewas Cain’s Raisin Ale, with guestsplanned in the near future includingBadger Best, Caledonian Six Nations,Elgood’s Old Wagg, Evan-Evans CWRWWelsh Ale, Exmoor Hound Dog, GalesFrolic, Highgate’s Fox’s Nob, HookNorton Generation, Lees Ice Breaker,Kelham Island Pale Rider, St. AustellTribute, Titanic’s Captain Smith’s StrongAle, Wadworth JCB, and York Brewery’sStonewall Bitter. You can call the Plume on(0117) 929 8666 to discover what guest beer iscurrently on the bar.

And should you wish to ask First Buswhy their buses to Nailsea and Backwell andother places in North Somerset don’t stop atthe bus stops outside and opposite the Plumof Feathers, and to ask them to do so, youcould try contacting Mr. Alan Willoughby,General Manager West, First Group, FreepostBS8931, Bristol BS1 3BR or [email protected].

Further away from Nailsea &District

If you are in the Stapleton area of Bristol,you may care to search out a very traditional

real ale pub, the Masons Arms, opposite theMurco garage. The landlady always has acouple of local brews in stock which shechanges regularly, and at the time of writing itis Bath SPA and Sharp’s Doombar, togetherwith the usual Courage Best, Bass, Butcombeand Wadworth 6X, all at very good prices.

The pub has a small, enclosed patio and ahuge, fantastic garden, which makes it user-friendly for children in the summer. It may notbe everyone’s ideal pub, but it is a lovely, old-fashioned, down-to-earth inn, right on the edgeof town. If you call in, tell Diane at the baryou saw it mentioned in Pints West.

Still further away from Nailsea &District

A great pub in Birmingham, tucked awayin Cambridge Street behind the SymphonyHall, is the Good Beer Guide listed Prince ofWales, which I know from many yearsboating through Birmingham on the canals. OnSunday afternoons, live music in the form ofjazz, swing, blues, country, folk or rock packsthe place from 3 to 6pm, so arrive early.

If you are an aficionado of Jennings,Moorhouses and Everards ales and aretravelling north, Doug Jones, a local supporterof real ale, suggests stopping off in Cumbria atthe Kings Arms, Burton in Kendall, nearCarnforth (01524 781409) where, besides theabove real ales, good food and excellentaccommodation awaits you. This is goodwalking territory abounding with wild life,flora and fauna, and is close to the LakeDistrict, as well as Steamtown, Carnforth

And finally

A recent Tesco Magazine gave beerdrinkers the green light: under the banner“Believe it or not … beer is good for you inmoderation” it said, “Recent research showsthat late night kebabs are really to blame forbeer’s fattening reputation. A pint a day forwomen and around a pint and a half for menmay reduce kidney stones, late-onset diabetesand heart disease. It may even protect youfrom osteoporosis and stomach ulcers. What’smore, a 250ml glass is rich in B vitamins, fat-free and contains fewer calories than milk orapple juice. Fantastic news!”

So, you can now say that you are going tothe pub to take your medicine – but don’tbuild up an appetite for late night take-aways,that’s what gives beer drinkers a bad name aswell as what has been obviously wronglydescribed as a beer belly for years!

Laurie Gibney

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A NEW campaign to put an end to theGreat British beer rip off was launched at arecent reception in the House of Com-mons. A new cross-party ParliamentaryMotion is calling on the Government toprotect consumers from short beermeasures in forthcoming Weights andMeasures legislation, by defining a pint ofbeer as 100 per cent liquid.

The current law fails to protectconsumers from short beer measures, andas a result, nine in ten “pints” are shortmeasure, one in four are more than five percent short measure, and short measuresare costing consumers £400 million a year,or over £1 million a day.

MPs also express concern at Govern-ment proposals to redefine a pint as “notless than 95 per cent liquid”. This wouldmake the problem of short measure worseby giving dishonest licensees a greenlight to short change consumers.

Dennis Turner MP said: “This is theonly piece of weights and measures

MPs rally behindcall for a full pint

legislation that is not on the statute bookto protect consumers. Over 15 million beerdrinkers lose out because of short meas-ure.”

Mike Benner, CAMRA’s ChiefExecutive, stated: “The Government haspromised to protect consumers from shortbeer measures, but the proposal for a 95per cent pint will have the opposite effect.CAMRA members will be lobbying MPsto get behind the campaign for an HonestPint Law.”

Are you being caught short?To use CAMRA’s on-line calculator to

see how much short measure costs you,visit www.camra.org.uk.

Lobby your MPTo send your MP an email or letter

asking them to support the campaign foran honest pint law visitwww.camra.org.uk.

THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALECHAMPION BEER OF BRITAIN 2003GOLD MEDAL WINNERSTRONG BITTER CATEGORY.

ADNAMS BROADSIDE. BEER FROM THE COAST.

Pub snippetThe Robin Hood on St. Michael’s Hill inKingsdown, Bristol is a good place toenjoy a drop of real ale nowadays, muchmore than a couple of years or so back.

Rita and Jeff have been in charge ofthis Wadworth pub for just over twoyears now and have certainly turned theplace around.

