Mine's a Pint - Autumn 2021

THE MAGAZINE FOR READING AND
MID BERKSHIRE BRANCH OF THE
CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE
IN THIS ISSUE...
PUB NEWS
BREWERY NEWS
THE VILLAGE IN THE TOWN
BEER MAT COLLECTING -
PART 2
& MORE...
FREE
Celebrating the launch
of Imperial Morrisman
by Elusive
Andy Parker of Elusive Brewing with two of his Elusive team, Ruth Mitchell (second
left) and Ricky Moysey on the far right. Between them is beer writer Melissa Cole.
ISSUE FIFTY FOUR WINTER 2021
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Branch Diary
All meetings and social events are relaxed and friendly, and
non-members are welcome to all events except the branch
AGM. Information was correct at the time of writing, but
please check the branch website and Twitter / Facebook for
any updates and details of new events.
September
Tuesday 21 (20:00)
Branch Meeting
(arranged by James)
Foresters Arms, 79-81
Brunswick Street, Reading,
RG1 6NY
October
Tuesday 5 (20:00)
Social – First Tuesday of
the Month (arranged by
Phil)
Alehouse, 2 Broad Street,
Reading, RG1 2BH
Tuesday 19 (20:00)
Branch Meeting
Greyfriar, 53 Greyfriars
Road, Reading, RG1 1PA
November
Tuesday 2 (20:00)
Social – First Tuesday of
the Month (arranged by
Brian)
Wargrave & District
Snooker Club, Woodclyffe
Hostel, Church Street,
Wargrave, RG10 8EP
December
Tuesday 7 (20:00)
Social – First Tuesday of the Month
Venue TBC
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Contact Us
Useful contact details for this magazine,
CAMRA and other important things…
Mine’s a Pint Circulation: 3,000.
Outlets: Over 70 across the region.
Editor: Zoë Andrews
editor@readingcamra.org.uk
minesapintrdg@icloud.com
07985 199101
Magazine published on behalf of
Reading and Mid Berkshire CAMRA
by: Neil Richards MBE at Paper Red
Media
01536 358670 / 07710 281381
n.richards@btinternet.com
paperredmedia@outlook.com
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www.zenithprintgroup.com
Reading & Mid Berkshire CAMRA
www.readingcamra.org.uk
Social Secretary: Role Vacant
Contact us if you’d like to help.
Contact for all other branch matters:
Katrina Fletcher
contact@readingcamra.org.uk
0779 401 9437
Local Trading Standards
From time to time, drinkers receiving
poor standards of service or poor
quality products may wish to raise the
matter with Trading Standards. You
now need to do this through Citizens
Advice, an organisation which provides
free, confidential and impartial advice
on consumer issues.
To contact Citizens Advice Consumer
Service call 03454 04 05 06 or visit
www.citizensadvice.org.uk and click on
Consumer.
The next issue of Mine’s a Pint will
be published in early Jan 2022. Please
feel free to submit any copy or ideas
by start of December and you could see
your name in print!
The opinions expressed in Mine’s a Pint
are not necessarily those of the editor or
the Campaign for Real Ale. © Campaign
for Real Ale 2021.

