Meet Tom Newman - Bristol & District CAMRA

AWARD-WINNINGNo. 61Spring2004www.camrabristol.org.ukPINTSWESTTSAward-winning newsletter of the Bristol & District Branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real AleMeet Tom NewmanThis isTom Newman, founder of Newman’s Brewery, the newly formed brewerybased in a garage in Banwell, and producer of the instantly popular “Wolvers Ale” —humble beginnings maybe, but surely destined to go far. Find out more in Pints Weston inside.

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Celebrate your local pub!WHEN do you go to the pub? Christmas, on special occasions ormore regularly? With around 20 pubs closing across Britain everymonth, you might find that the place you enjoy for good company andgood beer (and maybe good food, games and other attractions) hasan uncertain future.National Pubs Week 2004 takes place between the 21st and 28thFebruary and is designed to encourage more people to visit the pubat a quiet time of the year for the pub industry. But pubs aren’t justfor national pubs week, they’re for life! You might be reading this atthe Bristol Beer Festival, a showcase of over 100 real ales thatshould be more than enough to persuade you to try some of themagain in a local pub. Or maybe you’re sitting at home with a bottle ofbeer from the increasing range offered by supermarkets. It’s fairlylikely that you’re reading Pints West in a pub, as we deliver to alarge number in Bristol and surrounding areas. But wherever you’reTheBELLAlfred Place, Kingsdown, BristolA Genuine FreehouseofferingExcellent Local Real AlesGood Wines, Interesting LagersOpen evenings Monday to FridayClosed weekday lunchtimes except Wednesday12.00 - 3.30 & 7.00 - 11.00 Saturday12.00 - 3.30 & 7.00 - 10.30 SundayOpen all day Saturday during the winterreading it, why not revisit a pub you know and love again soon, orventure to a new one, to help celebrate National Pubs Week all yearround!National Pubs Week was originally launched in February 2003by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA): a staggering 15,000 pubscame on board for the first campaign, organising events and displayingpromotional material across Britain. Due to this success CAMRAhave now made National Pubs Week a calendar event.In 2004, National Pubs Week also sees the release of newresearch findings on pub habits and the launch of a new CAMRAguide to help consumers save their local pub should they need to.But one of the best ways of ensuring our pubs remain viable andthriving, welcoming places to go, is to give them our custom (so offyou go!).Lesly HuxleyBristol BeerFestival 2004This year’s Bristol BeerFestival will be / is / was afantastic event (delete asappropriate depending onwhen you’re reading this).This is the seventh annual festival,organised by the Bristol & Districtbranch of CAMRA, and is taking placeat the Brunel Passenger Shed, TempleMeads on Friday 5th and Saturday 6thMarch.Despite the change of venue (theusual Council House not being availabledue to refurbishment), with the capacityto hold twice the number of punters,advance tickets for all sessions have soldout already. Anyone turning up on thedoor without a ticket on the off chanceof getting in will be sorely disappointed.To cater for all these extra thirsts,the beer order has been increased to afantastic range of 120 real ales plus agreat selection of real cider and perry.The new venue also allows for muchgreater seating than at previous festivals,something our visitors have alwaysasked for.Cheers and wassail!available at all Wadworth pubs and selected free houses2www.camrabristol.org.uk

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................A moving story from Bath AlesONLY four years have passed since BathAles moved their brewing operation fromtheir original site in Henstridge to larger ifstill quaintly rural premises at Webbs Heath.In this time they have increased thenumber of pubs to six and have seen anincredible growth demand for their top qualityreal ales.Now they have outgrown the WebbsHeath site with its 15-barrel capacity and arein the process of relocating to much largerpremises in Tower Road North, Warmley,with an initial doubling of production andample room for future expansion. The newsite is being professionally fitted out withbrand new, state of the art, British builtequipment, including three huge fermentingvessels.Brewer Craig has had to perform miraclesover the past year to find the time and spaceto produce brewing runs of the two seasonalbeers, Festivity and Spa Extra whilst keepingup stocks of the three regulars, Spa, Gem andBarnstormer. As a result Rare Hare hasunfortunately lived up to its name andbecome something of an endangered speciesover the past year. (However, Craig hasmanaged to find us a kilderkin to put on at theBristol Beer Festival in March.)The relatively palatial facilities at the new site boasts previouslyunheard of luxuries such as a connection to the mains drainage andspecialist ‘beer proof’ block flooring.b a t h a l e sTo enjoy the full range of bath ales beersat their best, pay a visit to one of our pubsThe Hop PoleUpper Bristol Road, Bath (opposite Victoria Park playground)The Hare on the HillDove Street, Kingsdown, BristolThe Merchants ArmsMerchants Road, Hotwells, BristolThe SalamanderJohn Street, BathThe WellingtonGloucester Road, Horfield, Bristoland atThe Bridge InnPassage Street, BristolCasks and beer boxes available for parties and functionsContact bath ales on 0117 9527580 or email hare@bathales.co.ukwww.bathales.co.ukBrewer Craig with some of his shiny new toyswww.camrabristol.org.ukThe increased production capacity means that Bath Ales will beable to join other local SIBA brewers in having some of their beerdistributed by ‘Unique’, a local wholesaler of local beers. The aim isto be brewing on the new site by the end of March, and in themeantime production is continuing at the old site.Other news fromBath AlesThere have been changes at the Merchants Arms in Hotwellswhere John Sprague is now in charge. Many of you will rememberJohn from his time at the Coronation in Southville.James is continuing to amply fill John Lansdale’s large shoes atthe Hare On The Hill in Kingsdown where some interesting (anddelicious) guest beers are usually available. Unusual guest beers arealso a feature at the Wellington Hotel in Horfield where Paul hasrecently featured beer from the Tring brewery. The Wellingtoncontinues to provide some of the best live blues-based music inBristol; this is performed on Sunday evenings with no admission fee.Over in Bath, the Salamander in John Street has joined the HopPole (opposite Victoria Park playground) in receiving rave reviewsfor both their food and beer. The Salamander was awarded themaximum five stars in a recent review in the Bristol Evening Post.The brewery has responded to the incredible level of demand fortheir 5 litre (8.8 pint) micro-casks by ordering the containers directlyfrom the manufacturer. This means that the casks are now beautifullyregaled in Bath Ales’ distinctive Hare logo printed directly ontothe containers. They an ideal way of having a manageable quantityof genuine cask-conditioned real ale at home and are available fromthe pubs or from the brewery. Further details can be found on theirweb site at www.bathales.com.Steve O’Shea3

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................The White Lion“Bristol’s best little pub on the centre”THE WHITE LION has been a familiarsight on Bristol City Centre for manyyears. Situated on Quay Head oppositethe War Memorial, this is a formerCourage pub, which has been acquired byWickwar Brewery.Approached over an area of broadpavement, it can be seen that the WhiteLion has had something of a make-overrecently. The exterior is now veryattractive and smart indeed, and seating isavailable under the cover of an awning.On entering the pub you realise thatthe White Lion must be one of the smallestpubs in the Bristol area. It is a one barpub with floorboards and wood panelling.Despite its small interior, it is a pub withmany attributes and features.One unusual feature of the Lion is thebreadboards and cheese dishes that adornthe pub. The pub was once renowned as“The Cheese Pub”. Of more historicinterest, the back wall of the pub is part ofthe old city wall. Part of this can beviewed to the right of the bar. Anotherhistoric feature is the narrow, spiral, metalstaircase to the gents WC that came fromthe old city gaol!Since Wickwar acquired the pub, therehave been several managers running theplace. The current licensees, Les andCarol Clayton, have been there forapproximately one year. Les and Carolcame to the Lion with a wealth of experiencein the licensed trade. This hasincluded the running of restaurants,several bars and pubs, nightclubs and evena student union bar at Liverpool Poly.Since their arrival, Les and Carol havedeveloped the trade in all the right ways.They have created a friendly and intimateenvironment for their customers. Indeed,they have a total belief in the White Lionbecoming “Bristol’s best little pub on thecentre”.Permanent features on the bar areWickwar BOB and Cotswold Way. OtherWickwar beers that come from thebrewery’s portfolio of twelve complimentthese. Beers recently featured have beenthe powerful stout, Mr. Perrett’s, at 5.9per cent ABV, Old Arnold (4.6 per cent),a ruby red ale, and Rite Flanker (4.3 percent), an amber beer with a large malttaste and a big hoppy finish.The full range of Wickwar beersusually feature at some time during theyear and coming soon should be PremiumSpring Ale (3.8 per cent) which is anamber coloured beer, bursting with flavourand very refreshing.Bristol CAMRA has also just heardDON’T FORGET TO INVITE ‘BOB’TO ALL YOUR PARTIES AND BARBECUESGIVE THE BREWERY A CALL FOR COLLECTION PRICESthat the brewery will be launching a newbeer – IKB (Isambard Kingdom Brunel) at4.5 per cent ABV) – which is described as“strong in multi malt flavours, wellbalanced to produce rich flavours ofcherry and plum” and will no doubt begracing the bar in the near future.It is commendable that Wickwarfeature guest beers in this pub. Thisprovides an extra dimension to consumerchoice and recently featured beers havebeen from the Rebellion Brewery inMarlow. The Lion also sells Draught Bassin the “Bristol flat” style that appears to beunique to this part of the country. TheBass is dispensed through a mirror box,rather than a handpump, but rest assuredthat it is still real ale. No extraneous gasin the beer here! In fact, Les and Carolare so committed to real ale that one ofthe first things they did upon arrival wasto kick out the nitro-keg bitter. Why sellthat stuff when there are so many goodcask ales on sale? No need to “Ask if it’sCask” here!To further demonstrate their commitmentto real ale, the Lion had a mini beerfestival at the end of February – “Bristol’ssmallest beerfest”. This positive attitudeto their beers and the pub has seen asignificant increase in trade and in particularto the real ale sales.Although not a cheese pub any more, avariety of dishes are available to satisfymost tastes. However, food does notdominate the bar and it is very much a realale pub.If you haven’t visited the White Lionrecently, then why not drop in soon? Ithink you may be pleasantly surprised. Itwon’t cost you a fortune – you can enjoythe ‘beer of the week’ for just £1.50 andall the other beers are competitivelypriced. You can drink your ale whilstreading one of the free daily newspapersunder the watchful eyes of the two whitelions or, on one those warmer days, sitoutside and see if the city centre developmentis ever going to finish! The pub isalso handy for all city centre bus stops.Just a word of warning to the chaps,those stairs to the WC can be prettychallenging after a few pints.Pete Bridle4www.camrabristol.org.uk

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Shine on Long AshtonAs part of his research for theforthcoming Bristol Pub Guide2004, Duncan Shine is visiting over700 pubs and bars in the Bristolarea. In his third report, he takes alight-hearted look at the real alesituation in Long Ashton.Full details, opening times andphotographs of all the pubsmentioned can be found on thewww.britishpubguide.com web site.Picture the scene. You’ve decided that,with the over-indulgences of Christmasbehind you, and that lovely beach holidaybooked for the summer, you really do needto get in shape. You want the sight of you inyour swimwear to draw admiring glancesfrom fellow sunbathers rather than visitingnatural history film-makers. Full of goodintention, you and your partner hop in the car(hopping expends more calories than justgetting in) and drive of towards the DavidLloyd Fitness Centre. As you head acrossthe Cumberland Basin, you imagine raspingbackhands, deftly played drop shots andhours happily spent in the ‘cardio zone’. Infact, you are so engrossed in these imagesthat you almost don’t notice a shambling,slightly jaded looking figure wanderingacross the A370 in front of you.Tires screech as you fight to keep controlof your car, your life flashes before yourvery eyes (even that incident when you wokeup wearing a nurse’s uniform after a night ofheavy drinking in the Sceptre Tavern), butsomehow you bring the car to a halt. Yourheart is pounding and, after that shock, youfeel you need a drink. The shambling,slightly jaded looking figure approaches you,helps you disentangle yourself from yourairbag, and clears his throat…“We’re not far from Long Ashton here,”he says, “and there are five pubs there, so letme help you through them. Probably best ifyou let your partner drive”.Your partner is now editor-in-chief ofSoft Drinks West. The previous incumbentpublished an article alleging that a softdrinks company had been involved in‘sexing up’ the image of some of theirproducts. Specifically, the article said thatthey had insisted on inserting a claim that acertain energy drink could help athletes gofor three-quarters of an hour longer, eventhough they ‘probably knew’ it was not true.This ‘45 minute’ claim proved to be the oldeditor’s undoing, as an inquiry proved thatthe brand, called “Whitewash”, did in fact doeverything it claimed. Not only that, but theinquiry also found that the publication wasbeing jolly mean, and that heads had toroll…You realise that after five paragraphs ofthis article, you still haven’t actually foundout anything about pubs yet, so you rush tothe Dovecote Inn. The Dovecote Inn usedto be the Smyth Arms, named after thefamily who owned the Ashton Court Estate.Nowadays, the Dovecote is run for VintageInns by David Willey. You are fascinated bythe abundance of old photographs of thelocality on the wall. There are two cask aleson offer, Bass and Tetley Bitter. You plumpfor the Bass, which is in good nick when youvisit, while your partner casts a critical eyeover a Strawberry-flavoured Vodka-jellyVirgin.From the Dovecote you head towardsLong Ashton proper, where the first pub youcome across is the Angel. This lovely oldinn, with its secluded courtyard (a haven fornesting swallows in the summer) is thesedays under the expert care of Siân Powell.There is a lovely ‘local’ atmosphere to thispub, and you notice plenty of people happilytucking into the excellent food that is onoffer there. You decide to have a pint ofSmiles Best Bitter, though Bass andCourage Best are also on offer. You wonderif you’re the only one who thinks that SmilesBest is getting back to its best after someyears when the quality wasn’t always asconsistent as it might be. You sup your pintin the ‘smoke room’, which acts as a kind oftraditional snug, separate from the rest of thepub, but visible through internal glasswindows. Your partner, struggling with aBenylin Flavoured Iced Tea, notes that thepub is open all day everyday, except forWinter’s Saturdays.Reluctantly, you leave this charming puband head on to the Bird In Hand, with itspicture of a Peregrine Falcon on the sign.Owned by Punch Taverns, the Bird In Handhas been run since the spring of 2003 byRussell and Karen Lee. It’s a good oldfashioned two-bar pub, with the dartboardand satellite telly in the public bar on yourright, and a featured central fireplace in thelounge bar to your left. They have regularcurry evenings, and quiz nights.You decide to have something to eathere, and the food is very reasonably pricedand absolutely delicious. To accompany it,your partner selects a Ginseng & Tonic,while you have a choice between the residentale, Bass, or a weekly changing guest, whichat the time of your visit is Bombardier fromthe Wells brewery in Bedfordshire. RussellLee has had a lot of work done to refurbishthe cellar, and it appears to be paying off asboth beers are in tip-top condition.Your shambling guide suggests that, tomake up for exercise you are not getting byavoiding the David Lloyd centre, you shouldwalk up Providence Lane to the final twopubs. You observe that its easy for him,what with being a fictional character and all,but that no real person in their right mindwould walk up there when they had aperfectly good car to use instead. He pointsout that this whole pub crawl is a work offiction, so you all jog up the hill withoutbreaking sweat.You don’t stop at the Retreat (formerlythe Robin Hood’s Retreat), but your guidementions that it is now a Gastro Pubincorporating Steen’s Diner. Although theyoffer no cask-conditioned beers, there is awide selection of bottled beers available, andthe food comes very highly recommended,with a four-star rating from the local press.However, your final destination is thewonderful Miner’s Rest, Geoff & CarolRogers’ gem of a pub which, despite lots ofrumours to the contrary, has not been sold todevelopers. In fact, as you enter, you cannothelp but noticing that the toilet block hasbeen completely redone. Inside thischaracterful and welcoming pub, with itsthree interlinked drinking rooms, your eyeslight up when you see that the beer isdispensed straight from barrels behind thebar. Both Bass and Greene King I.P.A. areavailable, with the frequent addition of aguest beer. The Bass is particularly goodhere, but you decide to have one of the twotraditional ciders that are on offer (Tauntonand Thatcher’s). The views from theorchard garden at the back of this pub areabsolutely spectacular.Your partner has a Water Solo, a verytrendy drink based on the range of drinkWater Plus (water with a hint of extraenergy, water with a hint of apple, you knowthe sort of thing). Water Solo is like that butwith the ‘hint of’ taken out.You’re enjoying yourself so much at theMiner’s Rest that you decide to sample theother cider while you’re there. Severalhours later, you find yourself strapped to anexercise bike in the David Lloyd Centrewishing you’d never made that “Iron Man?Piece of Cake!” comment to the muscleboundguy in the tracksuit…Duncan Shinewww.camrabristol.org.uk5