Five beers are usually available —three Wadworth brews (usually 6X, JCBand Henry’s IPA) and a couple of chang-ing guests — all in good nick every timeI’ve tried them.

The guests for February includeBarnstormer, Gem and Spa from the localBath Ales brewery, and for April includeTribute and HSD from St. Austell inCornwall.

Talking of Wadworth beers, I candefinitely claim to enjoy the taste, andaroma, of Wadworth 6X nowadays whenit is served well (as it is at the Robin Hoodand various other places, including theGrapes Tavern in Clifton). A few yearsback I could take it or leave it — nowwhen I see it on the bar, as often as not itcould be my first choice. I’m not the onlyperson to have noted this. The editorwould like to know if any readers feel thesame, and if so which pubs they thinkserve it up the best. SP

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THE Horfield area of the Gloucester Roadfeatures several large roadside pubs.Situated on the right side of the A38 asyou travel north, opposite the HorfieldSports Centre is the Inn On The Green.

Formerly known as the Royal George,the pub came under the management ofcurrent licensee Oliver Bainbridge in June2003. At the time, the then Royal Georgewas in a very tired state and in need of amajor refurbishment. In fact, the newmanagement felt there was nothing theywanted to keep of the old Royal Georgeand, with the help of the Enterprise Innspub company, they undertook a major refitof the bar and the exterior and renamedthe pub the Inn On The Green.

The aim was to create a communitypub that could welcome a whole variety ofpeople who live in the area. In that regard,they appear to have been very successfulas, on my recent visits, there is a good mixof customers.

When you walk into the pub, you arepresented with three fairly distinct areas,all within the open plan nature of theinterior. There is a lounge area to the leftwhere there is no music and lots ofcomfortable seating. In the middle, aroundthe bar area, there is more seating includ-ing bar stools, and this area can be verymuch the hub of the pub with views ontothe road, and also you can consider youroptions for your next ale from the impres-sive bank of handpumps – but more onthe beer later.

To the right of the bar is the sport andgames area with pool tables, fruit ma-chines and TV screens, including a bigscreen for those popular sporting events.The area around the TVs can be verypopular during big match events.

Soon after Oliver moved in it becameapparent that there would be a strongdemand for real ales. To begin with, thepub served four real ales – Smiles Best,Bass, Courage Best and Fuller’s LondonPride. All the ales were selling very welland the pub made a decision that theywanted real ale to be a major part of theiroffering.

It is worth noting that the pub realisedthat well-kept real ale got their customerscoming back on a regular basis, staying inthe pub longer and, even more importantfrom the pubs point of view, talking about

the place and bringing in new customers.That is certainly how I heard about theplace – perhaps some other pubs couldtake some learning from this!

In view of the high turnover of the alesand the customers’ enthusiasm, Oliverdecided to increase the real ale range tosix in November 2003. The pub stuck withthe existing brands and added the ubiqui-tous Greene King Morland Old SpeckledHen and the local brew, Butcombe Bitter.At the same time, the pub started stockingan occasional guest beer – beers that thepub knew would sell well to ensure a goodlevel of turnover.

This increased range of well-kept aleswas welcomed by the regulars – and, bynow, some new customers. Oliver and hisstaff noticed that the customers werehappy to try new beers and, when a guestbeer was on, they would rave about it andbring friends in to try it. This proved to bemost important and the pub decided theyshould have more guest beers on and lessof the big national brands. Also, thedecision was taken to have regularlychanging guest beers. Enterprise Inns hasa fairly comprehensive list of guest beersand, with their Specialist Ales Scheme, thepub was able to order a vast array of alesfrom all over the UK quickly and easily, so

supply was not a problem.By January 2004 the pub had in-

creased its range to eight beers andregularly had 20 different ales a month.With increased choice, the pub waspleased to note an increased demand –quality was not compromised. In their ownwords, “the more peculiar the beer themore interest there seemed to be and wefound demand was easy to cultivate”.

In January 2005 the pub added twomore pumps and has been selling ten realales since. There are some regulars, suchas Fuller’s London Pride, Bass andSharp’s Doom Bar, but the others arechanging guest beers. Oliver says that“the driving factor is that as long asdemand is strong, the quality of the beersold can be maintained as a result of thestillage time being cut down.” The pubhopes to be able to support 12 real ales bythe end of this year and have a new menuof quality food on offer.

I have found my visits to the Inn OnThe Green very enjoyable with promptservice and the pub always maintained tohigh standards. This certainly is a wel-come addition to the real ale scene inBristol and the Inn On The Green is amillion miles from the pub it was two yearsago.

Pete Bridle

The Inn On The Green

Photo from Duncan Shine’s web site at www.britishpubguide.com

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PERHAPS the most unusual beer to bebrewed in the Bristol area recently was thespeciality beer from the new Zerodegreesmicro-brewery at the top of ChristmasSteps, available over the Christmas period.

What made the beer different frommost was the particular ingredient addedduring the early stages of production –not a special type of malt, not a rare breedof hop, not an exotic fruit, but oysters!

You may perhaps have heard the term“oyster stout” before – well this was thereal thing, with 120 whole oysters goinginto each batch, shell and all!