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From the Editor
I’m not sure I could start this letter without
mentioning the thing we have lived through this
past 18 months. I was in Caversham’s Dodo
owned the Last Crumb when our last printed
issue of Mine’s A Pint came out (MAP 53).
It was early February 2020 but things were
starting to feel a bit peculiar and even then I
thought it might be my last visit to a pub for a
while. Having never lived through a pandemic,
I naively thought it would all blow over in a
matter of weeks. Of course, it didn’t.
How our local businesses, pubs and breweries
survived this torrid time is a testament to their
innovation and resilience, tenacity and sheer
bloody-mindedness. And, I also know that the
additional mental strain of lockdown upon
people has been dreadful too. Pubs are places
where we get together, share stories, challenges,
joy and support for one another and it’s been
really hard seeing pubs shut and not knowing
who is able to fill that social void.
I also suspect that despite a busier time in
the past month or so, in many pubs around
Reading, Berkshire and further afield, it may
still feel far from over. People talk about ‘prepandemic
levels’ of customers, traffic, and
demand but as somebody who works in the
service industry, I know that we’re a long way
from that yet.
Every pub you love, every bar you frequent,
every taproom you like will very much need
your support. Beer needs your support. Real
Ale and local producers of cider need your
support. For every-body who made the effort to
buy local and locale in lockdown, buying takeaway
beers and spending money in their local
pubs wherever possible (and as soon as possible
when they re-opened), thank you from all of us
here at Reading and Mid Berkshire CAMRA.
We love our pubs and breweries and we know
it’s been incredibly difficult for them.
businesses looks like in the months ahead. It
can’t all come from you, so you’ll need to enlist
your friends, and family and encourage them
to spend locally. I really hope that in the year
ahead, we feel a gentle return to normality and
to the gentle chitter chatter in the pub, and the
gigs and bands, and taproom weekends and bar
crawls and pub walks.
In Map 54, we pick up where we left off with
part two of a detailed beer mat collecting piece,
something Paul Dabrowski is very passionate
about. We have our branch diary, listing
upcoming events where you are all welcome to
get involved. Phil Gill takes us on an update of
Brewery News and a post-lockdown chat with
Tori Yates from The Greyfriar.
Evelyn gives us an update on Pub News from
around the branch, and we have a deeper look
at the pubs in the Eldon Square Conservation
Area: the Lyndhurst, the Retreat and Wild
Weather’s Reading outpost, The Weather
Station (formally the Eldon Arms).
Finally, a word on Finchampstead’s Elusive
Brewing who saw a brilliant win for their
beer, Oregon Trail, a west coast IPA. It won
the country category at the 2021 World Beer
Awards. Well done to Andy Parker and the
talented team at Elusive. It’s a spectacular win
and for a brilliant beer (which you can still pick
up at all good local beer shops by the way, and
on Elusive’s own webshop - just saying…)
Zoë
Editor, Mine’s a Pint
editor@readingcamra.org.uk
As we edge towards autumn, it will be time
to think about what your support to those
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Pub News
Lower Early
The Earley Retreat in Chalfont Close has been
closed since 23 rd March 2020 and owners
Mitchell and Butler have said there are no
plans to reopen or sell it. A spokesperson for
the Earley Retreat said; “The Earley Retreat
remains closed and there are no immediate
plans to reopen but it remains part of our
ongoing plans.”
Reading
The Rose and Thistle in Argyle Road is still
closed and Greene King have no plans to
reopen it. A petition to keep the pub open,
which received over 800 signatures, was started
in October 2020.
The Hop Leaf on Southampton Street reopened
in August after a refurbishment. The toilets and
the bar have been updated and the carpet has
been replaced. It is closed on Monday, opens
16:00 to 23:00 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,
12:00 to 23:00 on Thursdays, 12:00 to 23:30
on Fridays and Saturdays and 12:00 to 23:00
on Sundays. On a recent visit four beers were
available, three of which were Hop Back. The
beer prices are low for the area with Crop
Circle at £3.70 and New Forest Ale at £3.40.
The Earley Retreat
Mortimer
At time of writing The Horse and Groom in
Mortimer was holding a beer festival on the
August Bank holiday weekend. It included
8 local cask ales, including Rebellion, West
Berkshire and Wild Weather, and 3 ciders as
well as a gin bar, hog roast and live music. They
also have music from local band Audiotonic on
18 th September.
The George Hotel
The George Hotel on Kings Street is up for sale
for £9,000,000. It describes itself as “a freehold
branded hotel comprising of 76 en suite
bedrooms, bar, ground floor restaurant and two
retail investments let to Prezzo and Workhouse
Coffee Company who occupy premises along
the main facade.” 14-16 King Street, next door
(previously Mothercare) is also available.
The Horse and Groom
Upgrade works at The Back Of Beyond are
finally going ahead. Plans include a garden
extension into the car park, lobby area at the
front of the pub, new coffee station and app
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area and kitchen upgrade which will facilitate a
pizza oven. Work has already begun on a new
staff area. The improvements will take place
over twelve weeks and the pub will be closed
for two of these weeks, most likely at the end of
October, if all goes according to plan.
The Ale House on Broad Street finally reopened
its doors on 15 th July after fifteen months
of closure. The landlord, Carl, reported a
very successful first day. Recent beers include
Vibrant Forest’s Cambrian Root, Mumbles
Brewery’s Bitter, Animal’s Hop Kitty, Wild
Weather’s Shepherd’s Warning and Elusive
Brewing’s Equisto. The pub has received a
spruce up of the walls and floor.
Shinfield
The Magpie and Parrot on Arborfield Road
has now permanently closed. The owners have
decided to retire. The quaint pub was renowned
for its Friday night fish and chips.
The Back Of Beyond
Planning permission was granted in July to
build more than fifty flats next to The Facebar
and The Butler on Chatham Street. An office
and warehouse will be demolished to make
room for the new buildings. Reading Borough
Council said the developer must ensure noise
management measures are in place and that
residents and venues do not “tread on each
other’s toes”.
The Nags Head on Russell Street has decided
to keep table service only for the time being as
not all of their staff have received both of their
Covid vaccinations. They also said goodbye to
bar veteran, Lola, who is moving on to pastures
new.
The Magpie and Parrot (Now closed)
The Black Boy on Shinfield Road will be
changing its name to The Shinfield Arms on
6 th September 2021. On a recent visit they had
one ale on; Black Boy bitter by Three Castles
Brewery.
The Shinfield Arms (Formerly Black Boy)
Tilehurst
The Butchers Arms on Lower Armour Road
is a traditional local back street pub with cask
ales, pub games and a large beer garden. Quiz
night is on a Thursday and they have live music
on 11 th September.
The Nags Head
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Upper Basildon
At time of writing The Red Lion in
Aldworth Road was being taken over by new
management and closing for a couple of days
for refurbishment. On 11 th September they are
holding a charity night in aid of Sarcoma UK.
Tickets are £50 per person and include a glass
of fizz, three course meal, live music and an
auction and raffle. Tickets can be purchased
with cash only from the pub.
The Red Lion
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Binghams
The new owners of Binghams have moved their
base from Ruscombe to Woodley. Unfortunately
the brewing kit did not travel well and they had
to find a contract brewer to brew for them.
Weird Beard and then the Wobbly Brewing
Company brewed for them, but they are still
looking for a regular brewer to work with.
Dolphin
Image from Dolphin Brewery website
© Dolphin Brewery
Dolphin Brewery is a small batch brewery
operating in a garage just outside Reading.
They make seasonal and one-off releases in a
range of different styles, but are best known for
their sour beers. A good place to find them is
at Reading Farmers Market where they often
have a stall.
Double-Barrelled
You can now find Double-Barrelled beers
permanently on tap whenever you visit South
Street Arts Centre. Ding and Parka are always
available with a third rotating tap featuring a
mixture of their special releases and favourite
guests.
Parka is a hazy, soft and sessionable Pale Ale at
4.5% ABV. Cascade and Centennial hops are
used during the boiling process to bring a gentle
bitterness, then the beer is completed with an
extensive dry hop of Citra for notes of lemon
and freshly cut grass. The Keller Lager Ding at
4.9% ABV uses a classic German Lager malt
base and yeast strain and is given six weeks of
cold conditioning before packaging, to make it
crisp, refreshing and moreish.
With Double-Barrelled taproom at Unit 20,
Stadium Way is open Friday evenings, Saturday
and Sunday afternoons. At the time of writing
this was for walk-ins only with no reservations,
and bar service and online table service were
both available. Food trucks are on site most
days and 12 lines of draught beer are available.
New beers are continually available and are
well known for their unusual assortment of
names. Recent offerings have featured That’s
It! Back to Winnipeg (a 4.8% ABV DDH
American pale ale), I Need Your Clothes, Your
Boots and Your Motorcycle (a 5.4% ABV pale
ale) and Woodland Battle Dance Exhibition (an
8.0% ABV DIPA).
Remember the free local Friday delivery offer
for orders over £30. If you live in RG1, RG2,
RG4, RG5, RG6, RG7, RG8, RG30 or RG31,
place an order by midnight on Thursday to
receive your beer the next day. See their website
for further details.
Elusive
Turning five years old earlier this
year, Elusive has developed a great
reputation for its beers. Recently
we were excited to learn that their
Oregon Trail IPA had been judged
the country winner in its category
at the World Beer Awards 2021 and
will represent the UK in the world
finals. Oregon Trail is a 5.8% ABV
West Coast IPA featuring Simcoe, Chinook
and Columbus hops that combine to deliver a
resinous profile with a citrus undertone. The
bitterness helps to balance the light caramel
flavours of the malts.
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Loddon
doors on Saturday 10 July this year. The unit
is very compact and fitted out in an industrial
style.
Image from Loddon Brewery website
© Loddon Brewery
If you’ve visited the Loddon brewery tapyard
in Dunsden this year you’ll have seen that they
put their time during lockdown to good use. A
large covered decking area and further tables
outside in the courtyard make for a lovely place
for a few hours’ drinking, with food trucks
often on site to provide a great accompaniment
to the beer. With six Loddon beers on draft plus
a rotating cider keg, the tapyard has seating for
230 people and is open Tuesday to Sunday.
There’s also a 10% CAMRA discount on
Loddon products in the shop (not the tapyard),
providing a further reason for a visit.
Recent beers have included
Colour Outside The Lines,
a 5.0% ABV double dry
hopped IPA. The El Dorado
and Taiheke hops added
throughout the brewing
process create a hit of lime,
grapefruit, pineapple and watermelon. This is
