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Pub Guide

Opening Times

Issue 129 Winter 2006

Download a copy of Opening Times 129 as a PDF file - 1.7 MB

A LOOK BACK IN TIME
25 YEARS AGO

St Neots-brewed Paines XXX went into Bass's Charrington pubs in parts of Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, replacing cask Charrington Crown bitter in return for Paines taking bottled beers and lagers brewed by Bass.

Paines were also in the news for their dispute with national brewers Allied over the use of the John Bull brand name. Allied had launched a keg beer of that name and sought a court injunction to stop Paines from using the name on their beer brewing kits. Paines claimed to have had rights to the name since 1897, but since an earlier dispute in 1936 had not used the brand name for beer.

Yet again CAMRA hit out at Whitbread for closing a local brewery, the Ely brewery in Cardiff. Its closure was announced in the autumn of 1981, following other Whitbread breweries at Romsey in Hampshire, Wateringbury in Kent and Tiverton in Devon.

Whitbread were also under fire from CAMRA for dropping cask Wessex Mild from the portfolio of its Portsmouth brewery. It was replaced by keg Whitbread Best Mild.

In November 1981, St Neots CAMRA met at the Black Bull in St Ives and there were socials at the Waterloo in Huntingdon and the Darby and Joan at Abington Pigotts. In early 1982 there were meetings at the White Horse in Eaton Socon and the Green Man at Leighton Bromswold. A joint social with Northampton branch visited Tilbrook.

Black Country brewery Simpkiss dropped its cask mild and replaced it with North Country's keg Hull Mild.

Crouch Vale brewery was launched in Essex in late 1981 by CAMRA members Rob Walster and Colin Bocking. Colin said he ‘hoped to satisfy a growing demand for locally produced beers’. In view CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain awards to Crouch Vale in 2005 and 2006, this prophecy seems rather understated.

A new cask beer, Trumans Bitter was launched into 400 pubs of the Truman estate, a part of the Watney Mann and Truman empire.

CAMRA trumpeted a boom in take home real ale a year after the launch in 1980 of its campaign known as CART, Campaign for Real Take-home, boosted by ‘staggering’ sales of the then new plastic container with the unfortunate name of ‘Carrykeg’.

Cornwall’s St Austell brewery launched their cask beer, Tinners Bitter, into its own pubs, served without gas pressure.

CAMRA reported a comeback for wooden casks as Britain's last remaining commercial coopers, Buckleys of Dukinfield in Cheshire, saw a boost to their trade. Established brewers such as Hook Norton and Wadworths accounted for some of the increase, but a significant number of microbrewers were also opting for beer from the wood.

CAMRA reported on 'poor value' and 'misleading advertising' for UK lagers, the conclusion of an industry survey by a trading standards officer following public complaints. The report also criticised differences between British brewed lagers and Continental beers carrying the same names.

10 YEARS AGO

There were more losses of East Anglian village pubs. The owner of the Greyhound at Hethersett, Norfolk won planning permission to turn the pub into a home. And in Essex Braintree council granted permission for the Cock and Blackbird at Bulmer to be converted to housing. The more enlightened South Cambridgeshire council refused permission to turn the Black Horse at Fowlmere into a studio.

CAMRA’s national day of action on beer quality generated plenty of media coverage. Branch events included award presentations to brewers for quality initiatives and quality audits of pubs, including a tour of Bristol pubs led by Courage’s head brewer.

CAMRA's Technical Committee arranged a successful conference on 'Real Ale Quality'. The one-day event at Church House, Westminster, featured speakers Chris Whitworth of Bass, Mike Powell-Evans of Adnams, Simon Whitmore of Butcombe brewery, Chris Holmes of the Tynemill pub company and Roger Protz of CAMRA, and explored ways of encouraging more distinctiveness and flavour in cask beers.

Pointing to declining national sales of real ale, Chris Whitworth of Bass said that there were too many cask beers and a big demand for nitro keg beers. He believed that quality would improve with a reduced number of cask brands.

St Neots CAMRA branch member Paul Moorhouse retired as chairman of CAMRA’s Technical Committee after 8 years at the helm. Paul continued as a member of the committee and was succeeded as chairman by Jim Fox from Portsmouth, newly elected to CAMRA’s national executive.

East Bedfordshire CAMRA was seeking a spot listing for the Cock at Broom. Owners Greene King were planning to open out the interior of the pub, famous for its unusual layout of rooms and its lack of a bar counter.

National brewers Allied Domecq were under fire from CAMRA for its ‘insensitive’ plans to ‘firkinise’ historic pubs. The Running Horse at Leatherhead was to become the Fetlock and Firkin and the 16th century Grade II listed Barley Mow in Warrington was to be the Furrow and Firkin. Work was reported to have commenced here without planning permission. Campaigns of opposition were backed by MPs, former cabinet minister Kenneth Baker, all members of a local authority and 3500 signatories to a petition.

St Neots CAMRA held a meeting at he Market Inn, Huntingdon, and a social visited the Cock at Gamlingay and the Chequers at Little Gransden.

The European Commission was deciding whether to outlaw Britain’s real ale only guest beer rule as an unfair restraint on trade. Meanwhile, CAMRA was pointing to European cask conditioned beers such as Franconian Kellerbier, and looking forward to their availability in UK pubs.

The Labour Party promised a ‘close examination’ of Britain’s licensing laws if it won the forthcoming general election. There were hints of a new Licensing Act from sources in the party. This was to finally come to fruition in the new Act implemented in 2005.