The oysters were thrown into the brewkettle during the boiling stage of thebrewing process, adding calcium to thewort. This didn’t give an overtly ‘fishy’character, but resulted in a smooth, deepdark, chocolaty stout with a thick, creamyhead.

This is a rare style of beer that isdifficult to get hold of, so it’s good to seeit making its mark in Bristol.

At the time of writing, the latestspeciality beer from Zerodegrees is a fruitbeer made with the addition of peaches.This sweetish but pleasant beer replacedthe mango fruit beer on offer earlier.

SP(Photographs by Tony Durbin)

Oysters and Peaches

Brewers Norman Gapare from London’s Zerodegrees (left), and Martin Maier fromBristol’s, join forces for the launch of Oyster Stout.

Campaign forReal Blood?THE news agency United Press Interna-tional reported on Saturday, September 25,2004 that a campaign was to be launchedin the Czech capital Prague to attractdonors by offering them two beers inexchange for their blood. The web site ofthe Mlada Fronta Dnes newspaperquoted campaign organizer JaroslavNovak, the editor of a monthly beermagazine, as saying he had been alertedto shortages of blood in local hospitals atfrequent beer drinking sessions withPrague doctors.

Putting two and two together, Novakdecided to promote both beer and bloodat a city fair. He had ambitions to take thecampaign country wide if it provedsuccessful in Prague.

In August the World Health Organiza-tion recommended the Czech Republic domore to curb alcoholism in the country,which is the world’s largest per capitaconsumer of beer. In the Czech Republicbeer is commonly served in half litre (pint)glasses. A beer usually costs less than50p a glass.

Norman Spalding

Pub newsThe New Inn at Cross, near Axbridge, is

offering all its real ales for £1.50 a pint onThursday evenings until further notice as apromotion. On our last visit they were sellingbeers from Hook Norton, Ringwood andTitanic, plus a seasonal brew from Hall &

Woodhouse. Flock there now while it lasts!The Don John’s Cross in St. George has

now been demolished and building (probablyof flats) has started on the site.

The Talbot on Wells Road, Knowle,which was closed for some time, has reopenedas a Chinese restaurant.

Norman Spalding

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WHAT do you think of when you hear theword “Box”? That cardboard thing your tellycame in? Or maybe the bulging cubiformcontainer you got from Humpers with yourChristmas Beer inside? Or perhaps it putsyou in mind of powerful pugilists pulverisingeach other for money?

How about when I tell you I’m thinking ofthe place Box, in Wiltshire? Do you think oftraffic congestion on the A4? The home of theReverend Awdry – creator of Thomas theTank Engine? Or perhaps the chosen domicileof WOMAD illuminatus and one-time Genesisfrontman Peter Gabriel? Or even the pied-a-terre of that really tall bloke who used to be onCasualty and Vicar of Dibley, Clive Mantle.

Well, as admirable as these claims to fameare, the town of Box now has an even biggerreason to be proud. For, on a farm just outsidethe town, stands the Box Steam Brewery, oneof the newest real ale breweries in the region.

It is the brainchild of three very differentmen: Marshall Ewart, landlord of the Bear pubin Box (of which more in a bit); MarkHempleman-Adams who, since you ask, doeshave a famous explorer for a brother, but isgetting a bit fed up with everyone going onabout it; and Paul Dabson, who describeshimself as an artist, lecturer and all-round nicebloke.

Introducing Box Steam Brewery

talking to local CAMRA members.Brewing is carried out on the farm up the

hill, with copper and mash coming from BathAles when they moved away from SistonCommon. Paul cannot speak highly enough ofthe help Bath Ales have given Box. The brewlength is about ten or twelve barrels a week,producing four or more different brews for thelocal free trade.

The beers are all brewed using, whereverpossible, local ingredients. The maris otter,chocolate and crystal grains all come fromWarminster, while the variety of hops used areall sourced from Herefordshire. So, to thebeers.

The flagship brew is Tunnel Vision(4.2% abv), named in honour of another Boxclaim to fame, Brunel’s famous railway tunnel.This is a very quaffable traditional bitter, veryclean and crisp to taste and with no cloyingsweetness.

Next is Rev. Awdry’s Ale (3.8% abv), alight, golden brew that must just slide down

To find out more, I venture east fromBristol and meet with Paul in the Bear, whereMarshall is cheerfully busy with his custom-ers.

As we sit supping a delicious and flavour-some pint of Old Jockey (named after a localcoaching inn that has long since disappeared),Paul explains how the business got going.Although up and running since April 2004, thebrewery was only formally launched inSeptember. All three of the founders do a littlebit of everything to keep the business runningsmoothly, though Paul is busy full-timehandling everything from brewing, to sales anddistribution, to designing the website and even

the throat on hot summer’s afternoons. It’s aperfect example of how real ale can be just asrefreshing as the lagers and ciders that are sopopular, but infinitely more tasty.

In the winter, there is Blind House, whichis brewed as a “dark, hoppy, full-bodied beerwith hints of red wine and cinnamon”. Perfectfor an afternoon in front of a roaring fire.

