CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

• Take it to the Top
• Mild make a May comeback
• Roy Rides, from Ashwell to Sandy
• CAMRA Beer Club

The latest Cambridgeshire brewery has been on stream since late last year. The Kilderkin Brewery in Impington (www.kilderkin.co.uk) is producing one beer - Kilderkin Double, in the Belgian Abbey style. All the production is sold in bottles through local farmers markets and the bar of the Regent Hotel in Regent Street, Cambridge. The beer may be available in cask at CAMRA’s Cambridge Beer Festival, at Jesus Green from May 21-26.

Another good outlet for local bottled beer is the Three Horseshoes at Madingley. Four bottle-conditioned ales from the City of Cambridge brewery are offered here, as well as Adnams Bitter and a guest cask beer, plus excellent food. CAMRA would like to see more local pubs stocking real ale in bottle. Their long shelf life means that a wide range can be offered without compromising quality.

Huntsbridge, based at the Old Bridge Hotel in Huntingdon, has disposed of its chain of pub-restaurant businesses. The Old Bridge is to continue to operate under its existing ownership and managing director John Hoskins, with plans to add a wine shop at the hotel. The Falcon at Fotheringay has been sold and the businesses at the Pheasant, Keyston and the Three Horseshoes at Madingley have been taken over by the restaurateurs who have been running them under the Huntsbridge banner. The high standards of food, wine and real ales are expected to continue as before.

At Brampton, the Grange Hotel has closed its bar and restaurant following the sale of the business by Nick and Susannah Steiger. The Grange is continuing to operate as an eight-room hotel.

New licensees have taken over at the Three Horseshoes at Graveley and the Vine in Buckden. At the Vine, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Fullers London Pride are regular cask beers.

Following CAMRA’s successful first Community Pubs Week in February, CAMRA is sponsoring a new Community Pub Award in Cambridgeshire. The Community Pub of the Year Award will be a part of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Community Life Awards 2007, organised by Cambridgeshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England). The pub award is being jointly run by ACRE and the four CAMRA branches in the county and the most important pub to its local community life will be judged over the summer. The award will be presented at a prestigious event in September at the St Ivo Centre along with numerous other category awards for people, activities and facilities in communities around Cambridgeshire.