one of a number of Loddon beers brewed to be
gluten free.
Outhouse
Image and words by Sue Thirlaway
Just outside our area, Wokingham’s newest
brewery complete with tap room opened its
Beer is brewed on the premises. The Outhouse’s
beers are unfiltered and unpasteurised and can
be purchased to drink in the tap room or on the
terrace, or to take away. There are eight keg
taps and various guest beers also on sale, with
Tutts Clump cider available in bottles.
Now all is well, but at the time of opening the
rateable value assessment had not taken place,
and so Peter was unable to apply for a premises
licence and was reliant on temporary event
licences, resulting in occasional closed days.
Brewer Peter’s first beer was First Attempt, a
4.9% bitter hopped Belgian Pale, very cloudy
with a definitely Belgian taste due to the use of
Belgian yeast. The hop used was Citra and the
bitter hop Amarillo. A very good first attempt!
The Chocol-oat Porte has already had a repeat
brew and at 5.5% is intensely chocolatey
although no chocolate is added. Further beers
have followed including Four Hops IPA at
5.1%, Woky Session IPA at 4%, and a vanilla
milkshake IPA named D is for Dora. All have
been very positive and enjoyable.
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The Outhouse is located in Wokingham town
centre, opposite the Gig House, at Unit 4
Southgate House, Alexandra Court.
Opening hours:
• Mon – Tue: Closed
• Wed – Thu: 4:30pm – 10:00pm
• Fri – Sat: 12:00pm – 10:00pm
• Sun: 12:00pm – 8:00pm
Phantom
Having expanded into the adjoining unit,
Phantom have doubled their size this year. The
bar in the new unit “Neon” tends to stock the
more out-there beers on draught while “The
Haunt” in the original unit has a larger range.
There’s almost always a lovely IPA on.
Following a successful
Bank Holiday Beer Bash,
the next big event at the
taproom on Meadow
Road is Rocktobeerfest.
The party starts at 4pm
on Saturday 2 October.
Expect plenty of craft
lager, lederhosen,
a traditional German oompah band and
bratwurst in the mix. Tickets are £40 plus
booking fee and include unlimited lager plus a
commemorative stein. Tickets from Eventbrite.
Phantom’s Second Birthday
On Saturday October 30 th we are celebrating
our 2nd birthday with a massive Halloween
party with live music, new beers, collabs, street
food and fancy dress!
Get excited, it’s going to be cracking.
Tickets are super limited - £5 gets you in and
gets you a gorgeous commemorative glass
to remember the day by! Tickets right here:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/phantomssecond-birthday-tickets-169313239457
Siren Craft
Project Barista, the ultimate celebration of beer
and coffee, is back. Each year (pandemic aside)
in this annual experimentation Siren brew
four different beers, collaborating with four
different independent coffee roasters. Its aim is
to experiment with what coffee beers can be,
and take the relationship between beer and
coffee in new directions. In the past there have
been beers such as coffee pale ale, coffee sour,
a wee heavy, not to mention an eminent coffee
ice cream pale ale.
This year the project is back with four more
coffee-incorporating brews. The nature of those
brews, at the time of writing, is a secret. To find
out, you can get involved with the traditional
brewery party on Saturday 25 September. With
an all-in ticket, there’ll be around 26 lines of
amazing beer including the four barista brews,
street food, DJs and live talks.
Tickets are £44 plus fees and include entry, a
festival glass, a festival programme, talks and
unlimited 100ml samples of the beer lineup
including the Project Barista beers, Siren
favourites, and some exciting specials. Tickets
from Eventbrite.
If the dates don’t work or if you’re not
comfortable with the idea of a festival just yet,
there are also online options with a hybrid
online / in person event. You can pre-order
the beers on the Siren website for access to
the online portion of the day. There’ll be live
streaming all of the talks, together with other
beer and coffee themed content.
West Berkshire
Quiz nights, live music, comedy and an
artisan market all feature regularly at the West
Berkshire taproom in Yattendon. Have a look
at the latest list of events on their website:
wbbrew.com/events/
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Windsor and Eton
The new Windsor and Eton taproom, Unit
FOUR, is now open and hosted the Windsor
Beer Festival in
early September.
Coinciding with
the opening was
the official launch
of Shout, a brand
new beer in the
Uprising style.
Shout and Treason are both now available in
keg and 440ml cans and feature a new look
for Uprising. The brewery is now instantly
recognisable; the beers less so if you’re trying
to read the clips from more than about 10cm
away in anything other than perfect lighting.
Phil Gill
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Life after Lockdown
The Challenges of Reopening a Pub
No, it wouldn’t. Pub staff were furloughed and
it was summer before reopening was allowed
– and the Greyfriar actually stayed closed
longer than many other pubs. By September it
had become clear that returning to “normal”
wouldn’t be an option for the foreseeable
future, and so it was necessary to figure out a
new business model to allow customers through
the doors again.
Pub-going after lockdown has sometimes felt a
bit strange, but it’s been even stranger for our
publicans. We recently caught up with Tori
Yates of the Greyfriar and, over a few pints
of Feeling This from Phantom Brewery, talked
about lockdowns, curfews and tiers. Oh, and
how to explain to a pub dog why we’re not
going out today - AGAIN.
“It’s been difficult”, says Tori. Running a wetled
pub with no kitchen and precious little
outdoor space has made navigating the everchanging
regulations challenging, both last year
and this.
It started with the sudden closure of all pubs
back in March 2020. At the time nobody knew
how things were going to play out and many
were optimistic that the lockdown would only
last for a few weeks. Surely all that stock would
last until the doors were allowed to reopen?
What was needed? “A full Covid risk
assessment, spacing the furniture out, a host
area with hand sanitiser, and signs. Lots of
signs.” Tori explained how she spent ages
trying out different arrangements of furniture
and – bizarre but necessary – measuring how
far apart people’s heads would be when they
were sitting down. A table went in front of the
dartboard to stop people trying to play darts,
and table service came in. Initially this was by
choice, although of course it soon became a
legal requirement.
One particular challenge was interpreting the
always very detailed but often quite baffling
legislation. Tori’s particular bugbear was the
lack of definitions in government documents.
For instance, when 2 metre social distancing
was relaxed to allow “1 metre +” with
mitigating factors – just what might those
mitigating factors be? They were never defined.
At least with the Greyfriar reopening later than
many others there was the chance to learn
lessons from colleagues in other pubs.
And as soon as you felt that you were on top of
one set of regulations they changed, of course.
Masks came in, along with a 10pm curfew.
Every change had to be explained to the staff
and Tori was keen to make sure that they were
all happy with and understood each changing
situation.
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The curfew was actually the most frustrating
and difficult thing to manage, says Tori. People
had to be off-site by 10pm otherwise it would
be a breach of regulations with all the possible
fines and licence implications that would go
with that. But customers who were used to
having drinking-up time at the end of the night
didn’t find it easy to understand and there were
often awkward situations. As Tori explained, it
was also upsetting to have a pub full of people
who you had to essentially throw out of a
regulated and Covid-safe environment, in the
knowledge that they were probably going to go
on to a house party or an off-licence to carry on
drinking in a far less safe manner.
We all know that a second lockdown came in
November. This time things were a little bit
easier as it wasn’t so unexpected and there were
a few days’ notice given, which reduced wastage
compared to the initial lockdown in March.
But when the next reopening was allowed we
were in the days of tiers and substantial meals
– remember them? With no kitchen it wasn’t
practical to open and so the pub doors stayed
closed over the winter.
2020 became 2021. The days started to get
a bit longer. The weather started to get a bit
warmer. The vaccination programme started to
run at an incredible pace. We started to get just
a little bit optimistic about the future. But still
the doors of our pubs remained shut.
Then came the news that we’d all been waiting
for. Pubs could reopen! But only for service
outside. With only two small tables by the road
that really wasn’t an option for the Greyfriar,
so no joy.
While partial reopening indoors with the rule
of six and table service happened in May –
and didn’t it feel good? – it was July before
all legal restrictions were lifted. The Greyfriar
decided to keep a few rules initially, to allow
a gradual transition for the staff as well as the
customers. To ease people back into things,
table service remained at the start. Now that
things have settled down a bit you can order
at the bar. Although you can’t stand there, and
the bar stools are long gone. To be honest there
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15
are a lot of advantages with that. Tori recalls
the times before Covid when there would
often be a group of men – it was always men –
sitting in front of the handpumps and blocking
everybody else’s view of what beers were on. It
was difficult to order and difficult to serve. Yes,
on balance, stopping people from sitting at the
bar is a good thing.
So now things are getting back to normal, how
is it going? Trade used to be very predictable,
“like clockwork” in fact, but now it’s all over
the place. The regular lunchtime and after-work
trade has largely disappeared as fewer people
have been working in the town centre. On the
plus side, with football and rugby starting up
again and the buses running from just outside
the pub, match days are going well. Not as well
as before Covid, but the match days have been
probably the best trading days since reopening.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens when
schools go back – will that mean more people
will also return to the office?
Tori thinks it’s been a great advantage that
the Greyfriar is privately owned and not part
of a pubco chain. On the financial side, she
says that the Business Rates holiday and the
furlough scheme really helped get them through
the closures, with furlough being “an absolute
godsend” to keep the business going.
She’s also been interested to see how some
suppliers have used Covid as an excuse to
change their business practices. For instance
some of the big companies have increased
their minimum order value to levels that are
impractical for a small pub, so Tori has had
to switch to suppliers that are more keen to
have a good working relationship with their
customers.
In fact it’s been an opportunity to refocus
on supporting the local economy. As Tori
points out, we’re lucky to have so many great
breweries locally and she really wants to take
the pub back to its craft roots. Supporting local
businesses has been a conscious decision and
it’s made easier by the fact that the Greyfriar is
a free house and not reliant on ordering from
an approved pubco list at inflated prices.

