Darlington Drinker 156

Darlington Drinker 156

Newsletter of the Darlington Campaign for Real Ale   May/June 2005

Jennings Under Threat

NORTHERN BEER lovers are urging shareholders of Jennings Brewery to resist a takeover proposed by Britain's largest regional brewer , Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries.

But the chances of ‘The Lake District’s Favourite Brewery’ remaining independent appear slim. And the long-term prospects of brewing continuing at the 131-year old Castle brewery in Cockermouth must be almost equally improbable, notwithstanding assurances from W&D.

As we go to press, W&D are considering making an ‘expensive’ offer for the brewery and 130 pubs. Crucially, they had already got the support of the largest shareholder, Robinson’s Brewery of Stockport, who own 25% of Jennings’ shares.

W&D chief executive Ralph Findlay said, in a statement which he will no doubt be reminded of in future years, that: “Keeping the brewery open is a very sensible thing to do in our opinion. Cumberland Ale, in our opinion, should come from Cumberland.”

In recent times W&D have taken over three other breweries: Mansfield was closed; Camerons was sold, without any pubs, after closure had been threatened; Marstons continues to produce.

CAMRA's Mike Benner said, “W&D's promises to keep Jennings open, however genuine, are no guarantee. In 1999 W&D acquired Mansfield and closed it within two years. CAMRA are urging all shareholders to oppose a takeover to save Jennings from a similar fate.”

Crown Inn Glory

THE CROWN Inn at Manfield has been voted overall Darlington Pub of the Year by members of the local branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.

The North Yorkshire local, secreted in a small village just south of the Tees, is the first country pub to take the award in a decade.

Owned for four years by Ralph Wilkinson of Number Twenty-2 fame, it has been expertly managed since 2002 by Peter and Karen Hynes who have developed it into a relaxed, welcoming and increasingly popular hostelry.

Coincidentally with the announcement of the CAMRA vote Peter and Karen were offered and accepted the tenancy of the Crown. This will give them even greater involvement in its operation.

Unusually for a country pub these days - and something which undoubtedly swayed CAMRA members - the emphasis at the Crown is very much on beer rather than food.

And what beer: a choice of eight real ales, Village Brewer White Boar and Bull Premium plus six ever-changing guest beers, and some classic European bottled brews. Not to mention two weekend-long beer festivals twice a year spreading out from the pub into marquees in the garden.

A presentation will take place to Peter and Karen at a date to be announced.

The Crown took the overall award after a ‘play-off’ vote between the winners of the two Pub of the Year categories, town and country - the Crown taking the country title for the fourth year running. The Britannia was the winner of the town category (see page 4).

Runner-up in the Country Pub of the Year voting was the George & Dragon at Heighington, with the nearby Locomotion One at Heighington Station in third place. Congratulations to all involved.

 Britannia Rules

AFTER SEVERAL years of being shortlisted, the Britannia in Archer Street has at last triumphed in Darlington’s pub ‘Oscars’.

For the long-established, grade II listed, pub on the fringe of the town centre (but thankfully off the frenetic weekend circuit) has just been voted 2005 Town Pub of the Year by CAMRA members.

Licensee Sue Carr shed tears of joy on hearing the news, after many near-misses!

The ‘Brit’ is one of only a handful of pubs in the town to have sold cask beer during the dark, keg-dominated, days of the 60s and 70s. Long revered for the quality of its handpulled Cameron’s Strongarm, Sue has broadened the pub’s beer offering in recent years so that it now stocks four guest ales as well as ‘the Ruby Red’ and John Smith's Cask Bitter.

In the voting, the Brit pipped two town centre pubs which have dominated the competition for years - the four-time-winning Quaker House in Mechanics’ Yard and Number Twenty-2 Coniscliffe Road which has been champ five times.

Sue, and partner Terry, will be presented with an award by Darlington CAMRA to mark their success on Thursday 9th June, at 9.15pm. All are very welcome to attend and celebrate. Can someone bring some tissues for Sue?

Backing the Horse

DARLINGTON CAMRA has added its voice to the growing number of protests against the proposed demolition of the White Horse at Harrowgate Hill.

The branch has submitted a detailed objection urging Darlington Borough Council to refuse the planning application by Premier Homes Limited to demolish the pub and hotel and replace it with 64 apartments.

The White Horse was bought at auction by Jay Patel of Leeds for £900,000 in October 2003. CAMRA estimates that granting planning permission would increase the value of the site seven-fold and suspects that developing it for housing has been the aim all along.

The objection says that: “The short period between the change of ownership and the preparation of the plans suggests that the site was bought with the express intention of redevelopment, to take advantage of the inflation in residential values, and with no intention of the pub and hotel being run as a going concern.”