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Cider SistersAS it’s been a while since our last column,we thought we’d greet you with a seasonalwelcome back: Wassail!It’s from the Norse, ves heill, meaningbe in good health, apparently. We wererecently kindly invited to a wassail, but itwas wet and windy and we didn’t fancy awet and windy wassail, so we gave it a miss.But, we decided to catch up with its organiser– Dave Matthews of the Welsh CiderSociety – and find out more.And Dave’s a man who knows hiswassailing. “Wassailing goes back into themists of time, and is pagan or early Christianin origin, based around the idea that peopledidn’t understand that spring would followwinter”. People would gather in theorchards, offer cider to the trees and make ajoyful noise to wake the spirits of theorchard, ensuring a good harvest thefollowing autumn.“In the Devon and Somerset tradition,the oldest and biggest tree in the orchardwould be chosen, and some cider would bepoured on the roots as an offering toPomona, the goddess of the orchard, andsome on the fork of the tree, for the robin –the spirit of the orchard”.Dave and his colleagues at the WelshCider Society are working hard to keep theseold traditions alive. Cider making spreadinto Wales from Herefordshire in the 14 thCentury, and there was a strong Welsh cidertradition in the south east of the country untilthe early 20 th century, when it all but diedout.So in Wales they have lacked thecontinuous cider-making history that wehave here in the West Country – the peoplemaking cider now in Wales are a newgeneration who are starting afresh. At themoment they’re using our finest westcountry fruit, but over time hope to revivethe native Welsh varieties. The Welsh CiderSociety is supporting these new growers:“We’re promoting Welsh cider and perryin every way we can – helping people to getgoing, developing new cider-makers,encouraging people to try it and bringing thecider culture back to Wales”.Dave’s a West Country man himselforiginally, and, like so many of us, first gotinterested in cider in his misspent youth:“I grew up in Gloucestershire, there wasa cider-maker nearby and when we wereteenagers we’d take a bit up on a hill and dowhat teenagers do…”As an adult, he learnt his craft withcider-maker Kevin Minchew, before startingto make his own cider and perry in 2001.And from our experience, having had atasting at the Welsh Cider Festival at theClytha Arms in 2003, his ciders (under theSeidr Dai label) are of exceptional quality.On consulting our infamous notes (whichinclude a pencil sketch of Mr. Matthews that6isn’t really of print quality), we had gone sofar as to say that his perry was the best we’dever tasted: “Impossible to describe its fruityperfection – the all time most delicious”.You can blame the glorious sunshine and theWintry West Croft Wassail(with an Arabian twist)IN mid-January, Winter suddenly rememberedwhat kind of weather was expected ofit. With the temperature plummeting fast,we headed for West Croft Farm at BrentKnoll, Somerset, (home of Janet’s JungleJuice) to join the wassail. Being a Londonermyself, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect:but for a passing comment from the triporganiser about sturdy footwear, I might noteven have made the connection with amuddy orchard. I came prepared with skihat and jacket, rugged boots and a thirst forsome good, local cider and a glimpse oftradition: neither weather nor cider disappointed,although I was a bit surprised atsome of the traditional activity ... but more ofthat later.With some warm mulled cider andSomerset apple cake inside us, we stood asclose to the wood fires around the farmyardas possible to watch the Chalice Morris Mendo their stuff with sticks. Not these thewhite-clad, hanky waving Morris Men ofSummer, but dark-coated, slightly sinisterblokes with long feathers in their hats and apredominance of fine (and presumablyinsulating) facial hair. One of the barns washost to a pig roast, another to barrels ofsweet, medium and dry cider, to ensureinner warmth before the real action of theevening kicked in.At 9pm, the assembled throng of 150 orso people were called to the orchard by awww.camrabristol.org.ukconvivial atmosphere, but it must have beenpretty good. (We also got a rare chance toenjoy a lesser-spotted pider – half-cider/halfperryfor those who couldn’t work it out –which pretty much made our year).So, big up the Welsh Cider Society wesay, and if you get a chance, get yourselvesalong to their two festivals this year:! 29 th - 31 st May: Welsh Cider Festival,Clytha Arms, near Abergavenny (tel:01873 840206)! 8 th - 10 th July: Chapter’s Welsh Ciderand Perry Festival, Chapter Arts Centre,Cardiff (tel: 029 20311050)It’s not far to go, and as Dave Matthewssays: “The more that come over the better!”Freya & Erica McLuckieTo contact the Welsh Cider Society, visittheir web site at www.welshcider.co.uktraditionally green-robed druid and his notso-tradloud-hailer. We gathered around alarge apple tree whilst the druid and hishelpers threw cider-soaked toast at the barkas an offering to the robins. Loud shoutsand banging drums designed to wake thetree’s sleeping spirit were followed by awassail song. The words on our programmewere those sung at the Butcher’s Arms pubin Carhampton, near Minehead, “... whichclaims to host the oldest continuous appletree wassail in the country”. Just for goodmeasure, we also sang another Somersetwassail song with a rousing chorus of “Forit’s your wassail! And it’s our wassail andit’s joy to be you, and a jolly wassail!”We forced ourselves to revisit the ciderbarn to avoid a sense of anti-climax whenthe singing and toast-slapping was over, butwe needn’t have worried. The dry cider wasgorgeous and, had we drunk very largeamounts of it, we might have thought thatthe final episode of the evening was ahallucination. Not so: the piping Arabianmusic and belly-dancers in spangly, diaphanouscostumes gyrating on a straw-coveredbarn floor were real (and probably really,really cold). A surprising end to a very goodevening. There was no mention of this in thedescription of the wassail ceremony in theprogramme – if anyone knows the origins ofthis local twist (no pun intended) then doplease let me know.Lesly Huxley

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Have these beers changed?AMONGST the many real ales on the marketthese days are a number of very well knownbrands from the bigger regional brewers.These beers have built up a solid reputationover many years and usually have a loyalfollowing where they are sold. I am prepared tobe wrong, but I feel that three of these beershave undergone significant changes to taste andflavour in recent years, but only one has beenwell publicised – indeed the brewery announcedthat they had changed the recipe.The beer concerned was Young’s Specialfrom the long-standing Wandsworth brewery.Young’s announced in 2003 that they werereformulating and re-launching their premiumstrength beer, with the ABV dropping slightlyfrom 4.6 per cent to 4.5 per cent.Having attended college in South Londonin the late 1970s and early 1980s, I got to drinkan awful lot of Young’s beer, as apart fromFuller’s there was very scarce availability ofany other independent brews. Young’s wasalways infinitely preferable to the widelyavailable Bass, Charrington, Courage andWatney’s offerings. Having said that, I alwaysfound Special to be a fairly heavy drinkingbeer, and not one that I really sought out. Maltseemed too evident to suit my palate.A personal viewpoint from Vince MurrayI first tried the new recipe in summer 2003and was pleasantly surprised – the beer seemsmuch easier drinking and fresh and crisp, with aless malty, more hoppy, and better balance.Judging by many angry letters to What’sBrewing (CAMRA’s monthly nationalnewsletter), many people disagree and preferthe old recipe – that’s the beauty of tastingbeer, different tastes suit different people! I dothink, however, that Young’s might have beenbetter to rename the beer when they changed it.Another beer regarded by many as a classicis Fuller’s London Pride, the 4.1 per centflagship brew from Young’s big Chiswickbasedrivals. This beer always had a wonderfulbalance of flavours, with a very distinctiveunderlying nuttiness. About two years back Istarted to notice changes to the beer, especiallythat the nutty flavour had disappeared, andbeen replaced by a fairly prominent caramelflavour. Caramel is a legitimate beer flavourenjoyed by many, but definitely does not suitmy palate. For a while I assumed that a batchof Pride had simply gone a little awry, and thatthe old flavour would return. That has not beenso, so I have to wonder if the recipe changed,deliberately or otherwise? I would love toknow. I have personally stopped choosing thisbeer, but know many who still enjoy it.Finally, a few months ago in late 2003, Icame across another famous old beer –Wadworth’s 6X, the 4.3 per cent flagship aleof the historic Devizes brewery. Having drunkthis beer a lot in my late teens and earlytwenties, I opted for others when the bigexplosion of micro-breweries began in the late1980s. I found it a little too malt-dominatedfor my taste. I was very surprised to find italtogether more crisp and clean tasting recently– once again I assumed that a brew had comeout a little different. However, I have now triedit on seven or eight further occasions and foundthis to be the norm. It even seems a littlelighter in colour, although I could be wrong.Either way it has moved from being a beer Irarely chose to one I now single out. (Me too.Ed.)As I have tried to stress, these are purelymy own observations, not necessarily shared byCAMRA locally or nationally, and I wouldwelcome feedback, especially from thebreweries concerned.Vince MurrayTHE STAR INNReputedly 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 historicinterest and listed on theNational Inventory of Heritage Pubs.Serving traditional English ales including:Bellringer brewed in Bathand Burton’s favourite brew Bass.23 THE VINEYARDS, PARAGON, BATH Tel 01225 4250728www.camrabristol.org.uk

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Friar on fire!White Friar, the latest occasional ale fromBath’s Abbey Ales, has proved so popularthat the brewery has already had to brewanother batch!The 5.0 percent ABV golden-colouredhoppy ale, launched only recently, sold outalmost immediately it went on sale. Thebeer, originally created as Jubilation tocoincide with the Queen’s visit to Bath inher Golden Jubilee year, was so wellreceived that Abbey Ales decided toreintroduce it under the name of White Friar.One of the first pubs to fire off a repeatorder was the Green Tree in Green Street,Bath, where manager Tim Bethune experienceda tremendous demand. It was thesame story at Abbey Ales’ own pub, the Staron the Paragon, Bath, where relief managerRob Mead quickly experienced the pullingpower of Bath’s only brewery.The beer will only be sold locally to pubsin the Bath area. However, drinkers furtherafield will be (or were, depending on whenyou’re reading this) able to taste it at theBristol CAMRA Beer Festival, and at theSmall Independent Brewers Society (SIBA)Festival being staged at Tuckers Maltings,Newton Abbot, in April.Managing Director, Alan Morgancommented, “Martin Langham, our HeadBrewer, has always wanted to regularlybrew a range of different beers to complimentour best selling Bellringer but the needto meet the incessant demand for ourflagship ale takes up much of our productionschedule. However, he has worked overtimeto produce another batch of White Friar, ashe was so pleased with the initial response.”White Friar was also voted the favouriteoccasional beer on a poll recently held on thebrewery web site www.abbeyales.co.uk.“Although it means extra work at thebrewery for Martin and the team, even atthis traditionally quiet time of the brewingyear, we would be silly not to meet thedemand”, Alan Morgan added.Burgundy, Yellow . . .and White – it’s a bitof all right!Well Alan certainly likes itPLASTIC may indeed be the way forwardfor Bath’s only traditional brewery! AbbeyAles – based on Camden Row in the city –has decided to experiment with plasticfirkins (9-gallon ‘barrels’) as an alternativeto expensive, hard-to-acquire and evenharder-to-hang-on-tostainless steel equivalents.Distinctively coloured burgundy andyellow – the brewery’s ‘house’ colours – thecontainers are much lighter than traditionalones and will initially be used for thecompany’s take-home and wholesalebusiness, where keeping track of casks hastraditionally been a problem.Abbey Ales Managing Director, AlanMorgan commented; “We were veryimpressed with the samples that we tested atour brewery tap, The Star Inn, and thequality of the beer in the glass was as goodas that from a stainless steel or aluminiumcask. We therefore decided to go ahead andorder a hundred, which are being deliveredshortly, and we intend to use them for ournext brew of our occasional beer White Friarwhich is available from mid February.”All change atthe Bag O’NailsIT seems that central Bristol continues totake its toll on our Good Beer Guidelandlords. In recent times we have seenthem move on from Horts, the Cornubia andthe Bunch of Grapes. Fortunately some othergood licensees have appeared in their place!Now Geoff Syce has moved on from theBag O’Nails. We wish Geoff well and hopethat the new manager can continue to keepthe real ale in top condition, and signs so farare that he can!Here is young Geoff, plus a shot of theunassuming exterior of the Bag O’Nails(borrowed from the Bristol Pub Guide).The pub is of course famed for its real aleand gas lit interior. It is also a former Bristol& District branch pub of the year.If you can’t stand the thought of neverseeing Geoff again, there is a rumour that hewill be helping out for a session at thefantastic Bristol Beer Festival.Richard Brookswww.camrabristol.org.uk9