That means an ever-changing menu of beer
which gives people a reason to visit. A lot of
people are still apprehensive about going out,
and so having a particular reason to visit
somewhere really helps. Beer quality is really
important and, if you can deliver that, you have
happy customers.
Which brings us on to Reggie.
Reggie is the pub dog, a Springer Spaniel who
acts as the doorman or perhaps the maitre d’ of
the establishment. He’ll greet all the customers
as they walk through the door and apparently
he’s a very good judge of character. If he walks
up to you wagging his tail (this is true of almost
everyone) you’ll be fine. If he growls at you as
you walk in, well, maybe this isn’t the pub that
you’re looking for. Reggie is four years old and
so has spent almost half his life in some form
of lockdown or general weirdness. He loves
people and since he’s used to being around
customers, he’s found the last 18 months very
strange.
As have we all. Fingers are very much crossed
that things are settling down now and there’s
never been a better time to visit your local pub
and start to feel a bit more normal. Do it for
your own mental health. Do it to support a
local business. And do it for Reggie. He’d love
to meet you!
Phil Gill
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Mine’s A Pint
17

The Village in the Town
An update from East Reading
People talk about a particular area of Reading,
just off Watlington Street, as “The Village”.
That might sound a bit curious, but it does
have some basis in history, and goes back
nearly fifty years. Back in 1972 a small book by
one F.C. Padley was published by the Reading
Branch Workers’ Association. It was called A
Village In The Town, the first recorded instance
of that phrase. The book had a small print run,
but due to local popularity it was re-printed
the following year, and then again in 1981.
It’s well worth trying to track down second
hand if you like local history,
because it’s a treasure trove
of information about this
small but fascinating part of
Reading.
A Village In The Town
refers to the triangular
shaped Eldon Road
Conservation Area. The
area became more built up
after the opening of The
Royal Berkshire Hospital in 1839, and the large
houses of made from Bath stone were built
around the same time. The redbricked houses
were built a short while after, most of them
dated between 1850-1860. This triangular
area is currently home to three East Reading
pubs, the Lyndhurst, the Retreat and what
was formerly the Eldon Arms but is now The
Weather Station, the outpost for Silchester’s
Wild Weather Ales.
When I moved to ‘The Village’ in 2018, the
Retreat’s chatty and charming landlord Brian
told me about the book and said he had a
photocopy of it somewhere he could lend me
to peruse. I took him up on his offer, but also
managed to buy a second hand copy for myself
a couple of months later.
The Eldon Road Conservation Area does feel
like a village, perhaps more so than ever due
to the past 18 months. The area has pulled
together, helping one another out, sharing
resources and generally keeping each other’s
spirits up.
We’re incredibly lucky to have three pubs
within this small area, but all of them have
changed hands or risked closure in the last few
years - like anything else, you have to use them
or risk losing them. We are very fortunate, for
instance, that locals stepped in to save The
Retreat just before the pandemic and that
it retains all of its character after a beautiful
renovation.
This said, the village
has lost many pubs
over the years. There
was The Lifeboat, on
the corner of St John’s
Hill, where all that
remains is a ghost sign,
now that the render has
been removed from the
outside of the building.
There was the County Tap (or County Arms in
later years) which was situated at the top end of
Watlington Street and has now been converted
into housing. And at one time you also had the
Golden Lion on the corner of The Grove and
Watlington Street, and
the Military Arms on
the corner of St John’s
Street and Queens
Road.
Anyway, back to 2021
and our three lovely
and vibrant pubs. The
Lyndhurst - on the
The Golden Lion
Mine’s A Pint
18