Darlington CAMRA chairman Ian Jackson said: “An emergency motion was tabled at our annual general meeting and members agreed unanimously to fight this greedy plan which would deprive thousands of Harrowgate Hill residents of their only pub.”

There are no other pubs within a reasonable walking distance of the White Horse - and it is a round trip of two miles to the next one that serves real ale.

“The owners seem to have been trying to run the place down since they bought it. Now we know why. There has been a White Horse inn on this site for at least 150 years. We and local residents say there is a need for it for many years yet.”

THE PRESENT Tudor-style White Horse dates only from June 1951 when it was re-built by its then owners, Camerons Brewery of Hartlepool. But Chris Lloyd of the Northern Echo explained how and why a pub - known as the White Horse since at least the 1850s - has stood here for many years.

“It stands on what was the Great North Road. In fact, it marks the end of ‘the dry road’ which, due to the wishes of the landowning Barningham ironworking family, was without beer from North Road Station right out to the fork with Burtree Lane.

This lane was an ancient ‘cole street’, along which packhorse trains plodded, carrying coal from the south Durham pits, skirting around the edges of Darlington to avoid the tax collectors, and on towards the port of Stockton, because Harrowgate Hill was once independent of Darlington.

The boundary was at the Harrowgate Toll Bar, where the toll collectors lightened travellers using Honeypot Lane, Salters Lane or North Road of a few pennies.

And so a wayside out-of-town public house has probably stood on the fork for centuries.”

From Echo Memories, 6th April 2005

Wear to Tees Ale

A BARNARD CASTLE company is setting up a brewery to produce traditional beer on the town’s Harmire enterprise park as part of an unusually diverse business plan.

The Wear Group, which presently owns three pubs and a restaurant, is intending also to wholesale wines from the newly-built workshop and office premises to pubs and shops throughout the country - and to operate a call centre selling new communications and data technologies.

The Wear Group was founded in 2000. Its pubs include the Castle Wall wine bar and the Raby Arms, both in Barney.

Managing director Chris Burns said that the group had grown significantly over the past three years. They now have just over 30 staff and hope to employ a further 15 in 2005.

“I feel that global brewers are turning their back on traditional ales so I have teamed up with a master brewer who is going to create a Teesdale bitter and a Teesdale premium ale from traditional recipes”, said Mr Burns.

“We have the capability, and hope to be brewing up to 20,000 pints a week within a year.”

Pete’s Special Brew

A BEER FIRST brewed in a cottage kitchen near Darlington is the new North East Beer of the Year.

Jarrow Brewery's Rivet Catcher, which beat off a challenge from the best of the region’s other real ales at a ‘blind tasting’ organised by CAMRA, was developed from a home-brew recipe.

Jess McConnell, who only founded the Jarrow Brewery in 2002, was ecstatic, saying “This is brilliant.”

Rivet Catcher's creator is Darlington CAMRA member Pete Fenwick who is a also a member of the Darlington Traditional Brewing Group. He brews at home in his kitchen at Aldbrough St John.

Pete explains: “It started with me cadging some yeast from Jess. I had asked him if Jarrow could brew a ‘special’ for the next Darlington beer festival and he suggested that I first make a brew of what we wanted with his yeast and bring him a bottle to try. I did, he liked it - and Rivet Catcher was born.”

The beer was actually voted top beer at that first festival, the 2003 Rhythm ‘n’ Brews, under the name Fenwick's Special.

Jess added: “We only had to tweak Pete's recipe slightly, and that was really just because we were dealing with different quantities.”

Rivet Catcher is a 4% golden ale with a fruity aroma and delicate hoppiness. It will now go forward to the Great British Beer Festival in August for the Champion Beer of Britain contest.

Joint second in the awards was Ghost Ale, the ‘house beer’ of the Quaker House in Darlington which is brewed by Darwin of Sunderland. It tied with Devil's Water from Hexhamshire Brewery of Dipton Mill, Hexham, Northumberland.

Strongarm Power

CAMERONS BREWERY has celebrated the 50th birthday of its Strongarm ale by brewing a 5.0% strength premium version.

The rich but refreshing brew - now known as ‘The Ruby Red’ but back then the ‘Strongest Ale You Can Get…at 1’7 a Pint’ - was first unveiled to the world by the brewers of Hartlepool on 18th March 1955.

The price translates to a fraction under eight pence in decimal coinage. Strongarm’s strength at that time is harder to explain, as it was never disclosed to drinkers, a practice common to every other commercial brewer in the country on the dubious grounds of ‘commercial confidentiality’.

Whether it was ever as strong as 5% is unlikely. It was around 4% (1041.5 original gravity to be exact) when the Good Beer Guide first revealed beer strengths in 1976, and that is the punch ‘normal’ Strongarm still packs today.