There is also Old Jockey (4.0% abv).Now I tried it at the Bear and I thought it wasa scrumptious pint. Really – and I mean really– dry, with a hint of citrus fruit to it. Sadly,Paul tells me that this beer may be discontin-ued because some people are finding it a bittoo “tart” for their liking. I really hope theykeep it, as it’s a distinctive beer that I thinkwould find a significant market.

So where can you get these beers? Well,Paul continues to strive to increase the numberof free trade outlets, so it could pop upanywhere with a genuine guest beer policy.

The Bear in Box is a sort of unofficialbrewery tap, so you’re always going to find atleast one brew there. Other recent sightingshave been in the Green Tree, Raven (formerlyHatchett’s), Volunteer Rifleman’s Arms, BathCricket Club, all in Bath; the Quarryman’sArms in Box; and the Neeld Arms in Grittleton.There are also plans to introduce the beers tothe drinkers of Bristol in the near future.

If you can’t wait that long, the beers arealso available in 18- and 36-pint boxes, directfrom the brewery.

Landlords and landladies interested instocking these beers should contact Paul at thebrewery on (01225) 743 622.

Duncan Shine

The Bear in Box

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With an almost metronomic regularity, Duncan Shinereports on the pubs and bars covered by the Bristol &District Branch of CAMRA. This issue, our Dunc venturesover to Hanham.Full details and photographs of all the pubs mentioned canbe found on the www.britishpubguide.com web site. Land-lords and regulars in these pubs are welcome to update theinformation on the website whenever they like.

Picture the scene. Spring is springing, and you love spring.Spring is the time when the snowdrops, crocuses and daffodilsstart to bloom; when Bristol City’s promotion challenge starts tofade; when the Prince of Wales’ fancy turns to marrying a [sorry,I had to censor this bit – Ed]; when rosetted strangers appear atyour door asking if they can count on your vote. But the bestthing about spring is that you can finally give up all that NewYear’s Resolution nonsense and get back on the beer.

Now, on this particular early spring day your new partner hasowned up to a keen interest in naturalism, and suggested a visitto Hanham Abbots. Now, coming from the other side of the cityyou didn’t realise that Hanham was a real place. You’d alwaysassumed it was just the Bristol way of saying “Haven’t they?”,but when an attractive naturalist suggests heading out into thefields, you don’t say no…

Imagine your disappointment when you arrive at HanhamAbbots to find out that your partner simply wanted to look atplants and birds and stuff and, if anything, has even more clotheson than normal. Worse still, it turns out that Hanham Abbots is aconservation area! I mean, what’s the point of having a specialarea just for sitting around chatting?

Come to think of it, such a thing already exists... At thismoment, a shambling, slightly jaded looking figure approachesand clears his throat.

“If you were thinking of finding somewhere for a drink, I mayhave a few suggestions around here”.

You leave your partner searching for a “lesser-spotted wood-pecking thrappledouser” and head off in search of ale.

Your first port of call is the Swan Inn on Conham Hill. Situatedat the very western end of Hanham on the hill that eventuallyleads down to the River Avon, and the Crews Hole Road, this is a

Shine on Hanhamlovely community pub with a garden and a skittle alley. Bass andFuller’s London Pride are on offer, but you plump for an excellentpint of Sharp’s Doom Bar while your guide thoroughly enjoys hisBath Gem.

From there you head back to Hanham High Street, where theMaypole, set slightly back from the road, offers Greene KingI.P.A., and the Jolly Sailor sadly offers no real ale on the day ofyour visit.

So instead, you head up the Lower Hanham Road to theQueen’s Head. Much to your surprise and disappointment, youfind out that the previous landlord has not only left the pubtrade, but is at this very moment driving the local bus up the HighStreet. However, the new tenants at this historic Wadworthhouse seem to be doing very well. The food here is excellent, andthe Wadworth beers are in tip-top condition (6X and Henry’sI.P.A.). Better still, there is a regularly changing guest beer, withVale Brewery’s Notley Ale taking pride of place this time around.

Next, it’s back on to the High Street and up to the Blue Bowl,

The Swan Inn

The Queen’s Head

The Blue Bowl

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a delightful 15th century pub that was once a coaching inn on theold route from Bristol to Bath. The low ceilings and labyrinthineinterior retain that Olde Worlde charm, and they have Bass andCourage Best on draft.

Now it’s time for another detour, as you turn left and head upGreenbank Road. As you climb the hill, your guide points out theplaying fields to the right. “That’s the home ground of AEK-Boco FC, one of the finest adult and junior football clubs in thearea,” he says matter-of-factly; though you suspect it may just bea cheap and rather obvious attempt to plug his son’s footballteam.

When you reach the top of Greenbank Road, the Cross Keyssits on the other side of Hollyguest Road. The Cross Keys is anunassuming two bar locals’ pub, with a large garden in which towhile away hot summer evenings. “Let’s go in the public bar onthe right,” says your guide “it’s always bustling with livelyconversation”. You wonder what they could possibly do topreserve wildlife in there, but follow your guide in anyway. Yourguide sups a delightful pint of Wychwood Hobgoblin, while youare delighted to find your first traditional cider of the day, adivine pint of Thatcher’s Dry.