corner of Watlington Street - has changed hands
many times. Most
recently, it came under
new ownership back
in 2019, continuing its
good reputation as a
pub offering excellent
food. The team, led by
Sheldon and Dishon,
The Lyndhurst on
Watlington Street
regularly changing specials.
offers a fantastic menu
with a good mix of
pub favourites and
The Lyndhurst continues to stock a variety of
draft beer and cask ale (you’ll often see West
Berkshire’s Good Old Boy on) and has once
again been Cask Marque accredited, which
means they will feature in the Cask Marque Pub
Ale Trails. The Lyndhurst will be celebrating the
13th Annual Cask Ale Week from September
23 rd -3 rd October and they plan to vary the ales
on offer that week between local and national
choices.
The Lyndhurst is also the restaurant of the
Village and the team has worked hard in
lockdown to provide great food to the local
area. They do a burger night on Mondays,
curry night on Thursdays and there are often
open mic nights, quiz nights and other such
events going on - keep a close eye on their social
media for updates.
The Retreat is renowned
for being Reading’s last
standing “back street
boozer” and until I
became a more regular
visitor in 2018, I’m
ashamed to say that
I’d never visited. It’s a
wonderful pub split into
two rooms, each with its
own bar: a front room
The Retreat from the
front
always filled with regulars who like to chat, and
a quieter back room if you fancy reading a book
or newspaper. The back room doubles up as the
space for the bands that regularly play: I’m not
sure there is a more wonderful atmosphere for
live music than at the Retreat.
The landlord, the aforementioned (and
formidable!) Brian Moignard is the face and
brains behind the pub’s success. Brian has built
a genuine community around his pub, and told
me once that he remembers sensing its potential
long before he took over from the previous
occupants.
Brian always thinks ahead, building a gentle
calendar of events: everything from its timehonoured
pickled onion contest to an Easter
Festival and a ticketed New Years Eve shindig -
possibly the best I have ever experienced. These
events pull in not just locals but those from
further afield: I found myself stood at the bar
once to find my brilliant history lecturer from
my days at Reading College, many years ago,
sat to my left. Malcolm lives in Hampshire, but
is a regular visitor with his son.
When it comes to beer, the Retreat has a
regularly changing selection of cask ales across
five pumps and four kegged beers. Brian has
also kept a lovely selection of bottled Belgian
beers on site, so for those who like a stronger
brew, you’re in good company! It’s also worth
mentioning that he stocks Sam Smith’s moreish
Organic Chocolate Stout, a real favourite of
mine when the nights start drawing in.
Like many pubs
over the past 18
months, a lack
of garden has
made things
hard for The
Retreat, but
this did give
time to deliver Brian at the bar of the Retreat
a wonderful
refurbishment, and Brian and the locals now
make the most of their space out the front of
the pub.
Up on Eldon Terrace is The Weather Station.
Previously known as the Eldon Arms, it was
really in need of a little love when local brewery
Wild Weather stepped in to turn the pub’s
fortunes around, and they’ve done a fantastic
job.
Mine’s A Pint
19

Manager Kane brings lots of enthusiasm to the
pub and encourages everybody to give things
a try. Their social
media is always up to
date with the latest
happenings on site,
and it’s been lovely
to see them gradually
build a customer
base of regulars and
Back garden at The destination drinkers
Weather Station who rightfully add
them to part of a local ale trail. There are
eighteen kegged lines, two cask and a well
stocked fridge full of bottles and cans from
breweries across the country and further afield.
The Weather Station has a small garden to the
rear, which has been vastly improved under
their management, and there are regular tap
takeovers, quiz nights and gigs. It celebrated
its second birthday in September with beers
brought in from
Edinburgh’s Vault
City, London’s
The Kernel, Deya
from Cheltenham,
Norwegian brewery
Lervig, and Sweden’s
Omnipollo. Later
that month, on
the 24 th , they host The Weather Station
a tap takeover by
Newcastle’s Full Circle Brew Co.
The Lyndhurst, Watlington Street.
@thelyndie
@lyndhurst5
The Retreat, St John’s Street.
@pub_retreat
@theretreatpub
The Weather Station, Eldon Terrace.
@WtherStion
@The_Weather_Station
your local pub
Is
threat?
under
CAMRA has the tools
To have three brilliant pubs in such close
proximity feels very special, and as locals we
are rather spoilt for choice this end of town. But
you could say the same about West Reading, or
Caversham or beyond: when you zoom out and
look at the map of Reading and Mid-Berkshire
you realise just how lucky we are, full stop.
to help you save it
However you plan to map out the autumnal
months ahead, it’s well worth considering a
short walk to East Reading. Warm hospitality,
great music, wonderful beers and great food
await you at this end of town.
Zoë
camra.org.uk/saveyourlocal
Mine’s A Pint
20