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Sharp’s Brewery comethSHARP’S BREWERY fromNorth Cornwall are making aconcerted effort to ‘conquer’Bristol. Duncan Shineheaded down the M5 andalong the A30 to find outmore.One October about ten years ago, whileon holiday in North Cornwall, I read in theCAMRA Good Beer Guide that a newbrewery had opened in the picturesquevillage of Rock. I went to have a look andthere, on the Pityme Industrial Estate, was asmall outbuilding with a makeshift signsaying “Sharp’s” — a small brewery, set upby Bill Sharp, with just a few outlets amongthe free trade in the surrounding villages.Little did I know that, a decade later, thebrewery would be occupying most of theindustrial estate. Not only that, but theyhave made such a good job of selling theirbeers in Cornwall and Devon – last summerthey were shifting 2,000 firkins a week –that the only way to continue the expansionwas to head east, which is why they are nowmaking a splash in Bristol, and why I amnow making a visit to Rock.I am greeted by Head Brewer, StuartHowe, who agrees to show me around.Now, what I know about the technicalaspects of the brewing process could safelybe written on the back of a beer mat, andthere would still be room for your shoppinglist. If you tell me that yeast flocculates, Isay that as long as it’s in the privacy of itsown home, it’s none of my business. So,any inaccuracies in what follows are down tome, while all the facts are Stuart’s.First of all, Stuart takes me to see theoriginal brewing plant. This is that originalouthouse with all the equipment in oneroom. In those days they had a ten-barrelbrew length, and two fermenting vessels,giving them a maximum of about twentybarrels a week. Later, I get to see the newequipment: they now have no fewer thanfourteen ten-barrel fermenters, and a coupleof twenty-barrel ones as well. However, asremarkable as this expansion is, what strikesme is how little else has changed.As Stuart explains: “There are so manyways that expansion can adversely affect theflavour of the beer. Moving or re-propagatingthe yeast is very difficult and can bedisastrous; while introducing fermentingvessels with different dimensions can affectthe way the yeast flocculates (there’s that10word again), and alter the taste. Thestrength of any brewery has to be the qualityand consistency of the beer, so we havesought to enshrine the brewing ingredientsand processes to make sure that the pint youdrink today tastes just as good as the one youhad in 1994.”So, let’s see why the beers have been sosuccessful. We’ll start with the malt. Italways comes from Tucker’s Maltings (theRolls Royce of malt, I’m told) and is a singlevarietal malt always to the same specification.I ask exactly which malt they use, butapparently that’s like asking a Mason whathis secret handshake is. No matter, the pointis that it’s always the same, and they do notuse any adjuncts, the principle being that ifthey get the malt right in the first place, theydon’t need to bung in anything else to bringit up to standard.Now to the hops. Sharp’s always usewhole hops rather than pellets. While pelletscan make the process easier and cheaper,there is a risk that you lose the hoppy aromathat makes the beer so appetising. There aretwo varieties of hop used, which addbitterness, flavour and, of course, aroma.But the ingredients are only part of theequation. The brewing process is vital if youare going to have not only a consistent pint,but also one that is going to have discerningdrinkers returning again and again to thebrand.For example, the mash temperature isdeliberately kept lower than for many beers,with the effect that the beer tastes lighter,and isn’t so satiating. Further along theprocess, the coppers have an integral strainerin them, as using a separate strainer candisturb the brew and affect the balance andlook of the pint. The single continuousculture of yeast that has been used since dayone is very voracious, so the wort is oxygenatedto feed it that bit more and allow aquick fermentation (only 24 hours). Thefermentation takes place at a warmertemperature for extra balance.www.camrabristol.org.ukThe commitment to consistency goeseven further. The grist mill is exactly thesame model as the one used at Tucker’sMaltings, and there is a sign on it saying thatthe settings can only be changed by StuartHowe personally. He’s a big man so I doubtanyone ever ignores this sign twice.Towards the end of the process, samplesof every brew are microscope tested (fornasty organisms and the like, don’t youknow) before the brew is transferred toconditioning tanks which serve the dualpurpose of maturing the brew, and alsoremoving those tell-tale smells you sometimesget (bad eggs, vinegar. etc.). Thisemphasis on a ‘clean’ pint also explains whySharp’s do not ‘dry hop’ for extra aroma atthe end. If the hops haven’t been throughthe ‘process’ then there are microbiologicalrisks in introducing them too late in theprocess.All brews are finally racked for sevendays before being shipped out to the pubs.That way, the beer is always ready to drinkwhen it ships. For extra quality control, a‘forcing sample’ is also taken, and kept in atest tube at a balmy 25°C for five days. Thatway, if the brew is going to go off, it will gooff in the test tube before the main batch isshipped to the pubs and clubs.So, what are the beers that benefit fromthis total commitment to quality, consistencyand drinkability. Well, the main ones areCornish Coaster (3.6%), a golden sessionbitter using about 98% pale malt with a littlecrystal added for good measure. Thenthere’s my personal favourite, Doom BarBitter, a stonking 4.0% ‘best bitter’, whichis more heavily hopped, and has moreroasted barley than Coaster. It is dangerouslydrinkable, and distinctly moreish.Special (5.2%) is fermented at a muchhigher gravity than the others, to give it afuller and fruitier flavour, but still drinkssurprisingly well into the second and thirdpint. Eden (4.4%), Sharp’s Own (4.4%)and special occasion beers complete the caskpicture.So why are these excellent beers nowappearing in Bristol. Sales Manager, JamesNicholls explains: “We’ve enjoyed suchsuccess with our ales in our core market,Cornwall and Devon, that in less than adecade, we have almost reached a point ofsaturation. Naturally, we wish to continueenjoying the success, so have decided toextend the availability of our popular ales byopening our first depot in Bristol to servicethe increasing demand”. The founder, BillSharp, has brought in some new majorinvestors to help fund further expansion, and

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................there are now plans to extend the brewerystill further.So, expect to see a lot more of Sharp’sbeers on a hand pump near you. For now,here are just a few of the pubs in the areawhich are already selling them. You cantaste them for yourself at the followingoutlets:-! The White Horse, Westbury-On-Trym! The Winford Arms at Dundry! The Three Sugar Loaves at the bottomof Christmas Steps in Central Bristol! The Clyde Arms in Hampton Road,Redland! The George at Abbots Leigh! The Shakespeare in Totterdown! The Royal Oak in Clifton! The King’s Head in Victoria Street,Central Bristol! The Bell in Kingsdown (occasionally)! The Hope & Anchor in Hotwells(occasionally)(By the way, yeast flocculation is theprocess that causes the yeast to sediment atthe bottom of the fermenter so it can beharvested and reused in futurefermentations. Or so I’m led to believe).Duncan ShineThe Bristol Pub GuideAROUND the same time that this issue ofPints West starts appearing in pub and bars inand around Bristol, a new book will be hittingthe bookshops. Entitled The Bristol PubGuide, it is the result of several months’research by Duncan Shine, a regular contributorto Pints West.Essentially, he has spent the last fewmonths doing nothing but going to pubs andwriting down all the bits he can remember. “Ithas been a tough job, spending all my timepropping up bars, chatting to licensees andtenants, checking out the beers and ciders. Butit has been a sacrifice I have been prepared tomake for the good of the city,” he says, tonguefirmly in cheek.The book features over 700 pubs, with aphotograph of each one, as well as a full list ofthe facilities they offer (Sport on TV, VegetarianMeals, Pets Welcome, etc.). Perhaps evenmore useful, however, is the full list of draughtbeers sold. Every cask-conditioned ale is listed,as well as ciders, stouts and even keg bittersand lagers. Pubs with changing guest ales orale dispensed by gravity are also featured. Andthere are maps and special interest lists at theback to help you find the right pub for you.“The idea,” Duncan goes on, “is to givepub-goers a single point of reference to find thepub that best suits their requirements. Wehaven’t been judgemental, and have tried todescribe every pub objectively so that peoplewill know what to expect”.The book will be on sale in “all goodBritishpubguide.comBRISTOL PUB GUIDEbookstores” and also on-line via Amazon,Waterstone’s and W. H. Smith, or you canemail Duncan.shine@britishpubguide.com toreserve a copy.Green Beer?ON a recent trip to China, I found myself inChifeng, a large town ten hours’ train ride northof Beijing. Visiting a local restaurant withsome fellow travellers and asking for somelocal beer, we were presented with bottlesbearing labels with a picture of a gherkin onthem. Imagine our surprise when the bottlesdisgorged a green liquid – apparently lagerbeer. It didn’t taste unpleasant, althoughperhaps rather fresh and yeasty; we all had atleast one more. Alcohol content was 2.8 percent. We didn’t find out what it was called, asthe label was all in Chinese (which none of usunderstood) and none of the local peoplepresent spoke any English.A day and a night further south by train, ata place called Luohe, a local hotel produced adifferent brand of bottle with gherkins on thelabel – again 2.8 per cent alcohol, and brightgreen when poured into the glass. This one hada few English characters on the label, asfollows: “SLQP”. It didn’t take much imaginationto make this “SLOP”. Again, it wasn’tunpleasant to drink, but I was pleased to returnto more familiar tastes in the next town...Kim Ale SnugFeaturing 730 pubs in the Bristol area, with photo and alisting of all real ales and traditional ciders sold in each pub.Cask AlesSoldChangingGuest AlesBeer StraightFrom The BarrelAVAILABLE IN MARCHIn Good Bookshops And OnlineVisit britishpubguide.com for more detailsPLUS PUBS FORFamiliesWheelchair AccessEating OutLive EntertainmentSport on TVPool, Darts, SkittlesTourist AttractionsGardensPubs by the WaterPets WelcomeCredit Cards TakenAnd much morewww.camrabristol.org.uk11

PINTS WESTPints Weston......................................................................................................................................................Watering Holes in the Desertnews from Weston-super-Mare○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○Newman’s Brewery – off toa flyerSATURDAY 22 nd November 2003 will longbe remembered by many as the day Englandwon the Rugby World Cup.However, it was also the day that sawthe launch of the first brewery in the Westonarea for 20 years and the first in Banwellsince Castle and Rogers Brewery ceasedtrading almost 100 years ago.Wolvers Ale from Newman’s Brewery,based in a garage in Banwell, made its firstappearance in pubs across Weston. Theofficial launch was held at The London Innand the first brew also appeared at The OldKing’s Head in Worle, The ClaremontVaults, The Cabot, Hornets RFC, Off TheRails, The Queen’s Arms at Bleadon, TheBell at Banwell and The Crown at Churchill.Not all of the aforementioned venues areknown as being supporters of microbreweriesand some people were concernedthat after the initial enthusiasm it would bedifficult for Tom Newman to get his beersinto pubs in the area. How wrong we were– the last three months has seen the brewerygo from strength to strength, with Tom’smain problem being trying to keep up withdemand.Wolvers Ale has now appeared in 30 to40 pubs and clubs in the area, with many ofthese customers now taking the beer on aregular basis. Aside from the aforementionedvenues, “Wolvers” has been in lots ofother places in Weston – The Regency, TheDragon, The White Hart, The ConservativeClub – and slightly further afield at TheWoolpack in St. Georges; The Anchor inBleadon, The Ship in Uphill, TheWinscombe Club, The Red Lion in Cheddar,The Prince Of Orange in Yatton, The NewMoon in Biddesham, Old Inn and Plough inCongresbury, and at both The Crown andLamb in Axbridge.Customers at the latter emptied their twocasks in less than three days. Word must begetting around that the beer is popular asTom’s phone keeps ringing, both fromexisting and new customers. The beer willsoon be appearing at Jack Stamps BeerHouse, Weston Golf Club and The WhistlingDuck in Banwell.Aside from having to more than doublehis early weekly output (he is now producing12Newman’s Brewery, home of Wolvers AleTom Newman with his brewing equipmentaround 25 nine-gallon casks a week), Tomhas also won his first award. In JanuaryWolvers Ale beat about 30 beers to win theBeer Of The Festival award at the AlternativeWinter Beers Festival held in Manchester.The organiser picked his beers for thefestival from breweries that have started upin the past two to three years and, accordingto Tom, he collected all the beers himselffrom the breweries and took all the emptycasks back afterwards! This success forWolvers Ale was recognised with a bigsplash in the Bristol Evening Post as well asa piece in the Weston Mercury.The most pleasing thing about WolversAle, which is a tasty but easy-drinkingsession bitter of 4.1 per cent ABV, is that ithas been popular in pubs that would notnormally be considered “real ale pubs” andseveral licensees have mentioned that nonrealale drinkers have tried and liked it. Ifthe beer can help encourage keg and lagerdrinkers to give real ale a try then it will bedoing a great service to the real ale causelocally.It hasn’t been all plain sailing. In thewww.camrabristol.org.ukearly days there were consistency problemsand in some cases the beer refused to clear.However, these problems seem to have beenresolved and Tom’s main problem at themoment is having to disappoint pubs thatwant to take his beer. Plans are afoot toresolve this problem too, as Tom is currentlylooking for larger premises, which willenable him to increase capacity and give hisparents their garage back!Tom is not looking for world domination– simply a steady local trade. This looks tobe very much on the cards. If you have notyet tried it, venues taking it on a regularbasis are The London Inn, Cabot, OldKing’s Head, The Crown at Churchill andPrince Of Orange, Yatton.At time of writing, Tom had just finisheda brew of Woolly Mammoth, a German-style“white” beer of 4.5 per cent ABV, which heplans to brew on an occasional basis. Thisbeer was all sold before it was brewed andthe most likely place that people will be ableto catch it is at The Bristol Beer Festival on5-6 March.Tim Nickolls