Next, back down to the High Street, which becomes BathRoad before you arrive at the Harvester Restaurant, known formost its history as the Crown. You think to yourself that it’simportant to encourage chain pubs like this by drinking their realales so that one day the accountants at Head Office will realisethat decent beer and commercial success, far from being mutuallyexclusive, actually go hand in hand. The Bass and Fuller’sLondon Pride, while perhaps an unimaginative selection, arenonetheless in fine fettle.

Thence further into Longwell Green and the Butcher’s Arms.You are worried that the Butcher’s doesn’t open until 5:30pm, butyour guide helpfully points out that no-one has mentioned atwhat time this pub crawl is taking place, so you assume it’s about6pm and wander in. You find a lovely old pub with a real tradi-tional feel and welcoming landlady. The Bass and Courage Bestagain fall into the category of unimaginative but perfectly wellkept.

“The final two pubs to visit,” says your Guide “are down inHanham Mills”. You express concern that that is almost two milesaway by road, but your Guide reassures you that another benefitof being on a fictitious pub crawl is that you can use some cleverform of transport and people will just think it’s a smart science-fiction in-joke. So you get Scotty to set the coordinates andbeam down just outside the Chequers.

The Chequers overlooks the River Avon in an absolutely

The Butcher’s Arms

The Old Lock & Weir

The Chequers

idyllic location, and you climb the steps to enjoy two pints fromthe real ale selection of Greene King Abbot Ale, Greene KingI.P.A., and Morland Old Speckled Hen (also brewed by GreeneKing).

Thence to your final pub of the day. The Old Lock & Weir isa beautiful converted riverside cottage with a terrace on thebanks of the river. The pub is on two floors, with three linkeddrinking rooms at ground level, and the bar up the steps at theback. The real ale selection is Fuller’s London Pride, Bass,Wadworth 6X, Morland Old Speckled Hen and Wells Bombardier.There is also a good pint of Addlestone’s Cloudy Cask-Condi-tioned Cider. Your partner rejoins you in this pub, full of storiesabout their naturalist adventures. The beers are so well kept herethat you decide to stay for a second pint.

The next thing you know you are waking up strapped to a treeon a small island in the middle of the Avon. Through the blur youcan see two burly men rowing back across to the pub. One ofthem says to the other: “And then he asked me if I wanted to golooking for Siskins with him. Pervert!”.

Is there an area covered by the Bristol & District Branch ofCAMRA that you would like to see featured in this columnin the next issue? If so, send an email to [email protected] and we’ll see what we can do.

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Readers are welcome to sendletters to Pints West Editor,

Steve Plumridge,Garden Flat, 6 Royal York Villas,

Clifton, Bristol BS8 4JR([email protected])

READERS’ LETTERS

Froth Off

No SmilesSo, Smiles now Highgate?

I understand that Highgate Brewery did avery good job of recreating Davenport’s Bitterand so let us all hope that Smiles beers willreturn to being a good imitation of those whichthey once were (and which they should alwayshave been).

I believe that if John Payne (the originatorof Smiles) could be allowed to oversee thetransfer to the Midlands then all should go

well. I know that this will not happen but Ilook forward to Highgate’s recreations rathermore than I would have looked forward to apint of Smiles recently.

Geoff Larsen,St. George,Bristol.

Beer Factory Beer SampledDear Steve,

Having read the news item about BristolBeer Factory No. 7 in Pints West, I waspleased to sample the said beer in the Cornubiarecently. I can confirm it is as excellent asdescribed in the article.

Ian Mihell(by email).

Brewery Historian Requires StuffDear Steve,

I am a Brewery Historian. I have justwritten one book on brewing in a provincialtown in Surrey, and now am busy assisting inthe conversion of the Brewery HistorySociety’s photographic archive from photosinto electronic files.

As well as research, I am also trying tobuild up an archive (since the 1960s) ofbrewery paper ephemera – that is to say,letters, compliment slips, invoices, businesscards, etc.

Now I am fully aware, and no doubt youare also, that “classic” material (e.g. pre-war)fetches very reasonable prices on Ebay, but

the reason for this email is that, although I alsocollect classic stuff and pay good prices forthem, I also collect the later material which sooften is not wanted and often ends up in thebin.

You know the kind of stuff, those by-products one is left with after writing roundthe breweries for visits or promotional stufffollowing tipplefairs, etc.

I am particularly interested in stuff fromindependent breweries from the 1960sonwards, and also modern micro-breweries,etc., particularly those which have come andgone within the last two decades.

So many have just simply “passed me by”and I am trying to fill in the missing spaces bysending this email to as many CAMRAbranches as I can in the off-chance thatsomebody has an accumulation of this materialand is happy to part with them for a goodcause, and which otherwise in the normal runof things are binned.

If you have any quantity of the sort ofstuff I am seeking, no matter how few, pleasedo not hesitate to contact me. I would begrateful if you could ask around your fellowcommittee members in case they may havesomething. Or perhaps your Pints Westreaders could help.

Very best wishes,Richard Symonds,147 Farhalls Crescent,Horsham,West Sussex,RH12 4BU.Email: [email protected]

Make it yours atTHE WHITE LION, Quay Head, Bristol City Centre

orTHE PRINCESS OF WALES, Westbourne Grove, Bedminster,

Bristol.Also available direct from the brewery in 18 and 36 pint polypins

or delivered direct to your door.