Mine’s A Pint
21

Beer Mat Collecting
Part 2
So often taken for granted, the familiar beer
mat, drip mat or coaster is more than just a
piece of absorbent material but, nevertheless,
is so easily overlooked. It’s probably just
when they’re not around that their absence
is most keenly felt but, in becoming objects
of historical value and artistic worth, they
extend well beyond their utility as pointof-sale
advertising material. Probably, the
nostalgia for lost breweries that
commissioned their manufacture
or past beers now consigned to
history realises their true worth
to the casual observer but it’s
also in terms of commemorating
past events, from coronations to beer festivals,
from jubilees to sporting fixtures, that they
come into their own just as readily.
Whether as mementos of changing fashions,
both in apparel and beer styles or with some
humorous intent, beer mats are
often exquisitely designed and
have thus become targeted by
‘tegestologists’, the technical
name accorded to collectors
of these modest but essential
items.
‘Teges’ itself comes from Latin, meaning
a covering or mat, although the term
‘dripsomaniacs’ is often unkindly used to
describe such hobbyists but they would
invariably counter that it would be a rare
pub-goer indeed that has not been tempted at
one time or another to purloin a beer mat or
two such is the range of topics that have been
covered by a brewery or virtually any other
drinks manufacturer. Not that they’ve been
solely commissioned by companies associated
with the beerage as transport undertakers, road
safety campaigners, charity fundraisers, cigar
and cigarette manufacturers, crisp, nut and
meat pie factories and even banks and sports
clubs have all issued their own promotional
drip mats.
Likewise, the range of topics covered is almost
endless and, sometimes, they have formed part
of a numbered series to actively promote their
acquisition, just as cigarette cards did in their
day, thereby decrying the accusation that, as
being disposable, they have no intrinsic value!
Their appeal can be, perhaps, best likened
to stamps, which philatelists devour as new
issues and denominations come into the public
domain.
Similarly, beer mat collecting
has its own club, the British
Beermat Collectors’ Society, for
tegestologists to meet, swap and
disseminate information on the
subject.
Founded in 1960, the BBCS was suggested by a
Mr Chris Walsh who placed an advertisement
in ‘Exchange & Mart’ (a printed bound
newspaper for both trade and public to
advertise and sell items that predated e-bay)
asking for like-minded individuals to contact
him. An enthusiastic response gave rise to an
initial membership that was 20-strong which
had, by the 1980s, grown to 1,200 worldwide
and even had, as its first joint presidents, that
famous comedic partnership of Morecambe &
Wise for a time. A film was made promoting the
new Society outside the Battersea Park Funfair
Beer Hall by British Pathé which featured the
pair adopting various ruses to acquire, from
another customer, a different beermat to one of
those they’d been given!
Local meetings are held all across the UK
monthly with a national annual meeting, very
much like CAMRA itself. Members receive a
special BBCS beer mat when they first enrol and
then whenever their individual collections reach
Mine’s A Pint
22

a particular milestone, be it 1,000, 2,000 or
whatever with one Austrian collector amassing
a world record to date with over 150,000 mats
which, if placed in a line, end to end, would
reach to nearly 10 miles in length!
The Society had undertaken to catalogue all
recorded UK beer mats issued to date, ably
assisted by the various breweries and printers
concerned but, in the cause of this marathon
task the existence of some fakes has even
been detected, mats that had been deliberately
reprinted specifically to sell to collectors,
sometimes legitimately and, occasionally,
fraudulently.
Large batches of previously-rare examples
that became available or those with subtle
variations in design or colour have had to be
regarded somewhat suspiciously and with good
reason – those that are scarce can command
high prices – but, with their mass production,
there are bound to be variations in definition, in
cutting-to-shape or card quality such that few
mats are ever completely identical.
However, this article will not concern itself
with the minutiæ of subtle variations between
individual beer mat issues, be they be changes
in size for the same design, or colour variations,
or shaded outlines to motifs as opposed to
unshaded ones, all of which concern only the
most avid tegestologists, but intends to present
a broad overview of their development over the
years and an idea of the varieties available.
The forerunner to the beer mats or coasters of
today were most likely a porcelain or pottery
stand principally utilised to prevent heated
tankards of mulled ale from damaging table
or bar tops in taverns or inns. In parts of the
former British Empire, the term ‘coasters’ was
adopted instead of ‘drip mats’ used elsewhere
though, in France, these are known as ‘sousbocks’
and, in Germany, as ‘bierdeckels’. As
the costs for producing these porcelain coasters
became prohibitive, the first card or paper
alternatives which began to appear were clumsy
wood pulp creations.
The beermat which we know today made its
début in 1880 when Friedrich Horn & Co.,
a German printing and board mill concern,
created small cardboard mats for a trade fair.
They printed various advertising messages on
them and, soon, their simple invention was
becoming a firm favourite under beer glasses
across the rest of mainland Europe.
But, also in Germany, it was not until 1892
that a Robert Sputh was credited with having
patented the first drip mat in Dresden and their
utility, coupled with their advertising potential,
spread them further around the world though
it is not known when, exactly, they were first
introduced to the UK. Around 1920 is the
best current estimate and, strangely, c. 1900
for north America seems most likely! Bar staff
liked them as they protected tables which didn’t
need washing as frequently; neither did they
cost anything since advertisers financed them
while attempting to reach new markets.
Promoting Reid’s Stout and their Pale Ale, it
was the Watney, Combe, Reid and Company’s
brewery that is believed to have issued the
very first beer mats on these shores in 1920.
Made from a thick, embossed, board that
had regularly-spaced pits or indentations
across the surface, these heralded the more
usual promotion of a brewery’s own products
rather than other concerns’ goods and services.
Typically, small slits could be discerned along
the edges of these and others which followed
indicating that the mats had not been fully
compressed.
Mine’s A Pint
23
Until the 1940s, the printer’s name quite often
appeared but, as quickly as the trend for thinner
and smoother mats became evident, the identity
of the printer became less so. As late as 1960,
Worthington & Company issued a set depicting
six notable personages in both embossed and
smooth board versions. And, therein lies the
appeal of beer mat collecting, encouraged