Pints WestonA visit to YattonPINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................DESPITE being a mere 15-minute trainjourney from Weston, and also beingknown for having quite a high density ofpubs for a village of its size (four), forsome reason the local CAMRA branchhad never made the short trip to Yatton.Our enthusiasm had never been high,as the story went that the best you wouldfind in Yatton would be a pint ofButcombe and possibly a pint of real mild.Anyway, our lack of a visit wasrectified on Guy Fawkes Night – wouldthere be any real ale fireworks in Yattonwe wondered or would it prove to be fullof damp squibs?Arriving by train, the obvious startingpoint for a crawl of Yatton’s pubs is TheRailway, which can’t be missed as it ispractically on the northbound platform.As ever, on entering a pub my eyesheaded straight for the pumpclips. Threereal ales on – Bass, Courage Best andAdnam’s Fisherman. Based on theSuffolk coast, Adnam’s beers are rarelyseen in these parts, so this was a very nicesurprise. My usual acceleration to get tothe bar before most of my colleaguesproved to be invaluable, as the Fishermanwent off after a few pints had beenordered and half of our team had to makedo with the Bass and Courage Best (sorryfolks – all’s fair in love and ale drinking!).Fisherman is a very nice dark red beerwith a nutty taste. On this occasion ittasted a bit tired, as you would expectwhen you get near the bottom of thebarrel and the beer has been on for nearlya week. However, the landlord reportedthat it had been popular and was a guestbeer off of the pub company’s list. Thislist certainly had some decent beers on itand The Railway is a pub that is wellworth a look.Very near to The Railway is TheMarket Inn on North End Road. However,we felt that it would be best to leavethis until the end of the evening, therebyminimising the chances of us missing ourlast train home!We wandered through the noisy,smelly evening to The Prince Of OrangeInn on Yatton High Street. This pub isabout half a mile to the south of therailway station.Expecting very little, we could hardlybelieve our eyes on entry, seeing the widerange of real ales on offer. Besides theubiquitous Courage Best were Hyde’sJekyll’s Gold, Cottage Jacko’s Thriller,Marston’s Pedigree and a mysterious beerbadged as Younger’s Monks.The full identity of the latter causedsome puzzlement. The beer is not mentionedin the Good Beer Guide andYounger’s (makers of foul tins of beerwith lots of tartan on the front as I recall)was the victim of a merger many moonsago. Perhaps some far-flung corner of theScottish Courage empire is being allowedto try and produce some interesting beer –shock, horror!Anyway, the Monks was a dark beerof 4.5 per cent ABV, that potentiallytasted quite good. Unfortunately, it wasvery near the bottom of the barrel and twopeople had to take it back to be changed.Of the remaining beers that were tried, theJekyll’s Gold was rated as “fine” and theJacko’s Thriller was very nice, as are mostbeers from the excellent Cottage breweryof Lovington, Somerset.The barmaid did not know much aboutthe real ale side of the operation nor theownership of the pub, but she said thatCourage Best was permanent and thereare normally three guest beers.The cost of beer at The Prince ofOrange is pretty expensive – Jekyll’s GoldI could swear thatwas a WoollyMammoth I justspotted over thatdunewww.camrabristol.org.uk£2.40 for a 4.3% ABV beer, CottageJacko’s Thriller £2.50 for a 4.5% ABVbeer – but the range was interesting andalthough the quality was variable, we allagreed it would definitely be worth afollow-up visit.We then made the 20-seconds’ walk tothe next pub, The Butcher’s Arms.Guess what? More Courage Best – thistime accompanied by Fuller’s LondonPride and at a more sensibly-priced £2.10.This is a beer that seems to be revered bymany ale drinkers in the area and everyonewas delighted with the quality of the Pridehere. In fact, most pronounced it to bethe best pint of the evening.The punters at The Butcher’s must likeit – it was on two handpumps and thebarmaid explained that this was the onlyway they could keep up with demand!Despite having a large-screen TV to keepthe sports fans happy, The Butcher’s feelslike a genuinely old pub and we couldhave happily lingered longer. However,duty called.We quickly made the half-mile marchback towards the station and the final portof call for the evening, The Market Inn.This proved to be the home of theelusive “real mild.” Admittedly, this wasonly Ansell’s Mild, hardly a classicexample of the genre, but the site of ahand-pumped mild was rare enough for allbut one of our party to opt for it – at£1.80 a pint. The ales on offer wereUsher’s Best, Bass and Butcombe Bitter.Nice to see Pints West prominentlydisplayed in the bar. Another pub whichwe look forward to visiting again.All in all, this was a very enjoyable andenlightening evening. There were elevendifferent beers on offer across Yatton’sfour pubs and the range and quality was,overall, good and worthy of furtherinvestigation. In fact, we are doing it allover again on Wednesday 21 April.Check the diary section for train times.For the sake of completeness, I shouldmention the fifth Yatton pub, which is TheBridge Inn, located about a mile to thenorth west of the village on North EndRoad. This is a Greene King house which,surprise surprise, is focused on food andfamilies.On my last visit, Greene King IPA andAbbot Ale were available. On an earliervisit it was Badger Best Bitter. I havealso had reports of no real ale beingavailable, so it sounds a bit like pot luck.Very good Sunday carvery though.Tim Nickolls13

PINTS WESTPints Weston......................................................................................................................................................Weston Whispers(pub and beer news)The Conservative Club on AlexanderParade has been getting good reviews. Arecent visit by a CAMRA member for a quizleague fixture resulted in him swooning atthe quality of the RCH Old Slug Porter.Wickwar Cooper’s WPA was also on and invery good condition. Sadly, admittance isfor club members and guests only.The Raglan has re-opened with a lick ofpaint all round. Bass is the real ale offer.Cask Marque is an award for pubsmeeting high standards of cellarmanship anddispense. The latest pubs to receive theaward in Weston are The Bell in Banwelland The Pavilion in Weston. The lattercame as something of a surprise.The Pavilion is a Beefeater, located offthe dual carriageway, with no housingnearby and access only available via HuttonMoor Leisure Centre. The surprise was thatthe ownership of the Beefeater chain felt thatit was important for their “brand” to be ableto demonstrate to the public that they regardthe quality of their real ale quality as beingimportant – it costs money to apply for CaskMarque accreditation.The Pavilion, as with all Beefeaters,seems to be purely a restaurant, with beermerely an accompaniment to the food. Iguess it must be good news that a chain suchas Beefeater regard demonstrating that theykeep their beer in good condition as being animportant issue to them and potentiallyimportant to their customers.Beers at The Pavilion are Bass andWadworth’s 6X. On my visit both wereperfectly clear and served at the righttemperature. The only downside was thatboth were dispensed through a sparkler – inthe case of Wadworth’s, this is against thebrewery’s recommendation (hey, we aren’tall Birmingham refugees in Weston!).Highlights of a recent CAMRA minibustrip along the A371 were The City Arms,Wells, which had six real ales in excellentcondition and Addlestone’s Cloudy cider,and The Red Lion, Draycott. The latteroffers two ever-changing ales. On our visitthey were Cotleigh Tawny and BadgerTanglefoot. The menu looked enticing andvery good value for a rural pub.It was great to see the sublime Santa Fé(7.3 per cent in strength and a dream of abeer) from RCH in town over Christmas –briefly at The Dragon Inn and for a longerperiod at Off The Rails.The days of “Courage Best or nothing”at the Old King’s Head in Worle seem tobe a thing of the past. Although the pub onlydoes one real ale, this is now always a moreinteresting offer from an independentbrewery. At the time of writing, theprevious three beers had been from Archers,Newman’s and Fuller’s, and the pub wasone of only three in the Weston area to stockNewman’s Woolly Mammoth. Beer qualityreports are good. Worle real ale drinkers,take note.The Cooper’s Arms in Highbridge hasbeen voted runner-up in the Somerset PubOf The Year poll held by the SomersetCAMRA Branch. This is an excellent pub a10-minute train ride from Weston, with aone-minute walk at the other end. The pubcan be summed up by landlord John Hayes’comments in the Weston Mercury: “Weusually have seven real ales on at a time.We don’t do food here. We’re a drinkers’pub.” Amen.Tim NickollsTHE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALECHAMPION BEER OF BRITAIN 2003GOLD MEDAL WINNERSTRONG BITTER CATEGORY.Malt, Hops, Yeast & Water!ADNAMS BROADSIDE. BEER FROM THE COAST.What’s In Yours?MAKE IT YOURS AT THE BRISTOL BEER FESTIVAL&THE WHITE LION, Quay Head, Bristol City CentreorTHE PRINCESS OF WALES, Westbourne Grove, Bedminster, Bristol.Also available direct from the brewery in 18 and 36 pint polypinsor delivered direct to your door.THE AWARD WINNING BREWERS OFGLOUCESTERSHIREThe Wickwar Brewing Co Ltd, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom01454 294 168BOB@wickwarbrewing.comwww.wickwarbrewing.com14www.camrabristol.org.uk

Pints WestonPINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................A round with RobinTHE other day in the Regency I was havinga chat with some friends and we were, asusual, discussing the merits of real ale andpubs in Weston and beyond.This to the uninitiated may sound a veryanorakish thing to do as opposed to discussingsport or computer gadgetry, but I assureyou that the company was not a one-hobbysociety. Indeed the relative profession of thecompany bears a look – a retired policeman,a joiner and a cartographer (that’s me,folks).One of the beers we were discussing indepth (if I may describe something thatvaries in depth as it goes down the glass)was the relatively new beer, Wolvers Alefrom Banwell, brewed by Tom Newman. Ithas to be said that like most beers it is not toeveryone’s taste. I love it, but not to theexclusion of trying other beers. Some Bassdrinkers I know will only drink Bass unlessthere is nothing else on. Some people – I tryhard not to condemn them – will only drinkJohn Smith’s Smooth, but however much wetry to convert them to real ale we are fightinga battle against professional advertisers.But I digress. Let us return to WolversAle. When it was launched in Weston (atthe London Inn, where it is served bygravity – the best way) it met with approvalfrom most real ale drinkers. Since then ithas been fairly regularly served by handpumpat the Claremont Vaults, theRegency, Wetherspoon’s Dragon Inn, theWhite Hart, Off The Rails, and the Cabot.The taste does vary: this is to be expected.Pub cellars or cellar rooms arechangeable, and the beer itself may differfrom brew to brew. But all things consideredit is a decent English beer, not toostrong (4.1 per cent), and not too bitter, withsubtle fruity hints that seem to alter fromPrivatelyownedFREEHOUSEThe Esplanade,Weymouth, DorsetFeaturing the 4 R’sReal ale Real food Real friendly Realistic prices7 handpumps serving local & guest alesFood – Bar – Nite ClubBed & Breakfast(groups welcome)John & Cricket Parker - 01305 766996www.thedorothyinn.co.ukpub to pub and brew to brew. I like this; Ifind beers that are predictable rather boring,though not I should say all beers. Rereadingthis, I’d hate to find my favouritepint of RCH Pitchfork or Butcombe Goldsuddenly tasting of strawberry mousse! Butthere are beers that do change, and wemustn’t stop drinking them just because wefind one pint that doesn’t meet our expectations.The company agreed that Tom Newmanwas to be applauded for his production ofWolvers Ale, however we are cautiouslypessimistic about his mooted second beer sosoon.Elsewhere in this copy of Pints West youmay find an article I wrote about thepresentation to RCH for their Old SlugPorter. When RCH first started brewingback in the early 1980s (then based at theRoyal Clarence Hotel in Burnham-on-Sea)it has to be said that they did sometimesserve up, in my opinion, some relativelyawful stuff. I have an early RCH beer mat athome, advertising Clarence Pride on it. Ihave to say, Paul and Graham, that I thinkone of the best things you ever did was tocease production of that. However, I amnow a staunch supporter of all their beers,though East Street Cream does come intothat class of beers that I was describingabove – it does seem to vary a lot. I prefermy beers hoppy, which is probably why Ilike Double Header, PG Steam andFirebox so much more than the darkerbeers. But there are exceptions. Were youlucky enough, dear reader, to imbibe someof the Santa Fé around Christmas and theNew Year? Let me just say that, if you wantan early night, just have five pints of SantaFé and you’ll sleep like a baby!I am looking forward to my two weekholiday in Malta. Ifyou’ve been thereyou will no doubtknow of the HopleafBeer, occasionally tobe found on draught.It is an IPA, originallybrewed by abrewer from Kentfor the Brits stationedthere. Nowthey have a mildbeer, which was juststarting to appearwhen I was theretwo years ago.I don’t thinkthere is a Real AleGuide to Malta – Imay have to writeone. Will two weeksbe long enough, Iwonder?Robin E WildWsM DiaryNon-members welcome at allevents unless otherwisestated.Wednesday 17 March – WhiteHart, Palmer Row. 8.30pm.Social including optional game ofskittles.Wednesday 21 April – YattonCrawl. 19.27 train from WSM,19.30 Milton, 19.35 Worle. Trainback at 22.56. We will be visitingThe Railway, Market Inn, PrinceOf Orange and The Butcher’sArms.Wednesday 19 May – Off TheRails. 8.30pm.ContactTim Nickolls - 01934 628996(evenings)PoetryCornerObserving stuff on shelf and wallWithin pubs strange, both old and new,Dr John faithfully records it allSo report can be published or just told:The small glass bottles on a shelfLabelled medicinal for your health,Along with tankards and cider mugs.On walls are prints of yachts and tugsPosters of matadors and brewsOf ales and stouts and all old news;Paintings of deer and rustic views.Price list, now so out of dateFor drinks dispensed by landlords – lateDeparted from the pub that wasNamed differently from now, becauseThe locals had stopped coming herePerhaps because they served bad beer?No longer is the New Inn newA better name, they think is due,Will bring the locals back, will you –Prefer the old, or does it matter;If the ale is good and a place to natterTo Dr John and friends much fatter.Robin E Wildwww.camrabristol.org.uk15