THE AWARD WINNING BREWERS OFGLOUCESTERSHIRE

The Wickwar Brewing Co Ltd, Gloucestershire, UK01454 294 168

[email protected]

Malt, Hops, Yeast & Water!

What’s In Yours?

THE WINDMILL INNPORTISHEAD ~ GENUINE FREEHOUSE

6Real Ales in excellent conditionincluding Courage Best, Bass,Butcombe Gold, RCH Pitchfork

and 2 other guest ales.

In fact if you are not completely satisfied with thequality of the beer served, we will exchange itimmediately for any other no questions asked.

The Windmill Inn is situated next to thePortishead Approach Golf Course on Nore Road.

To contact us please ring 01275 843677.

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A Genuine Freehouseoffering

Excellent Local Real AlesGood Wines, Interesting Lagers

Opening times4.30 - 11.00 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday

12.00 - 11.00 Wednesday4.00 - 11.00 Saturday

12.00 - 3.00 & 7.00 - 10.30 Sunday

Alfred Place, Kingsdown, Bristol

The

BELL

Short MeasureDera Steve,

Visiting an old favourite, the Ostrich inLower Guinea Street, a while ago (November)we were offered three pints well short of full.Politely asking for them to be topped up“now that they have settled” we weresaddened to be told “I’m allowed five percent”. It will be a long time before we return.

Best regards,Su Munro and Bob Hutton,Nailsea.

Fuller’s FeedbackFuller’s have launched a customer

feedback site and are keen to get reviews ofbeer quality across the UK. The form can befound at the following web site:www.proudofyourpride.com.

Perhaps you’d consider featuringsomething on your branch website and/ornewsletter?

Cheers,Brett Lanios,Fuller’s Brewery.

Dear Vince,I saw your comments in Pints West and I

think you have been very fair to Fuller’s. Ishould just add that if someone takes the timeto write to me a) I will reply and b) I willlisten.

We at Fuller’s always try to produce thebest beers we can and customer feedbackhelps us to improve our beers. Although it

might be impossible to please all of thepeople all of the time, it is always fun totry!

Once again, thank you very much foryour kind comments.

Yours sincerely,John Keeling,Brewing Director,Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC,Griffin Brewery, Chiswick Lane South,Chiswick, London W4 2QB.

The above communication was the latest inthe exchange of views between Vince Murrayand Fuller’s appearing in recent editions ofPints West, over what Vince had maintainedhad been changes in the flavour of LondonPride, their flagship beer.

Vince said last time that he had per-ceived what he considered to be changes inthe beer taste again, this time for the better,with the “offending” caramel flavour nolonger so evident.

He said he had since gone out of his wayto keep trying the beer, both in Fuller’s pubsand in the free trade.

He was very pleased to say that theimprovement he perceived had continuedwith the beer back close to its former gloryand it now once again a beer that he wouldchoose more often than not.

Vince goes on to say:“My only reply to John Keeling’s letter

would be to thank him for his courtesy, andtaking the trouble to answer everythingpersonally. I also want to thank him for the

much improvedavailability ofLondon Porter thisyear – somethingthat I called for inthe article. It hasbeen on for acouple of monthsat the Fish Marketand is excellent.”

The Annexe InnSeymour Road, Bishopston, Bristol

Tel. 0117 9493931

Enjoy a Warm Welcomeand a Pleasant Atmosphere

A Real Ale Pub##### 7 Real Ales##### Large conservatory (available for private hire)##### Family room (including baby changing facilities)##### Enclosed garden open throughout the year##### Disabled access##### Lunchtime and early evening snacks - including children’s menu -##### Pool table##### All TV sports events covered##### Relaxed, friendly atmosphere

Open Lunchtimes & EveningsAll day Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holidays

Monday Night is Quiz NightYou can also enjoy various promotions

and special offers during the year

24-hour drinking?CAMRA has questioned recent surveys thatsuggest most adults do not want a more flexibleapproach to pub opening hours. Research commis-sioned by CAMRA in December 2002 shows thatover 66% of the public supported more flexibleopening hours. CAMRA says that more flexiblepub opening hours are part of the solution tocombat binge drinking, not the problem, and hasvoiced its support for the National Alcohol HarmReduction Strategy as a way forward to combatbinge drinking.

CAMRA has also launched a new campaign,“Pubs for All”, which promotes the importance ofpubs which appeal to a wide cross-section ofpeople through improved facilities, multi-roomsand more seating. The “Pubs for All” campaignseeks to persuade Local Authorities to use the newLicensing Act to tackle irresponsible promotions,overcrowding, lack of seating and the huge verticaldrinking warehouses, which are the source of manyof the current problems.

CAMRA claims that the majority of pubs arewell run, attract people of all ages and are animportant part of community, and should beallowed more freedom over when they are allowedto open.

CAMRA’s Chief Executive, Mike Benner,said, “Very few pubs will apply for 24-hourlicenses, and even fewer applications will begranted. It is fanciful to suggest that reform willmean more than a handful will be allowed to openfor 24 hours a day.