The beer was produced with Teesside steel workers firmly in mind although the strongman blacksmith of the imagery (right) is sadly not used today. It soon became a favourite in the Darlington area too.

Legend has it that when pondering a name for his new brew Cameron’s head brewer in the Fifties looked out of his office window for inspiration and got it when he spied the name of a nearby business in Stranton Road - by the apt name of Armstrong.

Mike Berriman, sales and marketing director of Camerons, said: “Strongarm is synonymous with the Hartlepool brewery and the beer has always been held in high esteem with drinkers in the North East. “

“To mark the special birthday, our brewers have produced a premium quality ruby red ale which we hope will be enjoyed by existing and new Strongarm customers.”

Vaux of Sunderland brewed a similar style and strength of beer specifically for the Tees area - the now departed Samson. As did Tetley’s with their Imperial. But neither could match Strongarm for quality and enduring popularity, especially in cask conditioned form.

Eating Inn

DD155 saw the start of a column by a couple of readers who dub themselves ‘Mr and Mrs Toolay’ (too lazy to cook). They share their better experiences of local eating places which serve real ale ...

'TWAS SUNDAY morning, Spring had arrived and Mrs Toolay decided a nice pint in an out of town pub was preferable to the fare at the Williamson's Motor Stadium.

We called up the daughter, she brought our three-year old grandson and we merrily departed with the sunroof open to the Chequers Inn at Dalton-on-Tees.

As we walked into the bar, three pumps came into view, each with a Jennings’ ale. My favourite is the Bitter, which I left until last. I started instead with the Golden Host. A nice beer, perfectly suited to Spring. Also on offer was Cumberland Ale.

The menu was delivered by youthful and very pleasant staff and we were pleased to find more than just Sunday roasts available. 

For starters we chose BBQ ribs, bacon and mushroom gratin and leek soup, the final dish being the pick of the crop. Our main courses consisted of chicken breast, lamb leg, kangaroo and a child's portion of roast beef. The main elements of the meal were very good, the only gripe being a limited choice of vegetables.

I'm no Egon Ronay but I know a good pudding menu when I see one - and I saw one here. Deciding from the chalkboard took a considerable time. We finally chose chocolate fudge cake, orange pan fruit mousse, sticky toffee pudding and vanilla cheesecake. The screaming sound of silence from our table said it all. Devouring the desserts left little inclination to talk.

Fresh coffee finished the meal off beautifully and the complaints from our poor old family car about the increased weight on the way home fell on deaf ears.

Bellerby Brews Up

THE WENSLEYDALE Brewery has completed its move to larger, new premises.

Owners Richard Thompson and Peter Fairhall set up at the picturesque Forester's Arms at Carlton in Coverdale in 2003 but soon found they couldn’t keep up with demand from what was little more than a small back room.

The new brewhouse occupies spacious farm buildings at Bellerby, just outside Leyburn, and can produce 100 barrels a week - ten times the previous capacity. Richard and Peter have also been able to install a larger bottling plant to help meet the demand from shops.

Richard said: “We were both fed up with our jobs and wanted to do something interesting. The response has been tremendous. We do everything ourselves, from the brewing to the bottling, labelling, delivering and marketing.”

It’s Your Duty

THE CAMPAIGN for Real Ale has criticised the Chancellor's decision to increase beer duty.

The March Budget announcement followed hard on the heels of price increases by national brewers and pub companies.

CAMRA’s Mike Benner said it was disappointing: “This is a blow which will hit pubs and consumers hard. A penny may not sound much but it follows price rises by some brewers. Some pubs will now be charging 10p a pint more than they were at the start of the year.

“At a time when beer consumption is falling and pub-going is in decline this is a potentially devastating outcome for consumers and hard-working licensees.”

“A tax rise is a flawed strategy which will cost jobs, increase smuggling and uncontrolled drinking and leave responsible beer drinkers out of pocket.”

He also criticised the Coors and Carlsberg breweries and the Enterprise Inns pub chain for sending the wrong message to the Chancellor by increasing their prices before the Budget.

“Why should Gordon Brown cut his share of the price of a pint when big companies keep on increasing theirs?”.

CAMRA had asked the Chancellor to freeze or cut beer duty by a small amount in the Budget as part of a long-term strategy towards reducing duty to a level that would take the profit out of smuggling.

 Mighty Mash

DARLINGTON’S NEAREST brewery, Durham Brewery of Bowburn, have been investing in new equipment to help them brew more strong bottle-conditioned beer, otherwise know as ‘real ale in a bottle’.

Boss Steven Gibbs has had a mash tun built that is twice the size of the original and says, “We could now mash for 20 barrels of regular-strength beer if the rest of the plant could take the resultant brew.