Pints WestonThe Ale Ages of Axbridge (part 2)PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Last time, we looked at one side ofthe Square in Axbridge, includingthe present Lamb. Now for theother parts of the town....The Rest of the SquareOn the eastern side of the Square with aGeorgian façade is the 1970s Oak HouseHotel, on a medieval site. This had theoriginal 14-15 th Century Market Cross infront until 1756/7 and then a new MarketHouse until 1829. From 1830, the groundfloor of the Town Hall fulfilled the samefunction out of the driving rain for a villagethat had 819 inhabitants in 1801 and for thesurrounding area. Although the position ofale taster had long since become obsolete,two were still being appointed in 1835.Interested readers may wish to enquireconcerning any current vacancies.The 17 th Century Bear Inn, where thereis no evidence they held balls, on the southside of the Square was one door to the eastof the 1830 Town Hall site until 1828. It wasthen moved, possibly lock, stock and barrel,to two doors east of the present MoorlandStreet for about another 100 years. One ofAxbridge’s more elusive hostelries is theFleur de Lis Inn, to which there is a passing1656 reference. As the Fleur de Lis indicatesthe sixth son, he probably kept quiet about it.Not half as quiet as the seventh, though. Heis Rose.Going WestIn the mid-18 th Century, the ThreeCuppes Ale House was to the west of thepresent Corner House on the edge of theSquare. Further out of town, the Woolpackwas the present-day 22 High Street andserved fine ales in this medieval wool townfrom the 17 th Century to 1880. In the 18 thCentury, wool and cloth were still animportant economic base for the town. Bythe early 19 th Century, Axbridge was afarming area but popular sheep sales werestill taking place in 1820. How they got ridof the unpopular sheep is not known.Opposite the Woolpack, on the presentManor House site, was the 17 th CenturyStagges Head.The Grade 2 listed 1606 Red Lion, nowin an early 19 th Century building on amedieval site at the top end of the presentHigh Street, was a coaching inn. The nameof the team is not recorded. It closed as theAxbridge Lion in 1995 and is now theMaclay family residence. A previous ownerkept vintage cars there. I suppose he built avintage port for them. The Red Lion was a16common pub name originating from the1603 arrival of James VI of Scotland asJames I of England. He stopped using the“v” so as not to offend the English. Hedecreed that the heraldic red lion of Scotlandbe displayed on all important public buildings.As now, pubs were the most importantof all. 20 th Century photographs shown asplendid wooden lion standing guard aloft.Pity no one stood guard on the lion, as itswhereabouts are currently unknown. Therewere sheep and other livestock farms on theLion site and the present building has aVictorian extension to the rear. It must havebeen a bustling business.Around TownThe Lion marked the end of medievalAxbridge as Compton Bishop, of whichmore in a future article, starts across Horn’sLane by its side. This old way out to thenorth was blocked first by the 1869-1963Strawberry Line railway and then the 1969bypass. It was easier going south anyway asit is downhill. At the other end of town, theCrown pub is on a late 15 th Century site. Inmedieval times, Cheddar started at thepresent Station Road and the big cheesesprobably lived at this end of the town.One lost tradition (thank you kindly HSAand goodnight) is a pram race that startedwith suitable refreshment at the Lamb, wentin first gear up to the Lion for another one,went much more quickly back down to theCrown ditto and finished up where it started.This may possibly have been the origin ofthe term “round” in drinking circles.Until the 19 th Century, Axbridge was thePamplona of Somerset. The bull for GuyFawkes bull-baiting set off from the MarketPlace, with the crowd wisely chasing it,rather than preceding it. It went up thepresent High Street and West Street,towards the Bristol coaching road. There itwas eaten, possibly in the grounds of apublic school. Such events were the origin ofpresent-day property owners boarding uptheir premises for the passage of footballsupporters along town streets. Another localpastime, referred to in 1823, was horseracing. I would imagine the horses alwayswon.www.camrabristol.org.ukGoing further back in time, there weremedieval markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays.Four seasonal fairs were held inAxbridge. These were on 2/3 February,Candlemas/St. Blaize, patron of woolcombers; 25 March, a 1557 fair on LadyDay, when the labour market used to beheld; 11 June, a 1279 fair of St. Barnabas;and 28 October, SS Simon and Jude,replaced by an annual blackberry fair andcarnival now held in September. As inBristol, in 1627 one paid on the nail so thatpayment was visible. Axbridge’s nail is farmore impressive with its massive stone base.At one stage, local trade tokens were legaltender and, back in the 10 th and 11 th Centuries,the town had had its own mint. With somany lambs around, that was probably verynecessary. The mint contributed to theDanegeld used to buy off the Danish raidersfrom 991 to 1012. No one told the peoplethat the Danes had stopped chargingprotection and the money was then quietlydiverted to the army and navy. Not thatWilliam the Conqueror took any notice.Axbridge now has two Bank Houses,without even having a bank. That is possiblybecause it no longer has a river.Getting back to BeerJohn Elliott was a common brewer inAxbridge around 1794, although some saidhe was really quite refined. In 1801, homebrewing still accounted for half the totalsupplies. In the 1840s and 50s, CharlesFowler was brewing in the present HighStreet on the western side of the old butcher’sshop of whose entrance none less thanJohn Betjeman waxed lyrical. In 1841,William Wear had also been brewing on thesouth side of the Square, possibly in theitinerant Bear Inn. All this despite the threatof Sunday morning closing, the banning ofbilliards for the rest of that day and agrowing temperance movement.After 1869, the Strawberry Line probablyfinished local brewing as a growingnumber of common brewers could provide acheaper superior product. In 1840, therewere more than 50,000 breweries nationwide,by 1880 only half that number and by1900 only about 3,000. Common brewerswent from producing nearly 60 per cent ofsupplies in 1861 to nearly 90 per cent in1880. The beerhouse-brewer was almostextinct by the end of the 19 th Century.Georges & Co. were proud to be deliveringto Axbridge in 1921, when a gallon of beercost 2½p, as compared to 6p in 1901, 5p in1871 and three farthings or 0.3p in 1276.Georges & Co. bottled for J. Tanser & Co.Well, that just about covers Axbridge.Next time, perhaps we could take a look atanother bit of old Somerset.Dr John

PINTS......................................................................................................................................................Pints WestonWESTRCH presentation at the Cooper’s Arms,HighbridgeON Saturday 24 th of January this year I tookthe train from Weston-super-Mare to theCooper’s Arms at Highbridge in Somerset.I’d heard that the brewers of RCH,Graham Dunbavan and Paul Davey, were tobe presented with the certification for theirOld Slug Porter which gained a trophy at theSIBA Maltings Beer Festival at NewtonAbbot last year.It was also a chance to taste many of theRCH beers that we don’t see very often.These included Firefork, a blend of myfavourite real ale, Pitchfork, with Firebox. Ialso heard tell of other wonderful blends likeSanta Fé and Double Header – that, unfortunately,was not on that day.I started the day with a half pint ofFirefork, followed by a half of Pitchfork.Then a drop of Cooper’s at a mere 80p a halfpint, followed by a pint of Old Slug Porter.Luckily I had this when the presentation tookplace to Graham and Paul after muchdeliberation as to what advert they weregoing to stand in front of.Speeches and photocalls followed butsoon it was back to the serious business ofdrinking, sampling the buffet, and pleasantconversation.Graham Dunbavan (left) and Paul Davey (centre)receiving their award from George HemmingsFifth annual seasonal ales crawlOUR annual crawl around town pubs insearch of Christmas/Winter beers is alwaysone of the most popular events in the localCAMRA calendar and this year was noexception. Our numbers were boosted forthe evening by two new members and theappearance of Tom Newman, head of thenewly-launched Newman’s Brewery.As ever, the starting point was TheRegency, which can be depended upon toput on a good Christmas beer. This year itwas Robin’s Revenge from Gale’s breweryof Horndean, Hampshire and was in verygood condition. After a natter with Tomabout the latest developments with the newbrewery, we headed for The London Inn,where his Wolvers Ale seems to have takenup permanent residency. Not a “seasonal”beer, but quite a few people had still notsampled our new local brew, so it seemed agood idea to have some straight from thebarrel.Unfortunately, only the first three of usmanaged to get a pint of it before it went off(my customary nippiness in getting to theI had a final slug of Slug before it wastime to cross the car park to the train station.On my return I have to admit to popping intoOff The Rails for a half of RCH Hewish IPAbar bore fruit once again) and there was noother real ale on. Result: Wolvers Alebrewer resorting to a half of lager and thepub losing the sale of 14 pints as theremainder of our group left and headed forthe next pub.Better news up at The White Hart,where the gorgeous Christmas Cracker fromWickwar was on offer. This is a lovelyspiced beer (possibly containing nutmeg orcinnamon?) and I was forced to depart frommy game-plan of having just a solitary pintat each pub.It is hard to leave The White Hart on acold winter’s night when they have a goodbeer on, but The Dragon Inn was beckoning.We were delighted to see a very goodrange of beers on offer, as we have come toexpect at The Dragon. In addition to thesolid core of regular beers, we were able tochoose from more Wickwar ChristmasCracker, Exmoor Exmas Ale and Hop BackWinter Lightning.Pick of the beers for me was probablyNorman’s Conquest from Cottage brewery.www.camrabristol.org.ukbefore my return home. This was the firsttime I’d been to the Cooper’s and not seenany expensive nor strong beers, and yet thechoice was perfect.Robin E WildStrictly speaking the ex Champion Beer OfBritain is not a seasonal beer, but this darkbeers’s strength (7 per cent ABV) andfruitiness make it ideal fayre for a coldwinter’s evening. In The Dragon we alsopicked up a few extra CAMRA memberswho joined us for the remainder of theevening.Again, hard to leave the pub, but wecould not conclude the evening without avisit to one of our favourite watering holes –Off The Rails. Here was another nicesurprise in the guise of Yo Ho Ho, a 6 percent ABV beer from the mighty BranscombeVale brewery – a cracker of a beer, supportedby Mutley’s Dark, a really good, tastymild from the Spinning Dog brewery ofHereford.An excellent evening enjoyed by all, witha great choice of beers across the venuesvisited. Our thanks to the landlords whotake the trouble to brighten up their offeringsat Christmas by trying something a bitdifferent.Roll on 15 December, 2004!Tim Nickolls17