Mine’s A Pint
24

by the brewers themselves, consciously in
supplying variations on a theme which are
eminently collectable in themselves (the subject
matter) and, unconsciously, by employing
different manufacturers to produce and print
them (the raw material).
Should a printer’s mark,
if not a full name, be
apparent, this is an
invaluable aid in dating
a particular mat but,
more often, it is a case of
identifying as accurately as
possible when a particular
ale was available or a specific advertising
campaign was underway.
Most beer or drip mats are individual rather
than parts of sets and tend to reflect the mood of
the period and, thus in their own, unique, way
record history, particularly brewery history.
For example, in 1933, when the Watney,
Combe, Reid & Company finally attempted to
rationalise their respective trademarks of a stag,
a malt rake and a griffin respectively (they’d
amalgamated a mere 35 years earlier!), they
organised a national competition with a first
prize of £500 to find a new corporate identity
motif. From 26,000 entries, a Mr Ranklin won
with a simple ‘red barrel’ device and the rest, as
they say, is history.
Conversely, when Ind Coope merged with
Samuel Allsopp in 1934, the fortress-like
building associated with the former was
phased out completely and Allsopp’s ‘red hand’
became adopted by both concerns and even
continued after the name Allsopps was dropped
completely from beer mats c. 1950.
Courage alongside the Dr. Johnson device
used by Barclays. But, upon this company
in turn merging with H. & G. Simonds Ltd.
of Reading, mats initially bore the titling of
‘Courage, Barclay & Simonds Ltd.’ before
the ‘Courage’ branding became predominant
and the identities of its other constituent
companies, including Simonds’ hop leaf motif,
became consigned to history. However, since
the emergence of the Campaign for Real Ale,
a renewed interest in traditional ale meant that
many of the remaining breweries were less
ashamed of their previous takeover activities
and began to reissue beer mats that recalled past
beers when these were revived along with their
originating brewer’s names where appropriate
such was the impetus of both nostalgia and the
need for some marketing nous.
Probably, the first collectable set of mats issued
in the UK were by Bass, Worthington, Ltd. in
1928 which featured a character called ‘Bill
Stickers’ and the craze for issuing complete sets
probably reached its zenith with three series of
large-sized sets of 15 each by Ind Coope Ltd.
in the late-1970s that, between them, told the
‘Story of Beer’. Their issue encapsulates all the
appeal of beer mat collecting. There were two
No. 1s in the first 1976 series since, apart from
the official No. 1, that number was additionally
used as invitations to Burton Ale sampling
sessions which differed by dates and venues.
And, there were two No. 9s since the original
wording on the first version proved contentious
as it had stated, ‘thus keg beer was more
dependable but said to have less ‘character’ than
cask beer’. As Ind Coope produced the most
widely-available keg beer at the time – Double
Diamond – and that this assertion was only an
‘opinion’ – by a CAMRA mole in Allied’s HQ
perhaps? – this mat only appeared well after all
the others with the wording changed to, ‘cask
beer and keg beer co-existed each enjoying its
own popularity’.
After Courage & Co. Ltd. merged with Barclay,
Perkins & Co. Ltd. in 1955, mats began to
be issued jointly illustrating the cockerel of
Mine’s A Pint
25
Both sets won the BBCS ‘beer mat of the year
award’ for 1976/7 though any suggestion that
the two series, with their No. 15 mats featuring
‘Tegestology’ as the topic, unduly influenced
the Society is pure speculation! And, the No. 15
mat in the third series of c. 1980 again covered

‘Tegestology’ but lauded the fact that the earlier
two series had won a Silver Award from the
Designer and Art Directors’ Association for
the graphic design content involved. Then,
in around 1990, Ind Coope Burton Ale was
promoted with another set of beer mats entitled
‘A Traditional Crafts Series’.
Equally impressive was another large-sized set
issued by the same company, but masquerading
as Taylor Walker (a revived brewery name to
promote a ‘local’ version of their 1037 0 (original
gravity) bitter in the London area) that featured
notable events in the capital’s history. A 1961
set of 20 also issued by Ind Coope from as many
years earlier still at the more normal size for
beer mats was of particular interest to brewery
history aficionados as each one was tailored to
every brewery where a trading agreement to
offer Double Diamond had been reached. This
even included Blatches of Theale (later taken
over by Ind Coope Ltd. in 1965 and closed) but
also Simonds of Reading (which had already
merged with Courage & Barclays Ltd. a year
previously!).
The standard beer mat, approx. 57mm square,
is known as the ‘Whiteways’ version whilst the
‘Robinsons’ is a gigantic 280mm x 430mm but
there appears to be no limit to the variety of
shapes and sizes which beer mat manufacturers
can produce. As referred to and illustrated in
Part 1 of this article, the Ind Coope ‘brewing
history’ series were upright ovals measuring
170mm x 135mm but featured four circular
‘knobs’ at the 1 o’clock, 5 o’clock, 7 o’clock
and 11 o’clock positions whereas the ‘Taylor
Walker’ ones were 185mm x 113mm in a
mirrored tombstone shape but without the
‘knobs’. However, the ‘Traditional Crafts’ set
were slightly smaller than the earlier ones, the
basic oval only featuring ‘knobs’ at the 4 o’clock
and 8 o’clock positions and there were just 14
in total. Others existed too, notably a ½ dozen
strong oval set for Double Diamond Burton
Export Ale with historical notes relating to the
beer on their obverse.
Mine’s A Pint
26
The ‘Robinsons’ were particularly associated
with the Northern Clubs Federation brewery
which used them in substitution for bar towels.
Some of the NCF giants were a speciallyuncut
version from a whole printed sheet of
single ‘normal’ mats but, conversely, another
recurring theme of collectable mats produced
are instead elaborately cut to form jigsaws to
be completed upon acquisition. For instance,
in 1968 (the year after being taken over by
Whitbreads), Threlfalls of Salford issued a set
of four which, when pieced together, formed a
giant mat which advertised their Blue Can (a
7-pint container similar to the infamous Watney
Party Seven). A ‘normal’ set of four was issued
by the owning Ann Street brewery of Jersey c.
1990 to promote their subsidiaries’ product
which, when assembled, read ‘Guernsey Real
Ale’.
Just as collectable are proof sets, issued
by printers to demonstrate the product to
prospective customers. Usually one-sided in the
interests of economy, these have occasionally
featured one on one side and another on the
obverse! Sometimes, the finished versions
never get produced and have thus remained
conceptual.
And, of course, beer mats (and pump clips,
bar towels etc.) featuring the mythical beers
of ‘Newton & Ridley’ and ‘Churchill Ale’
have been produced for the TV soap operas,
Coronation Street and East Enders, to add
authenticity to the Rover’s Return and Queen
Victoria sets respectively. No doubt, more, for
other TV soaps, exist as well!
Two related former concerns were recorded
as utilising a style of mat marketed by a firm
called Pli-adek Ltd. that made coasters in the
1950s and 1960s created from rubber with a
flock or rayon surface attached. These were the
Hull and Mansfield Brewery Cos. Ltd. which
produced similar round designs, both in white
surmounting a red background, but were fairly
basic in concept. Hull was eventually taken
over and closed by Mansfield in 1985 but all
beer production ceased at the latter in 2001
after having been bought out by Marston’s a
couple of years earlier.