“But the reason for this extravagance is to enable us to brew more bottled beer. The old mash tun could make only 5 barrels of Temptation at 10% abv. We now have the capability to make ten barrels and hence be more efficient - and hopefully not run out of the precious liquid.

“We have also replaced a small fermenter with one that will cope with the new bottling regime.”

Unlike many breweries, particularly large ones, Durham does not tamper with its beers when they are bottled. Steve said: “We have no filtration, sterilisation or pasteurisation. The beer that is bottled is the same as the beer that is casked.

“The only difference is that it is carefully controlled with respect to the amount of yeast and the amount of fermentables contained in the beer. The beer is carefully checked for spoilage organisms, and if there are any, bottling is cancelled. This happens only in a blue moon.

“The result is a product that has all the flavour of the original (it is the original!) and it lasts indefinitely.”

Proving the point, Steve opened a five-year old Black Bishop recently. And declares it “wonderful!!”.

A Great Divide?

FAMILY BUSINESS meant my returning to south London for the first time in 25 years. Being away for so long I was expecting to pay upwards of £2.50 for a pint of real ale.

The Good Beer Guide lists 14 establishments within the borough of Croydon. Time and distance prevented me from visiting them all but there were a couple I particularly wanted to visit.

On walking into my former local - where apart from now being a one-room pub little had changed - Director’s was still on handpull, along now with Harvey’s Sussex. I decided on the Harvey’s and nearly fell on my stool when only asked for £2.10. So refreshing that another pint was ordered.

Later I strolled into a Young’s pub where a certain cup-tie was in progress. One customer had an accumulator bet worth £8,000 if The Pensioners won but it was awa’ the Pensioners not the Lads. I enjoyed a £2.20 pint to celebrate the Magpies victory.

The other place I wanted to visit was a tasteful Wetherspoon’s conversion of the UK’s first supermarket. I remember Sainsbury’s opening the store in 1951. With the ‘Monday club’ in operation Pedigree was a canny £1.89.

Out of interest I made a note of the prices I came across, ranging from £2.20 to £2.60 with an average of £2.35. I hasten to add this is outwith the City and West End but also excludes Wetherspoon’s prices.

Ten days later saw me visit York where the average price of real ale was £2.20.

So, I ask, is there much of North-South divide in the price of real ale? PC (‘Fruit & Veg Man’)

Coal black porter hits a high note

SUDDABY'S After Dark Coffee Porter, a strong (5% abv), coal-black product of the Brown Cow Brewery in Selby, was voted Beer of the Festival by visitors to the Darlington Spring Thing beer festival. The winning voter drawn out of the hat was M. Candle of Ottawa Road, Middlesbrough, who was rewarded with a gallon. The runner-up amongst the 46 draughts on sale was a lighter beer in every sense. Lemon Tree Ale, at a quaffing 3.8%, was brewed especially for the festival by the Sunderland-based Darwin outfit. Third most popular was a real heavyweight tipple - Beheaded, a 9% barley wine which travelled all the way from the Castle Brewery of Lostwithiel, Cornwall.

The next Darlington CAMRA beer festival, the annual Rhythm ‘n’ Brews weekend, is pencilled in for 15th-17th September. Details in our next DD.

BREWS, NEWS AND VIEWS

BLACK SHEEP Brewery has been picked by members of the Ramblers’ Association as their favourite real ale brewery. Over 143,000 people were invited to vote in the RA’s inaugural awards to discover the most trusted brands for Britain’s walkers. A Gold Award was presented to Pat Green of Black Sheep by writer and rambler Janet Street-Porter. A delighted Pat said: “As a small independent brewery based in the Yorkshire Dales, we sell our beers to hundreds of village pubs throughout the National Parks of Northern England, the sort of pubs enjoyed by walkers at the end of a great day out on the hills.”

THE BRITANNIA, Archer Street - Darlington CAMRA members’ top town pub for 2005 - is now serving six real ales following the installation of a fourth guest beer pump.

DARLINGTON CAMRA DIARY DATES

Darlington Drinker is published approximately two-monthly (with the odd beer break) by the Darlington branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Circulation 2,500. News, articles and letters welcome. All items © Darlington CAMRA but may be reproduced if source acknowledged. Editor: Brendan Boyle, 6 Clareville Road, Darlington DL3 8NG; 01325 362092; email brendan@bjboyle.freeserve.co.uk. To advertise contact Fred Lawton 07710 493514, RedFred4@aol.com. Rates quarter-page £30, half-page £50, page £80; sixth insertion free. CAMRA HQ is at 230 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 4LW; ( 01727 867201; website www.camra.org.uk.