PINTS WESTIsland in the Sea......................................................................................................................................................Island in the seaByyour Nailsea correspondentLaurie GibneyUSE PUBS OR LOOSE PUBS! That isthe clear message from a number of publicansin Nailsea and District, half of whichhad licences for sale recently. Reducedgallonage and spiralling costs are the mainreasons for concern, but the added costs ofthe Licensing Act 2003 will not help.The Sawyers Arms, which recently sawSharp’s Cornish Coaster (3.6%) as a guest,has been in the capable care of Ron Petersfor many years. Ron is Chairman of BristolLicensed Victuallers Association, sits on theboard of the Licensed Victuallers TradingAssociation (West) as well as the committeeof the British Institute of Innkeepers WessexRegion, and over the past seven years hasbeen involved in consultation on the LicensingAct 2003. The Act transfers responsibilityfor alcohol licenses from magistrates tothe local authorities, and consolidates themwith entertainment and other licences. Smallpubs would previously have paid £30 for athree-year license, but from next year thecost over three years could be as much as£200.The Blue Flame at West End, nearNailsea is under threat of possible closure.It relies heavilly on real ale enthusiasts fromoutside the hamlet of West End to keep itgoing. Regretably, it did not quite manageto get into the CAMRA Good Beer Guide2004 following the reduction in availablespace. Landlord, Mick Davidson informsme there had been no change in beer quality,and I would agree. So don’t let its omissionfrom the Guide deter you from visiting! Thepartnership between Sue and Mick Davidsonis being dissolved and the property is worthfour times more if sold as a private houserather than as a pub. If Mike’s plans forexpansion of the pub do not succeed, thisrustic gem of a pub may be lost, so please,use it or loose it!Welcome to Paul Cheesley and HughDash, the new landlords of the Star Inn atTickenham. Paul is an ex Bristol CityFootball Club player and Hugh has previouslybeen landlord of the Good Intent andBroomhill at Broomhill, Brislington,Bristol. Hugh tells me that they are joiningthe Unique Pub Company’s Cask Ale Clubto enable them to widen the choice of realales. Bass, Courage Best, and Old SpeckledHen are likely to remain, while Wickwar alesand a rotating guest ale may occupy theother two pumps. The displaced Marston’sPedigree and Smiles Best may appear asguest ales.18Sad to hear that Bert Palmer, ex landlordof the White Lion at Nailsea and the BellInn at Congresbury, passed away suddenlyon November 27 th aged 86. He enjoyedplaying in a crib team at the MizzymeadSocial Club every week until his death. Bertwas President of both the Yatton & DistrictSkittles and Darts Leagues and a leadinglight in the local Licensed VictuallersAssociation. Also, sad to hear that RichardKefford, the present landlord of the WhiteLion, may be moving on. He has been therefor thirteen years and as manager for the pasteight years. The licensee is selling theremainder of his license period to moveoverseas. The White Lion dispenses CourageBest and Butcombe Bitter in goodcondition, is a small Unique Pub Companylocal pub and is unique in retaining it’s OffSales Counter as well as two bars and a beergarden.Bernadette O’Reilly, licensee of theMoorend Spout – where I recently enjoyeda pint of their guest ale, St. Austell Tribute(4.2%) – denied a rumour that her licensewas being terminated. On the back of thewhole Innspired Pub Group being “offered”for sale, a local consortia had put in an“unsuccessful” bid to purchase the pub fromInnspired. Thankfully, Bernadette will be atthe Moorend Spout for some time to come.The Friendship, a Pubmaster pub withno real ale in January 2004 and the RoyalOak are believed to be changing licensees.The Courtyard Wine Bar has changedsupplier from Wolverhampton & Dudley toInterbrew. Their only real ale, Marston’sPedigree, has been retained, the white wheatbeer Hoegaarden, at £3 per pint, has beenadded to the line up, and John Smith’s keghas been replaced by Flowers IPA keg.The management of the MizzymeadSocial Club has changed. Richard Colesmoved on to new pastures in Portishead atthe end of 2003 and the new manager isJackie Thursby who previously managed theHand Stadium near Clevedon.Tony Fey, landlord of the Old Barn atWraxall, has had a fraught year fightingboundary battles with the adjacent hotelier,but Tony assures CAMRA that it is businessas usual at the the Old Barn and he looksforward to welcoming members there. The“Tickenham Farm Brewery” project is onhold due to other priorities.Pints West is now available from theBattleaxes at Wraxall, the Jubilee Inn atFlax Bourton, the George Inn at Backwelland the Backwell Village Club. Thewww.camrabristol.org.ukBattleaxes is primarily a carvery andrestaurant but dispensing Bass and SmilesBest. The Jubilee Inn dispenses Bass,Courage Best and a guest ale, which wasFuller’s London Pride at the time of my lastvisit. New landlords, Keith and EileenSalter, hope to improve on the range of realale. They ran a Good Beer Guide listed pub“Up North” previously. Andrew andMargaret Beardshaw at the George Inndispense Bass, Butcombe Bitter, UshersBest and a guest ale, which wasWychwood’s Hobgoblin on a recent visit.Both the Jubilee Inn and the George Inn areon the A370 Bristol to Weston-super-Mareroad and offer extensive food menus. TheBackwell Village Club is a members-onlyclub and offers a guest ale.A visit to Scotland...On a recent visit to Scotland I found afair selection of real ales, including a goodnumber of low-bitterness ales.At Leith (home of the Royal YachtBrittania) the Old Dock Inn had seven realales including Caledonian 80/-, CotleighTawny Bitter from Somerset, Major Bitterfrom the Riverside Brewery in Wainfleet,Ind Coope Burton Ale, Moorhouses PremiumDraft Bitter from Burnley, Skinner’sBetty Stoggs Bitter from Cornwall, andYoung’s Bitter from Wandsworth; theWaterfront Wine Bar had two real ales;and the Malt and Hops had six.In Edinburgh, the Guildford Arms hadten real ales including Orkney Dark Island,which I particularly enjoy, and the CaféRoyal had four.At Newhaven the Starbank Innsupplied an excellent meal, good service andof their eight real ales, the Belhaven SandyHunters Traditional Ale was very memorable.Falkirk’s Wheatsheaf (behind Woolworth’s)is a gem of a pub where the barservery takes up half the floor space and thefriendly landlord fetches a ladder to providespecial single malts from the top shelf. Realales on offer were Caledonian DeucharsIPA, Charles Wells Bombardier, andHarvestoun Bitter & Twisted. Also atFalkirk, a young person pub the Behind theWalls had Harvestoun Bitter & Twisted,Harvestoun Old Engine Oil, and five otherreal ales. The Forth & Clyde Canal sideUnion Inn had Harvestoun Bitter & Twistedand despite real ale signs outside the CanalInn had no real ale. Wetherspoon’s KirkyPuffers at Kirkintillouch, where our canalcruise made a lunch stop, provided Caledo-

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................nian Deuchars IPA, Caledonian 80/-,Harvestoun Bitter & Twisted, HarvestounSchiehallian Real Cask Lager, as well as theusual offerings of Courage Directors andShepherd Neame Spitfire.The Blackfriars in Bell Street, Glasgowhad an interesting selection of real alesincluding Atlas Zephyr Mild, HoustonPeter’s Well, Kelburn Carte Blanche, TetleyBitter and also Hoegaarden, Leffe Blondeand Bruin on draught. Also in Glasgow theStation Bar to the North of the centre inPort Dundas Road fielded Atlas ThreeSisters from Suffolk, Nethergate Best Bitterand Caledonian Deuchars IPA. Wetherspoon’sCounting House in Glasgow’scentral George’s Square provided CaledonianDeuchars IPA, 80/- and GoldenPromise, as well as the usual offerings ofCourage Directors and Theakston’s Best.Back to Bristol...I thought I would look into the GoldenGuinea in Guinea Street off Redcliffe Hill,and was pleased to find Bass and a beerfrom the Moles Brewery of Melksham werethe regular real ale offerings. The nearbyPortwall Tavern opposite St. MaryRedcliffe Church usually offers four goodreal ales now and their guest recently wasMauldon’s Suffolk Pride at 4.8%.Island in the SeaAnd off to Australia...Dressed in barman’s apron and bow tie,I was a surprise guest at my sister’s surpriseseventieth birthday celebrations inGeraldton, Western Australia, where duringa brief stay I was able to sample a few beers– not cask conditioned I fear, but a recentupsurge of interest has seen the creation of anumber of micro-breweries in WA. One ofthese, Little Creatures at the fisherman’squay Fremantle (see their web page atwww.littlecreatures.com.au) brews adelightfully full bodied and distinctivetasting Pale Ale at 5.2%, my favourite ale ofthe trip, plus Rogers Beer 3.8% and aPilsner Lager. Instead of waiting at PerthAirport for connecting flights I spent a verypleasant couple of hours with my nephewand his sons at Little Creatures on the wayhome. My second favourite of the trip wasToohey’s Old Black Ale at 4.9% with a verypleasant slightly caramel taste, closelyfollowed by Cooper’s bottle-conditionedBest Extra Stout, 6.3%, brewed in SouthAustralia.As the temperatures varied between20°C at night and 40°C during the day,chilled beers were the norm. Hahn PremiumLight Lager at a mere 2.7%, brewed by LionNathan in Sydney, was surprisingly tasty fora low alcohol brew, but the staple diet ofWestern Australia, Swan Draught, CarltonDraught, Emu Bitter, and VB Bitter, hardlytouched the sides early in the evening in atypical Aussie bar during skimpy hour!Other ales enjoyed included Red BackOriginal Wheat Beer at 4.7% from MatildaBay Brewing of Fremantle, James SquiresOriginal (5%), an amber ale with a nuttyfinish, Strongarm Bitter (5%) brewed by J.Boag & Son of Tasmania (seewww.boags.com.au) and TasmanianCascade Premium Lager (5.2%) with theextinct Tasmanian Tiger on its label andembossed on the bottles. TasmanianBrewery dates from 1824 and is Australia’soldest Brewery. As a nightcap, Swan’s rich,creamy, full bodied Stout at 7.4% wentdown well. I reserve judgement onCarlton’s Beez Neez, which was a verysweet honey wheat beer.And finally...I am collecting names of people inNailsea and District who would like toattend beer festivals or visit a few interestingpubs “as a group” by minibus, bus, train orshared cars, to avoid drinking and driving.You may contact me on 01275 798479 or byemailing laurie@lgibney.freeserve.co.uk.Laurie GibneyTHE WINDMILL INNPORTISHEAD ~ GENUINE FREEHOUSE6Real Ales in excellent conditionincluding Courage Best, Bass,Butcombe Gold, RCH Pitchforkand 2 other guest ales.In fact if you are not completely satisfied withthe quality of the beer served, we will exchangeit immediately 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.To sample perfectly kept Butcombe Bitter andButcombe Gold, plus numerous Guest Beers,why not visit a Butcombe Pub…THE BELLHillgrove StBristol01179 096612RING O’BELLSCompton Martin(A368 between Blagdon& West Harptree)01761 221284THE LAMBThe SquareAxbridgeOLD CROWNKelstonNr Bath01225 423032THE SWANRowberrow(Off A38 southof Churchill)01934 852371THE RED TILECossingtonNr Bridgwater01278 722333GREAT BEER / GREAT FOOD / GREAT WINE / GREAT COMPANYBUTCOMBE BREWERY…01275 472240www.butcombe.comPRIDE IN EVERYTHING WE BREWwww.camrabristol.org.uk19

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................READERS’ LETTERSReaders are welcome to sendletters to Pints West Editor,Steve Plumridge,Garden Flat, 6 Royal York Villas,Clifton, Bristol BS8 4JR(steve.plumridge@bristol.ac.uk)Pints Where?Dear Sir,Given that Pints West is the organ ofBristol & District Branch CAMRA, cananyone please explain how the hell everyissue is readily available up here in Edinburgh,South-East Scotland?Even the fact that I pick it up in a pubcalled The Guildford Arms doen’t explainthat one.Great magazine folks. Keep up the goodwork.Cheers,Les Thomson.(by email)There’s two possible ways they got there.One of our branch members has a matewho moved up to Edinburgh a few yearsback, and he sends him up a few in hiscompany’s internal post each issue. Also,another has said: “Virgin Train drivers goall over the country and my driver friend inDerby/Lincoln takes 30 copies and givesthem to many other drivers so it could behim.” Ed.Do Your Level BestDear Sir,I don’t think that the Bristol area is doingenough for disabled customers who want toeat and/or drink locally. The UK-widewebsite www.yourlevelbest.com, whichlists several thousand accessible establishments,shows how patchy the local provisionis.You have a reasonable choice in centralBristol, but only one in Chew Stoke and onein Clifton.To qualify for free inclusion onwww.yourlevelbest.com, places must have awheelchair-accessible doorway plus adisabled toilet. Simple.I’m not interested in rating food or drinkby range, price or quality – as a wheelchairuser,I just want to get inside.Surely Bristol can do better than this?I need help from local customers,restaurateurs and landlords. Phone 0208255 4329 or email info@yourlevelbest.com,or contact me through the website.As yourlevelbest is a large (3,000-pluslistings) and high-profile website which hasbeen featured in The Guardian and GoodHousekeeping, it will be possible to producea “league table” of UK-wide accessiblepubs/restaurants region by region and I wantthe area to be fairly represented.Mary Dixon,London.Mark Steeds, landlord of the Beaufort Armsin Hawkesbury Upton, points out that hehas registered his pub with Mary Dixon’swebsite. How about yours? Ed.Crawls and TrailsDear SteveI read John Macrae’s letter in the lastPints West with interest because it iscoincident with the “Eight-Pub Crawls”, or“Ale-Trails” as I prefer to call them, that Iand a couple of colleagues from work havebeen organising for the past two and a halfyears.We select eight pubs in a geographicsequence to end somewhere near the citycentre (to assist the crawlers to arrange toget home). The pubs are selected firstly forquality of real ale and secondly for anyhistoric or other interesting features. Wepursue a trail every four months or so wherebetween ten and twenty-six people (yes, wework for a large organisation!) follow a stricttimetable of 45 minutes in each pub (so anylatecomers know where they can find us).Typically the choice extends to about 20real ales over the evening.So far we have trailed Hotwells & docks;St. Michael’s Hill; city centre; Clifton;Bedminster & Southville; Old Market; andoutside of Bristol we have trailed Bath (sixpubs) and Chipping Sodbury (seven pubs).The eight pubs in Westbury-on-Trym, asmentioned by John, are planned for the firsthalf of 2004, and other future events includeFrampton Cotterell/Coalpit Heath (my hometown), Gloucester Road and Blackboy Hill/Clifton.If anyone would like any of the Ale-Trailroutes then I shall be pleased to pass themon. My contact details are: 117 Roundways,Coalpit Heath, South Glos, BS36 2LU, or bye-mail, mike@jackson5554.fsnet.co.uk.Regards,Mike Jackson.Shut UpSteve,Can you help? I am trying to find out thename of a pub that has been shut andboarded up for about 15 years. It is situatedon the corner of Days Road and KingslandRoad. If you or your fellow drinkers orreaders can throw any light on this mattercan you please contact me by email atnickkaterichards@btinternet.com ?Many thanks,Nick Richards.Free PlugDear Steve,The Crown in Soundwell Road, StapleHill has recently re-opened after manymonths closure. It has been completelyrefurbished and is now clean and fresh,somewhat larger, and will be a safe, friendlycommunity boozer.There is a digital jukebox, pool table,dart board, table football and traditionalgames available.Currently we are serving House Bitter(3.7%) at £1.60 a pint, BOB from Wickwarat £2.20 a pint, and Exmoor Gold at £2.20 apint.I have run, and still do with the help ofmanager Julie Bundy, the Old Stillage inRedfield which was the first pub in Bristol toachieve the Cask Marque Accreditation.A mention in Pints West to help us onour way would be appreciated.Yours sincerely,Tony Williams.Consider it done. Ed.Sign of the TimesDear Steve,The English pub sign is in danger!I see badly thought out, computergenerated images encased in sheets of inchthick plastic – all the rage, apparently, if thelarge breweries are to be believed...I see dreadful images of cartoon-like,drunken Irish(?) hobos and cross-eyed,bright yellow ducks, downloaded from clipart web sites, done to death with garishcolours, reversed (to avoid copyright laws),and alco-popped into the 21st century designschool of the dull!...I see traditional, historically importantEnglish pubs being treated to a “ChangingRooms” smaltzy colour scheme – a doomeddog dead Tuscan visual nightmare!...A case in point is one sign I’ve seenrecently outside probably Bristol’s mosthistorically important waterside pub. A fewhundred years ago, Daniel Defoe was sat inthis particular pub having a pint, when heheard an old salty sea dog tell a story about aship wreck. Defoe would eventually turnthis tale into the novel Robinson Crusoe.And how do we celebrate this historicBristolian story? Well, let’s just say, go and20www.camrabristol.org.uk

