Swiggin in Wiggin : September 2012 - Wigan

Welcome to our latest edition of our quarterly
publication ‘Swiggin in Wiggin’. Once again we can
report a busy quarter.
At our Annual General Meeting, Pete Marsh was
elected as our new Chairman, for the third time in
his illustrious CAMRA “career” which has seen him
previously being a member of CAMRA’s national
executive. At the AGM, the Masons Arms at Billinge
was voted as our branch’s Pub of the Year and
Cider Pub of the Year, the first time that one pub
has been awarded both awards. You will see on
the following details news of the other awards
as the branch has been busy since making these
presentations, sometimes three in a week!
In August, CAMRA held the Great British Beer
Festival, which this year returned to Kensington
Olympia due to Earls Court, the venue for the last
7 years, being used for another event happening
in London, Now what was that? Oh aye, London
2012 Olympics!
Real ale, or more often known as Cask, still bucks
the trend of beer consumption and the number of
outlets selling “the real thing” continues to grow
and this has been reflected in CAMRA’s membership
which now exceeds 143,000.
CAMRA has devoted most of its energies so far this
year on supporting the “Save your Pint” campaign
by calling for the beer duty escalator to be
scrapped. The beer duty escalator was introduced
by the last Government in 2008, and is currently
in place until 2014/15. It means that beer duty
is automatically increased by 2% above inflation
every single year. In simple terms if inflation is
running at 3%, beer duty goes up 5%!
Around £1 of every pint sold in a pub is duty
and VAT. Licensees must raise their prices to
levels where they can’t compete with heavily
discounting supermarkets which, in-turn, pushes
people to drink at home and other unregulated
environments. Britain’s pubs therefore face an
impossible situation with a stagnant economy and
a crippling level of duty being placed on every
pint. This affects all beers, not just real ale, but
lagers, stouts and keg products also!
Editorial
3
At a time when many of our pubs are already
struggling to survive, tax on beer has increased by
40% since 2008. CAMRA is calling for the Chancellor
to abandon the unfair beer duty escalator in the
next Budget, and by obtaining 100,000 signatures
we can a trigger a high profile debate in Parliament
before the next budget.
The campaign has enjoyed lots of success, with
over 89,000 signatures but we need more, not
only to get over the 100,000 to force a debate,
but to show the depth of public feeling. So, if you
haven’t signed up yet, please do it today!
Between 28th September and 7th October, its
National Cask Ale week and, along with pubs
supporting this event, CAMRA and our Wigan
Branch will be out and about trying beers in our
locality. Watch out for any press releases as we are
hoping explore opportunities for you to be able to
try a new beer. Remember, variety is the spice of
life!
During the next few months there are local CAMRA
beer festivals at St Helens, Southport, Lytham,
Burnley, and Chester as well as those organised
by local pubs including Crooke Hall, and the Ship
at Lathom plus a new non-CAMRA festival at Robin
Park in October.
Keep your diary out and make a note about the
SIBA Great Northern Beer Festival at the Mercure
Hotel Manchester (previously known as Piccadilly
Plaza) from the 25th to the 27th October.
The best way to keep up-to-date is our Booze
News, e-mailed free to all our members, or by
visiting our website. Hope to see you there!
Alan Robinson, Editor