Another pair of defunct breweries, both in
west Yorkshire, also featured pliadek beer
mats. In 1955, the Melbourne brewery (not
to be confused with the extant Melbourn’s
of Stamford in Lincolnshire) commissioned a
circular, somewhat generic, pliadek mat which,
based on an earlier 1939 design, featured their
‘bowing courtier’ logo in off-white on a brown
background and the brand name ‘Melbourne
Ales’. Having begun life in 1846 as Dickenson
& Co., a takeover by the brewers, Kirk
Matthews & Co., during 1875 was followed
in 1889 when its identity (and that of the coowned
Carter & Co. brewery) was subsumed
into Leeds & Wakefield Breweries Ltd. and the
trading name ‘Melbourne Breweries’ first began
to appear. Although L&W actually became
Melbourne Brewery (Leeds) Ltd. in 1957,
brewing ceased three years later following a
takeover by Tetley & Sons Ltd.
John William Hemingway’s was the other
Leeds brewery to issue a pliadek mat which,
in 1954, produced one, also circular, for their
BSA Bitter with red lettering on a dark bluegrey
background and a ‘double-six domino’
logo thereon in preference to their more usual
device of a ‘wheatsheaf’ (although sometimes
these were paired together). Taken over by
Tetley Walker Ltd. in 1967, the brewery was
promptly closed, one year after its centenary,
and at around the time that Pli-adek had ceased
to produce their durable mats too.
A curious series of 12 mats parodied direct
quotes from the 1960-70s UK Prime Minister,
Harold Wilson, likening him, on one side to
the Fred Kite character from the 1959 Boulting
Brothers’ film, ‘I’m Alright Jack’ (itself a satire),
to Chairman Mao, the contemporary Chinese
dictator, on the obverse. Whether produced
by the opposition or by Wilson’s own party,
Labour, is not certain but, equally, they were
just as likely commissioned by the notoriously
Conservative-leaning beerage anxious to oust
the ‘socialist’ from power. Political messages
being printed on beer mats are therefore not
a new phenomenon as upon which, of course,
Wetherspoon Chairman’s Tim Martin’s support
for the UK’s convoluted European Union
departure and in reducing the tax burden on
pubs has amply demonstrated of late.
The accolade for the largest series of mats in
existence is probably still accorded to the
Binding brewery (now Binding-Henninger)
of Frankfurt, Germany, which issued a set of
300, each featuring different cartoons. Notably,
Capstan Kings (cigarettes) produced drip mats
in Australia all featuring that quintessential
Geordie, Andy Capp! Their national airline,
Qantas, has even been known to commission a
range of beer mats to promote its destinations
around the world.
However, despite their vast size, comparable
countries such as the USA and Canada have
featured little in beer mat issues principally
because of the prohibitive alcohol legislation
imposed during the mid-20TH century though
the concentration of breweries amongst a
handful of owning companies at the time may
have been another factor. Many from Canada
are of an insubstantial ‘pie-crust’ edged circular
variety made from multiple layers of thin
paper sandwiched together known as ‘cocktail
flimsies’.
Similarly, advertising point-of-sale material for
alcoholic products has been banned in Sweden
for decades but, as in the USA, breweries there
have produced mats for their export beers.
Elsewhere, many African and south American
breweries, including the Caribbean, have
produced reasonable numbers of beer mats
but, apart from Japan, this form of advertising
seems not to be popular throughout Asia. One
of the most striking and colourful series of all
time were six mats which featured characters
from classical Japanese drama that were issued
by the Datsun car company, printed in English
and distributed in the UK.
Likewise, the international trade for beer has
led to British companies such as Whitbread,
when it was a brewer, issuing a series of nine
mats depicting characters from the acclaimed
TV series, ‘The Forsyte Saga’, in both French
and Flemish for the lucrative Belgian market
Mine’s A Pint
27

followed by ten ’Robin Hood’ characters
similarly in another series issued in the two
languages.
The trading area in Belgium is also responsible
for the most prolific and colourful beer mat
producer in the world, namely the Brasserie
Artois S. A. (Stella Artois as it appears on their
mats). Such is the vast range of subjects in sets
and series covered, from early aircraft to sailing
ships, to the works of Rubens and Olympic
events, that tegestologists often treat Artois as
an entirely separate, exceptional, category.
Nonetheless, the widest range of mat
advertisers, for its size, is to be found in the UK.
As a comparison of global mat production, for
every one mat issued in the USA or Canada,
five mats would be issued in Australia and New
Zealand, 100 in the UK and 1,000 across the
whole of the rest of Europe combined.
Times have thus been changing for the humble
beer mat as beer consumption has waned but
still fluctuates along with the demand for the
mats. But, from around the turn of the last
century, the days of the collectable sets or series
of beer mats appeared to be over, at least in
the UK. (A notable exception to the dearth of
collectable drip mats in the 21ST century has
been a series produced by Shepherd Neame
who, in promoting their Spitfire brand, were
prolific in using them to market it as ‘The Bottle
of Britain’. With many variations on a wartime
theme, comic actors, Alexander Armstrong
and Ben Miller, featured in their upper classaccented
but right-on, chav colloquialismspeaking,
RAF pilot personas too!).
had become more secure than it had been for
some time, the prospects for a revival of the
collectors’ sets or series of mats in the UK still
appeared somewhat remote.
Then, at the end of 2018, a set of four collectable
drip mats, entitled ‘Visit the Winding Downs’,
were produced by Ringwood brewery, now part
of Marston’s (itself formerly Wolverhampton
& Dudley). Once aligned correctly in a linear
fashion, the graphics thereon described a
route via various landmarks that a brewery
dray might make before arriving at ‘The Bull
& Banter’ pub in ‘Slowdownland’. Despite
not being able to be assembled by ‘jigsaw’-
type connections, as the standard square mats
simply had to be butted up against one another,
their issue was, nonetheless, a very welcome
development indeed that would, hopefully,
presage more of the same to come.
Finally, the best way for amateur collectors to
store beer mats is within old shoe boxes, or
inside a chest of drawers (or both), where they
can be stood up on end. This helps to prevent
light from discolouring or fading the mats at
the back or front of each row and, if not packed
too tightly, allows room for head cards to mark
any sub-divisions considered necessary. Giantsized
or irregular-shaped mats may still have
to be laid flat, as intended, but adorning walls
with them punctured by drawing pin holes or
damaged with sellotape is not recommended!
And, even dirty or marked mats acquired can
be gently cleaned by using fresh, moist, bread to
draw out the beer stains as may the application
of a very soft artist’s eraser for other marks.
Happy collecting!
Fortuitously, though, the resurgence of
small-scale brewing around the world since
then has meant a modest revival in beer mat
production (as indeed it has, likewise, of the
dimpled tankard glasses). Many of the new
micro-breweries, having realised the value of
such point-of-sale material and, sometimes
assisted by the BBCS, have begun assiduously
producing distinctive beer mats, albeit on an
individual basis, to match their sometimes
vibrant corporate identities. Thus, although
the future of the ubiquitous beer mat itself
Mine’s A Pint
28
Paul Dabrowski
With acknowledgements to Keith Osborne & Brian
Pipe, The International Book of Beer Labels & Beer
Mats, Anthony Springall, Beer Mats A Fascinating
History, Mad Cow Edition No. 51 & Keith
Sunderland, A History of Brewing in Beer Mats, Full
Measure Edition No. 145.

Mine’s A Pint
29

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