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................take a look for yourselves – I’d be interestedto hear your opinions!There are some very good pub signs inBristol and Bath, however – pubs where thelandlord/lady actually gives a damn aboutthe first visual point of contact between theirbusiness and its customers. It’s worked forthousands of years before, and they see noreason to change.Hanging signs themselves are generallybelieved to have been brought over by theRoman Legions, the Roman sign for tavernbeing a bush of vine leaves tied togetherabove a doorway. This idea would changeover the years, such as when someone whobrewed their own beer realised that they hada surplus which they could sell – a largepiece of bush was strung up on a poleoutside a home to let others know what wason offer. Hence the pub name “The Bush”.At a time when very few people wereliterate, the sign was the only way to showpeople what trade you practiced. And itwasn’t only innkeepers who used signs,everyone was at it. Signs became larger andmore elaborate, some stretching acrosswhole streets, and it wasn’t until after theGreat Fire of London when Charles II madenew laws stating that signs should only befixed to the walls of buildings. This soundedquite a good idea at the time, until on a wetJanuary morning in 1712 one fell down inFleet Street. It fell down pulling the front ofthe building with it, taking most of next dooralong the way and deciding the buildingopposite needed demolishing as well, thispub sign killed 40 people!The pub sign often has many differentmeanings hidden within it. The pub “TheBear”, for instance, was so called because ofthe vicious bear-baiting that often took placewithin the pub’s yard (probably where thebouncy castle is today). This eventuallychanged when other pubs saw the fashionfor bear-baiting change into a penchant forthe finer points of bull-baiting ... and thenRCH BreweryWest HewishNr Weston-super-MareTel: 01934-834447Brewers of award-wining beers including" P.G. Steam" Pitchfork" East Street Cream" FireboxGuest Beers and Beer Festivals catered forwhen all the town’s pit bull terriers wereknackered, and had lost their taste for blood,other, more sensitive customer-focused innkeepers would touch upon their morefeminine side by introducing the subtle art ofthe brutal cock fight into the snug. Ah, thosewere the days!The phrase “a cock and bull story”actually comes from two pubs, “The Cock”and “The Bull”, two old coaching inns whowere in competition with each other fortrade.The pub called “The White Hart” hasorigins stretching back even further, toAlexander The Great, who is supposed tohave caught a pure white stag and placed agold collar around its neck.“The New Inn” is still a popular namefor a pub, but dates back to when the churchencouraged pilgrimages; originally run bypriests who had to set up inns to house andfeed the pilgrims on their travels. And whenthese inns became overcrowded, the priestshad to set up a new inn.“The Rising Sun” probably dates back towhen Edward III broke with tradition andhad a rising sun on his coat of arms ratherthan the lion which was used by most kingsof England. Later, when Edward grabbedthe throne of France, he added the Fleur DeLys onto his coat of arms, which is also seentoday on pub signs.“The Royal Oak”, a hugely popularname for a pub, was so called becauseCharles II once hid in an oak tree to escapethe parliamentary army at Boscobel.One sign that I recently tried but failed toget, was the Cornubia in Bristol, a great littlepub with a name that deserved someresearch. The Cornubia is the name of aship which sailed from Cardiff, and sank offthe coast of Spain killing all on board; butCornubia is actually the Latinised name forCornwall, and with Cornwall’s links toBrittany in France, and Bristol’s maritimehistory with both places, I really wanted thatpub sign.Anyway, withevery neon, flashing,American diner signblasting out its “Buyme! Buy me!”message, it’s greatto think that there arestill some pubs thatstill prefer handpaintedsigns, byindividual, professionalartists, andgreat breweries likeBath Ales who alsounderstand itsimportance.You can seesome of my work atThe Old Duke inKing Street, Bristol,Ye Shakespeare inVictoria Street, TheHare On The Hill inKingsdown, TheForesters in Gloucester Road, TheWaldergrave Arms in Chewton Mendip, andThe Sheppy Inn, Godney. I even have someon show on my web site atwww.pubsigndesign.com.Yours,Graeme Robbins.P.S. I’m in the middle of painting a new“Myrtle Tree” pub sign on top of the ‘old’“Aunties” pub sign which I bought off abloke in a flea market in Bath, who insistedhe was related to Lord Byron!Uninnspired?Reference: “Chain Of Pubs On Sale For£350m” – Evening Post 17/02/04.Dear Sir,With reference to the above article, I forone will let out a huge cheer when Innspiredare no more. Having fought them for someform of basic justice for the past four years, Ihope the directors of that company suffer thesame horrors that they visited on many oftheir tenants.In August 2002 my family were forcedonto the street by their bailiffs, and given atotal of less than 24 hours to remove ourbelongings or lose them.Our youngest daughter was a year oldand we had nowhere to go. I spent threehours in the shop next door to our pub,(while Innspired picked over the bones ofour business, changed the locks and boardedup the windows), trying to make arrangementsfor my family’s immediate future.I know I am not alone when I relate thistale. Throughout our time in the pub wewatched other decent folk go to the wall in asimilar manner.The problem has always been that aslicensees of these pub companies, you haveno protection under the Housing Acts or theLandlords and Tenants Acts. These wereboth ‘beefed-up’ in the seventies andeighties to curb the excesses of unscrupulouslandlords. What many pub tenants failto realise is that Parliament, through thepowerful ‘Beer Committee’ sought, (andsucceeded) to ‘protect’ the pub companiesfrom the improved provisions offered by theamendments.A pub company can still resort toVictorian legislation to evict a tenant withoutthe need for police or court intervention! Thepoor tenant has no protection in the amendedacts!I have written on this subject before andwill continue to strive for a better deal forour pub tenants. Good riddance toInnSpired, its Directors and BusinessDevelopment Managers. I shall await withinterest their reincarnation under anotherbanner and pray that they may never be ableto visit their unjust practices on future,unsuspecting licensees.Yours sincerely,R. Barnes,Weston-super-Mare.www.camrabristol.org.uk21

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Not content withclosing just theCourage BristolBrewery...CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, hascriticised plans by Scottish & Newcastle,Britain’s biggest brewing group, to close theFountainbridge Brewery in Edinburghending 255 years of brewing tradition inScotland.CAMRA voiced its concerns over thefuture of real ale brands such as McEwan’s80/- which will now be brewed at CaledonianBrewery as part of a deal which createsa new ‘Caledonian Brewing Company’.John Holland, a Director of CAMRA,said, “This is a complicated deal and it’sdifficult to see through all the likely implicationsfor consumer choice and the beermarket generally, but we are certainlyconcerned for the future of the one remainingMcEwan’s real ale, 80/- which will nowbe brewed by Caledonian. We can see thepotential benefits for the distribution of theexisting Caledonian beers, such as DeucharsIPA in the off-trade, but will the real aleversion of McEwan’s get the same highlevels of marketing support or will it be leftto whither and eventually be axed?“S&N have a history of broken promisesand brewery closures including the MatthewBrown Brewery in Blackburn, which S&Nonce declared to be ‘sacrosanct’ but went onto close nevertheless. We also saw theclosure of the famous Courage Brewery inBristol only a few years ago. So what’s nextfor the UK beer industry? It seems ourbrewing heritage is being slowly eroded asthe industry becomes ever more focused onthe global market.“I wish the management at the CaledonianBrewing Company the best of luck withthe deal. CAMRA has a good relationshipwith them and we have seen them takeCaledonian from strength to strength sinceDeuchars IPA won Champion Beer ofBritain in 2002. We’ve called for a meetingwith the bosses at S&N, so we can judgeproperly what the outcome of this deal willmean for Britain’s 15 million beer drinkers.”CAMRAseeks toboostlobbyingpowerTHE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE hasapplied for special consumer group statusthat would allow it to fast-track complaintsto the Department of Trade and Industry.The Enterprise Act gives designatedgroups such as the Consumers’ Associationincreased powers to lobby the governmentwhen they believe the public interest is underthreat.“We believe we will be able to lobby farmore effectively on key issues if we havethis special status,” said Mike Benner, headof campaigns and communication forCAMRA.CAMRA currently supports the Societyof Independent Brewers’ (SIBA) campaign,“Access to Market”, which aims topersuade the major pub estates to routinelystock at least one beer from a smallerbrewer.CAMRA has also launched its owninitiative, called “Local Beer for LocalPubs”, which aims to get at least one locallybrewed beer into pubs which stock cask ale.BELGIAN BEER SPECIALISTSWe also offer a great range of beers fromGermany, the UK and around the World,plus glasses and mixed cases.Just a click away!www.euro-beer.co.uktel: 01942 870 451The Bag O’Nails141 St. George’s Road, Hotwells,Bristol BS1 5UW Tel: (0117) 9406776A Real Ale PubBristol & District CAMRAPub Of The Year 2000At least 12 different real ales a weekImported German wheat beersEnglish bottle-conditioned beersUnpasteurised imported bottled lagersWeb : www.bagonails.org.ukEmail : pub@bagonails.org.uk22www.camrabristol.org.uk

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Moor Beer is BestOLD FREDDY WALKER from MoorBeer Company, Bridgwater, Somerset wasnamed as the Supreme Champion WinterBeer of Britain 2004 by a panel of judgesat CAMRA’s National Winter AlesFestival held at the end of January.Old Freddy Walker is a 7.3 per centABV Barley Wine and described in the2004 edition of the Good Beer Guide as a“rich, dark, strong ale with a fruitycomplex taste, leaving a fruitcake finish”.At the announcement, Mike Benner,Head of Campaigns, congratulated theMoor Beer Company on their victory. Hesaid, “It’s an incredible achievement foreveryone at Moor. There are manyhundreds of old ales, barley wines, stouts,porters and other winter beer styles so thecompetition is always stiff.”On hearing the news, ArthurFrampton, owner of the Moor BeerCompany, said, “I am overjoyed. It’s agreat result and a reward for all the hardwork we have put in at the brewery.”Old Freddy Walker is named after anelderly real ale lover in the village ofAshcott, near Bridgwater where thebrewery is based.The silver prize went to Gale’sbrewery, which is based in Hampshire, fortheir superb Festival Mild. Derek Beaves,Head of Marketing at Gale’s, said, “Bothmyself and the brewing team at Gale’s aredelighted to have won the silver prize.Festival is always popular at beer festivalsand flies the flag for real mild beers.”The bronze award went to ShepherdNeame brewery from Kent for theirOriginal Porter.THE BEAR INNFree HouseWiveliscombeTauntonSomerset TA4 2JYTelephone and fax:(01984) 623537Andy and Heather Harvey invite you to sample thelocal ales, the home-made food, and a real local pubatmosphere.We organise specialist ale drinkers’ weekendsincluding visits to Cotleigh and Exmoor breweries, withbed and full English breakfast, provided for £20 perperson per night.Reductions available for group bookings.Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2004Supreme Champion: Moor Old Freddy Walker (Somerset)Siver: Gale’s Festival Mild (Hampshire)Bronze: Shepherd Neame Original Porter (Kent)Category WinnersOld Ales & Strong Milds categoryGold: Gale’s Festival Mild (Hampshire)Silver: Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild (West Midlands)Bronze: Spectrum Old Stoatwobbler (Norfolk)Bronze: Theakston Old Perculier (North Yorkshire)Stouts & Porters categoryGold: Shepherd Neame Original Porter (Kent)Silver: O’Hanlon’s Port Stout (Devon)Bronze: Crouch Vale Anchor Street Porter (Essex)Barley Wines categoryGold: Moor Old Freddy Walker (Somerset)Silver: Robinson’s Old Tom (Cheshire)Bronze: Big Lamp Blackout (Newcastle upon Tyne)Enjoy a Warm Welcomeand a Pleasant AtmosphereThe Annexe InnSeymour Road, Bishopston, BristolTel. 0117 9493931A 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 atmosphereMonday Night is Quiz NightYou can also enjoy various promotionsand special offers during the yearOpen Lunchtimes & EveningsAll day Saturday, Sunday & Bank Holidayswww.camrabristol.org.uk23