“The current licensing system has failedconsumers and local communities alike, and hasfueled the current problems of binge drinking,drunkenness and public disorder. Reform is longoverdue.

“Binge drinking needs to be tackled butdelaying licensing reform is not the answer. Thevast majority of Britain’s 15 million beer drinkersdrink and act responsibly and should not bepunished because of the activities of a smallminority.”

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Why not takeadvantage of directdebit to pay yourannual membershipsubscription?

You will avoid thenuisance of writingcheques, make sureyou yourmembership doesnot accidentallylapse, and save theCampaignadministration costs,better spent oncampaigning.

And your firstthree monthsmembership will befree!

Get three months membership for free– join CAMRA by direct debit

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Diary Past editions of

PINTS WESTon-line

Bristol and District CAMRA would like toremind readers that we have a web site atwww.camrabristol.org.ukThis contains information on the local branchand the Campaign for Real Ale generally, aswell as details of forth-coming meetings,socials and other activities. The web site isregularly updated and so is the best place tofind out about any last minute changes toarrangements as well as some of the latest realale related stories. It is also the place whereyou can find past editions of Pints West, fromedition 50 onwards. Number 50 also containsa potted history of Pints West from the veryfirst edition in 1989, when it was then knownas Avon Drinker.

PINTS WEST ~ brought to youentirely by unpaid volunteers . . .Seven thousand copies of Pints West aredistributed free to pubs in and around thecities of Bristol and Bath ... and beyond.Letters: please send any correspondence to

Pints West Editor, Steve Plumridge,Garden Flat, 6 Royal York Villas,Clifton, Bristol BS8 4JR

or by email to [email protected]: contact Steve Plumridge (detailsabove) or call – evenings or weekends – (0117)9743242. Current rates are:

6cm x 6cm £28 6cm x 8cm £368cm x 9cm £46 9cm x 12cm £65Full back page £400 Half back page £200

Other sizes may be available (not guaranteed).Published by the Bristol & District Branch ofthe Campaign for Real Ale, February 2005 ©Next edition: end of May 2005 (probably).Reproduction: any written article in thispublication may be reproduced provided thesource (Pints West), including the contributor’sname where applicable, is stated. (No usinglogos or pictures without prior permission.)Subscriptions: to be put on a mailing list (forUK addresses) send a cheque for just £2.50 tothe editor, made payable to “Steve Plumridge”(or some 2nd class stamps up to that value).CAMRA Good Beer Guide: suggestions forfuture entries, and comments on existing ones,can be made to our GBG Coordinator, RichardWalters, care of the editor (above).Further information on all aspects ofCAMRA can be had from Ray Holmes on(0117) 9605357 (h).Trading Standards Officers: contactnumbers for problems such as consistent shortmeasures, no price lists...Bristol: 0117 9223444S. Glos: 01454 624000Glos: 01452 426201N. Somerset: 01934 632026B.A.N.E.S: 01225 396755

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Views expressed in Pints West arethose of the individual authors and

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THANKS TO THIS ISSUE’SCONTRIBUTORS

Norman SpaldingRichard WaltersFreya McLuckieErica McLuckieRichard BrooksLaurie GibneyDuncan ShineSteve O’SheaVince MurrayPhill the PintRobin E WildPete TannerTony DurbinTim NickollsPete Bridle

Editor: Steve Plumridge

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Chippenham Beer FestivalAPR 22-23 (Friday-Saturday): 14THCHIPPENHAM BEER FESTIVAL, TheOlympiad, Chippenham. Less than 5 minutesfrom both the rail and bus stations. Over 80real ales and 12 ciders and perries. Live musicboth evening sessions, rock on Friday andjazz on Saturday. Tickets Friday evening£4.50, Saturday lunch £3, Saturday evening£4. Please send SAE to PO Box 2882,Chippenham, SN14 6WT. Tickets alsoavailable from the Olympiad nearer the date.

South Devon Beer FestivalMAR 18-19 (Friday-Saturday): 22ND SOUTHDEVON BEER FESTIVAL, St John Ambu-lance Hall, East Street, Newton Abbot.Approximately 10 minutes walk from NewtonAbbot Railway Station. Over 50 real ales andciders. Open: Friday 5-11pm; Saturday 11am-11pm. Entry: £2 for card-carrying CAMRAmembers, £3 for non-members. Prices includeprogramme and glass. Food available andfree soft drinks for drivers. Disabled access.Entertainment: Friday - TBA; Saturday -Food Fighters. For more info please contactorganiser Joan on 01803 614344 [email protected].