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Spingo World CupA LONG cherished ambition of the authorhas been to visit the Blue Anchor brew pubin Helston, Cornwall, which has beenbrewing it’s own beer since the 15 th centuryand is renowned for its strong beers knownas “Spingo”.So it was that on a Friday in November,a group consisting of myself, Vince andMarilyn Murray, and Richard Walters, foundourselves crossing the Tamar with thepurpose of meeting up with a friend, RobWilson, a Yorkshire man temporarily basedin Cornwall, to do a spot of sightseeing and,of course, some pleasant bevvying.After picking up Rob at the at theappropriately bleak Bodmin Parkway stationwe backtracked slightly to visit the renownedBlisland Inn, CAMRA’s NationalPub of the Year in 2000, for lunch. Asplendid range of beers, featured breweriesincluding Skinners, Redruth and Garston,whose Goodnight Vienna, an 8% ABV beerwas only £2.20, washed down the homecooked food and the large iguana in thefamily room was a further attraction.Heading further south, we fitted in a visitto Padstow, spotting Rick Stein’s restaurant,where the prices seemed not unreasonable,and then several of us retired to slake ourthirst in the Golden Lion Inn, which served afine pint of Sharp’s. Movie aficionadoswould be forgiven for being reminded of thecult British movie “The Wicker Man”, as theGolden Lion is the hub of Padstow’sMayday celebrations, including the renowned“’Obby ’Orse”, which is hopefullyless sinister than it’s movie counterpart!With our spirits duly enhanced weheaded for Newquay to visit Skinner’s AleHouse, which serves as the brewery tap forthe Truro based brewery. An oasis of realale that is situated just off the main drag,sadly it was easy to see why the Ale Houseis the only current Good Beer Guide entryfor Newquay, with much of the competitionand the town centre in general beingsomewhat down-market. This is not todetract from a very pleasant pub.Having completed a busy afternoon weheaded to Helston, where we were to stay inthe Blue Anchor’s own B&B, a relativelynew feature two doors away from the pub.The rooms proved to be immaculate, andeach contained a television. This would notnormally be an issue, and indeed Vince hadadmitted to a certain embarrassment whenasking about TV provision (at my insistence)when he booked the rooms! But as the nextday was Saturday, 22 nd November, and asthe Rugby Union World Cup final wastaking place at 9 a.m., I felt on this occasionit was essential!After a visit to a local curry house weretired to the Blue Anchor itself, where threebeers were available, “Jubilee”, a fairly newbrew and the weakest of the beers at 4.6 per24cent ABV, “Middle”, a good traditional midbrownale of 5.1 per cent, and, happily,“Special”, a mighty dark concoction packedwith flavour at 6.7 per cent.We occupied the rear room, which is oneof two served from a single bar. A thirdroom across the corridor is also available. Itwas good to see a wide range of people of allages using the pub, which is in itselfsomething of a local institution. The onlythatched roof building in central Helston, itsits towards the bottom of CoinagehallStreet, which is a main thoroughfare (bewareof the very deep gutters when crossing theroad or parking).As you would expect of a 15 th centurybuilding, the pub is chock full of character,and each flagstone seems to be a differentheight to the next one! The main (front) barfeatures a most interesting list of theunfortunates who were executed in Cornwallin the 19 th century, giving name, date andcrime! The skittle alley at the rear of the pubis now a music venue, a sign over the stageproclaiming “Spingo Rock”. It has theconsiderable benefit of its own bar, whichincludes real ales. It’s far enough from themain area of the pub for the music not to bea distraction to those occupying the bars.After a very pleasant session we retiredto the B&B, content as we had discoveredthat we could watch the Rugby in the pubitself in the morning.After a splendid breakfast we rushedaround to the Blue Anchor in time for thegame, as the appearance of a TV was aninnovation for the pub the attendance wasrelatively small and we were able to procurethe best seats. We started drinking coffee(well it was 9 o’clock in the morning) but aswww.camrabristol.org.ukThe Blue Anchor in Helstonthe tension and excitement mounted weswitched to “Middle”. One of the localsdeclared that he would celebrate eachEngland score with a pint, a promise he kept,although England’s failure to score in thesecond half proved something of a trial tohim and he was forced to switch tacticsrather than go without beer! Naturally, asthe game reached its fantastic conclusion andthe World cup was awarded the celebrationswere considerableOf course when we emerged from theBlue Anchor it was still relatively early sowe headed off to Falmouth, a town new toall of us. I visited the splendid NationalMaritime Museum before catching up withRich and Rob in the Seven Stars, locatedvery near the town square. A splendidlydown-to-earth traditional pub, the SevenStars is listed on the CAMRA NationalInventory of historic pubs and serves Bassand Skinner’s beers straight from the barrel.Rob was bemused when informed by thebarman that no local beers were stocked.When he said that he thought Skinners wason he received the reply, “Skinner’s isn’tlocal – it’s from Truro”!We finished our stop in Falmouth bysampling the splendid local pasties and metup with Vince and Marilyn, who reportedfavourably on the Quayside Inn which wasserving a range of eight real ales. Alsoenjoyed was the Mason’s Arms.Next we headed out to St. Agnes wherewe visited the Driftwood Spars, where wetasted the Cuckoo Ale, which is brewed onthe premises. The drinking area conprisestwo very different rooms – you step from thefront (traditional) bar through a door intowhat is seemingly a totally different building,

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................airy light and modern. The spirit range herewas also, I thought, worth a mention indispatches, being very wide ranging.Next stop was the Star Inn at Crowlas.It was apparent as soon as we walkedthrough the door that this was a quality pub,and we enjoyed several excellent pints,Cain’s Dark Mild and Cotleigh’s OldBuzzard being particularly praiseworthy.Forgoing the pleasure of visiting therestaurant of Chris Old, a member of thevictorious England cricket team of 1981, wehad tea at the pleasant Queens Arms atBreage.So it was back to the Blue Anchor to enda truly memorable day, the party atmospherebeing enhanced by a very passable bandplaying rock classics in the skittle alleywhich saw the rare sight of Messrs. Walters,Cummings and Murray dancing the eveningaway. I will certainly never forget my firstvisit to the Blue Anchor – it’s a pub whereyou need to stay for a while, to chat to thelocals and to soak up the atmosphere, and ofcourse, for the very distinctive beer. I’mlooking forward to my next visit already!Phil CummingsDelight in the Blue Anchor for our party as we celebrateseconds after the final whistleThe thirteenthCHIPPENHAM BEER FESTIVALApril 23 rd and 24 th 2004Studio Hall, Olympiad Leisure Centre, ChippenhamFriday 23 rd : 6 - 11 p.m. (admission £4)Saturday 24 th : 11 a.m. - 3.30 p.m. (admission £3), and7 - 11 p.m. (admission £4)• Over 80 real ales, ciders & perries all served at cellar temperature in an airconditionedhall.• Admission for eve sessions by advanced tickets sale only• Admission includes festival glass and programme• Food and soft drinks available at all sessions.• Only 5 minutes from the train and bus stations• £2 of free beer tokens to CAMRA members per session(even if you join at the festival)• Live music on both evening sessions:Friday evening, SleepwalkersSaturday evening, Bob the ImposterTickets available from:The Olympiad Leisure Centre, Chippenham, orPO Box 2058, Calne, Wilts SN11 8TP (please include an SAE,Cheques made payable to CAMRA North West Wilts)www.camrabristol.org.uk25

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Good Beer Guide 2004CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Alerecently launched the 31st edition of theaward-winning Good Beer Guide.This best-selling guide highlights the top4,500 real ale pubs in Britain and offers aunique directory to every brewery in thecountry, large or small, with details of all thecask-conditioned and bottle-conditionedbeers they brew, together with unique tastingnotes (around 500 breweries in all, 35 beingnew this year).Each pub entry, surveyed on a regularbasis over the year by CAMRA members,gives a detailed summary of why the pub hasbeen included in the Good Beer Guide andhighlights information on the pub’s facilitiesfor families and the disabled, history,architecture, food, accommodation, localplaces of interest and, of course, the beer!There are almost 900 new pub entries inthe 2004 Guide and each entry has beenvisited throughout the year by CAMRAmembers. There is no charge for entry intothe Good Beer Guide. These elite pubs areselected by the real pub goer (unlike someguides, some of which may only send aquestionnaire and are never visited). Thepubs that appeared in the previous editionhave all been updated with new informationfor 2004, making this the most up-to-dateand comprehensive guide to British pubs intoday’s book market.An entry in the Good Beer Guide is astamp of approval from CAMRA and theBristol & District branch take this seriously.The number one consideration for entry isconsistently good quality real ale. Weendeavour to survey all year round to checkon this and hold an open and democraticselection meeting. We certainly don’t reston our laurels, and there are always changesin the pub entries each year.Space is limited in the Guide, and eachbranch of CAMRA has its own quota ofplaces it can fill. Inevitably if a hithertounremarkable pub shines out as a gem forreal ale worthy of recognition in the Guide,another must unfortunately make way for it,possibly even one whose own beers may stillbe just as good as ever.If you would like to assist us in our neverending quest to find the best real ale pubs,please come along to a branch meeting (seethe diary opposite for details).As well as being on sale in most bookshops (just £12.99), the Good Beer Guide isalso available at Bristol & District branchmeetings. There is a substantial discount inthe price for CAMRA members if you buyfrom us direct.The Coronation, 18 Dean Lane, Southville, Bristol BS3 1DDThe Coronation offers a warm welcome and a full range ofHop Back beers that include the multi-award-winningSummer Lightning (GBBF champion strong bitter) plusmonthly specials and guest ales.Saturday special: noon to 6pmall Hop Back beers @ £1.50 a pint.New menu available for eat in or take awayevenings only.Sunday lunchtime: complimentarycheese board.All beer available to take away in polypins and minipinsat superb discount prices.Summer Lightning £24 for 18 pints & £46.50 for 36 pints.Order by ringing Matt on 0117 940 9044.26www.camrabristol.org.uk

PINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................Past editions ofPINTS WESTon-lineBristol 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 latestreal ale related stories. It is also the placewhere you can find past editions of PintsWest, from edition 50 onwards. Number 50also contains a potted history of Pints Westfrom the very first edition in 1989, when itwas then known as Avon Drinker.Letters: please send any correspondence toPints West Editor,Steve Plumridge,Garden Flat, 6 Royal York Villas,Clifton, Bristol BS8 4JRor by email tosteve.plumridge@bristol.ac.ukSeven thousand copies of Pints West aredistributed free to pubs in and around thecities of Bristol and Bath.Advertising: contact Steve Plumridge(details above) or call – evenings orweekends – (0117) 9743242.Current rates are:6cm x 6cm £28 6cm x 8cm £368cm x 9cm £42 9cm x 12cm £65Other sizes occasionally available, but notguaranteed.Published by the Bristol & District Branchof the Campaign for Real Ale, Feb 2004©Next edition: May 2004 (probably).Pinching: any written article in thispublication may be reproduced provided thesource, including the contributor’s namewhere applicable, is stated. (No lifting oflogos or pictures without prior permission.)Subscriptions: to be put on a mailing list(for UK addresses) send a cheque for £2.50only to the editor, made payable to StevePlumridge.CAMRA Good Beer Guide: suggestionsfor future entries, and comments on existingones, can be made to our GBG Coordinator,Richard Walters, 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 consistentshort measures, no price lists...Bristol: 0117 9223444S. Glos: 01454 624000Glos: 01452 426201N. Somerset: 01934 632026B.A.N.E.S: 01225 396755Pints West 61DiaryDiary of the Bristol & Districtbranch of CAMRA.See inside for the Weston-super-Maresub-branch diary and contact.Tuesday 9 th March: Trip to Mendips. Startat the Cornubia, Bristol, 6.45pm.Wednesday 10 th March: Committeemeeting, Cornubia, 8pm.Sunday 14 th March: GBG selectionmeeting, Horts City Tavern, Bristol, 1pm.Wednesday 17 th March: Beer Festivalwash-up meeting, Cornubia, 8pm.Wednesday 24 th March: Branch meeting,Horts City Tavern, 8pm.Branch meetings are generally held on thefourth Wednesday of the month and are opento all members (and would-be members).Committee meetings are usually the secondWednesday of the month. They are openmeetings in that any branch member canattend, space permitting, as an observer(rather than as a participant).For more information on local eventseither attend our branch meetings orcheck the diary section on our web sitewww.camrabristol.org.ukCAMRA MEMBERSHIP GIVESMonthly copies of What’s Brewing,CAMRA’s entertaining, informativeand highly-regarded newspaper.Generous discounts on CAMRAproducts and publications (includingthe best-selling Good Beer Guide).Advance notice of beer festivalsthroughout the U.K. and Europe - anddiscounts when you get there. Manyfestivals allow CAMRA members in atreduced rates or free.An invitation to join in CAMRA’sactivities such as brewery trips,meetings and socials.ABOVE ALL, you will belong to aflourishing consumer movementwhich is acting as a champion forbeer drinkers and pub users. CAMRAhas been hailed the most successfulconsumer organisation in Europe.$THANKS TO THIS ISSUE’SCONTRIBUTORSNorman SpaldingFreya McLuckieRichard BrooksErica McLuckiePhil CummingsLaurie GibneyDuncan ShineSteve O’SheaRobin E WildVince MurrayLesly HuxleyTim NickollsPete BridleDr JohnEditor: Steve PlumridgeViews expressed in Pints West arethose of the individual authors and notnecessarily supported by CAMRA.Inclusion of an advertisement does notnecessarily imply endorsement by CAMRA.HounsfieldPrinting57 Old Market StreetOld MarketBristol BS2 0ERwww.hounsfieldprinting.activenet.co.ukTel: (0117) 925 5541Join over 70,000 CAMRA members nowBristol & District (AVN)Just fill in the form below and send, with a chequepayable to CAMRA, to:Bristol & District CAMRA Membership Secretary,238 High Kingsdown, Bristol BS2 8DG.Rates are:- Single: £16 Joint (at same address): £19Under 26, Unemployed, Disabled, Pensioner: £9Joint pensioners (at same address): £12Name(s)................................................................................................................................................Address..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Postcode...........................Telephone...............................................................Email......................................................................I/we wish to join the Campaign for Real Ale andagree to abide by the Rules.I enclose a cheque for ................Date of birth ..............................Signature....................................................Date.............................................Where did you pick up this copy of Pints West?..................................................................................www.camrabristol.org.uk27

PINTSPINTS WEST......................................................................................................................................................www.camrabristol.org.uk