Diary of the Bristol & District branch ofCAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.See inside for the Weston-super-Maresub-branch diary and contact.Wed 23 February - Branch meeting,Horts City Tavern, Broad Street, centralBristol, 8pm.Wed 9 March - Branch committeemeeting at the Cornubia, 8pm.Sun 13 March - GBG selection meet-ing, Horts. Start 12:30pm.Mon 14 March - Campaign meeting tosave Rose & Crown, Iron Acton.Venue Iron Acton Village Hall, HighStreet, 7.45pm. Bus (depending onnumbers) departs Cornubia, 6:45pm.Wed 23 March - Branch meeting,upstairs bar of the Holy Cross &Southville Social Club, Dean Lane,Southville (50 yards down from theCoronation), 8pm.Wed 13 April - Branch committeemeeting at the Cornubia, 8pm.Wed 27 April - Branch meeting, HortsCity Tavern, Broad Street, centralBristol 8pm.Tues 7 June - Trip to ButcombeBrewery. Leave from the Cornubia,6.45pm.For more information on local eventseither attend our branch meetings orcheck the diary section on our web siteat www.camrabristol.org.uk

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Local CAMRA web site : www.camrabristol.org.uk

Award-winning newsletter of the Bristol & District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale

This pub profile by Vince Murray first appeared in PintsWest in 1998. Very little had changed in the interveningyears — before its closure that is (see front page andinside) — so it seemed appropriate to reproduce thearticle here.

ARE you fed up with the endless stream of “theme” pubs? Doyou think that pubs in more rural areas have more in commonwith restaurants or children’s playgrounds, than the wonderfulinns that you remember so fondly? Do you despair of being ableto have a quiet pint of good ale, in pleasant surroundings, whereconversation is the order of the day? Then don’t – because thereis hope, in the shape of the Rose and Crown in the High Street atIron Acton, a small village that lies between Yate and FramptonCotterell about eight miles from central Bristol.

Allan Didcott grew up in Iron Acton, becoming a skilled tool-maker, and briefly a milkman, before, together with his wife Gail,deciding in 1985 to buy the pub that had always been his “local”.They are still there and intend to be so for a long time to come.This in itself is unusual in the current age of “musical landlords”.The pub is one of the precious few genuine free houses in ourarea, and they have total control over what to sell and when toopen. They employ no staff at all and do everything themselves.

The Rose and Crown was first recorded as a coaching inn aslong ago as 1680 and many original features are still evident. Thepub has two very distinct drinking areas, both with their owncharacter, and characters. The public bar is described by Allan asbeing lively and “strong on banter”, comes with pool table anddart board, and is frequented mainly by locals and regulars,although all are made welcome. The lounge bar is an altogethermore sedate affair, with comfortable furniture, tasteful décor, andmany interesting artefacts and pictures on display, plus a solitaryfruit machine. Cribbage is played and a team is based here. Bothrooms have real log fires for the winter months, and the onlymusic played is the radio, tuned into “Classic Gold” and kept at atotally inoffensive volume.

In addition to locals, many come from the surrounding area(ample parking is available outside) and others come from furtherafield, attracted by the pub’s entry in the Good Beer Guide foreach of the last six years. The pub offers bed and breakfast in itsfour en suite bedrooms, normally only from Monday to Thursdaynights and used mainly by business folk passing through,although anybody wanting to extend their stay will be allowed to.

Very unusually for a pub of its type, the Rose and Crowndoes not do food; indeed, apart from Sundays, it does not evenopen at lunchtimes. The only concession is a handful of filledrolls at the start of the evening, and “once they are gone they aregone”. This allows the emphasis to be firmly on the wet trade,with the selection of real ales taking centre stage. Five ales are

always on sale, with a well-balanced range of styles andstrengths, and two local independent breweries featured.

The range is Whitbread Flowers IPA (3.6% ABV), Marston’sPedigree (4.5%), Draught Bass (4.4%), Wickwar Olde Merryford(4.8%) and Uley Pig’s Ear (5%). The latter is a particularly wel-come sight as Uley beers are extremely rare in the Bristol area,and I’m not aware of anywhere else selling Pig’s Ear within 20miles. It is a superb pale, deceptively strong, ale brewed by asmall brewery near Dursley. It has special memories for me, as in1989 I took my lager-drinking future wife to her first beer festivalat Frocester. She was horrified to discover no lager available, buttried Pig’s Ear when I said it was “sort of lager coloured”. It waslove at first sip and she has been a dedicated fan of real ale eversince! So if you want to cure a friend or loved one of fizz-addic-tion, pop down to the Rose and Crown and try the miracle cure!

I asked Allan which of the ales sold best, fully expecting himto say Bass, and was very pleased when he informed me that hesold almost three times as much Pig’s Ear as any other beer (anastonishing five or six nine-gallon casks per week! – so much forthere being no demand for local hand-crafted ales!). None of thebeers sell less than two casks per week, meaning the chances of abad pint here are remote. Indeed, Allan and Gail would take a beerout of the range if it sold less.

To the rear of the pub, the Didcotts own a large amount ofland, including a full-sized football pitch. The changing roomshave recently been repaired and refurbished, and Allan would liketo see them in full use by the middle of the season. He wants thefacilities to be used to the “mutual benefit of the business andthe community”, with events such as fairs and fetes being held.He is also keen to host a beer festival at some stage.

To summarise, this is a splendid, and increasingly rare,example of a traditional pub at the heart of a local community,which has not been allowed to succumb to internal or externalvandalism, or to be taken over by food, and long may it remainso. The Didcotts have no plans to change anything as they feelthat they have found a winning formula, and I tend to agree.

The Rose and Crown at Iron ActonThe way pubs used to be

smiles brewery closed - bristol & district camra · smiles brewery closed ... it is no...

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