Darlington CAMRA - Darlington Drinker 161

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THE MOST esteemed company in British brewing has been explaining its shock decision to close its brewery and move in with a rival.

Family-controlled Young’s is to sell its London base - the oldest site in Britain continuously used for brewing - and relocate production to the modern Eagle Brewery of Charles Wells 50 miles to the north in Bedford.

The new company of Wells & Young’s will be 60% owned by Charles Wells and 40% by Young’s. It will own the brewery and the beer brands of the two, including Wells Bombardier, Young’s Bitter, Waggledance and the fine bottle-conditioned Special London.

The firms will, however, retain their separate estates: Young’s 205 pubs mainly in London, and Wells 248 mainly outside.

Trial-brewing of Young’s beers has started at Bedford and will be fully underway in October.

Young’s spokesman Michael Hardman said they would be sad to leave the Ram Brewery but had had “dreadful” problems with the cramped high street site because of its layout, old equipment, and buildings, congestion and lack of space. “We couldn’t expand. It was a straightjacket.”

Until Wandsworth council re-wrote its planning policy they couldn’t afford to move either, as the site had only industrial value. When the council decided it could also be used for commercial and residential purposes its worth shot up to £50-£100m.

Young’s say the money will be used to develop the business, including putting £10m into W&Y. “This will strengthen our independence”, says Mr Hardman.

THE HANDFUL of North East pubs to have avoided the worst excesses of modernisation are celebrated in a new guide.

But its authors warn that pub enthusiasts and conservation watchdogs face major challenges over the coming years to keep even these few safe from ill-advised ‘improvements’.

Despite the region having more than 3,500 pubs, Campaign for Real Ale surveyors found only 49 to have preserved their interiors sufficiently to be included in the North East Regional Inventory.

CAMRA hopes the Inventory will bring attention to these valuable yet endangered interiors.

Tyneside resident John Holland, who compiled the entries, said: “This guide aims to list the best and most interesting historical interiors. However, there are very few left because of the enormous amount of opening-out, theming and general modernisation that has taken place. Safeguarding what is left has become a serious conservation challenge.”

Among the entries are “such rare” simple country pubs as the Milbank Arms at Barningham, Teesdale, which has no bar counter - drinks are brought from the cellar. A “sophisticated gem” is the Victoria in Durham whose separate rooms and fittings are almost exactly as they were when the pub was built in 1899. Whilst the spectacular mirrored and tiled back room of the Zetland in Middlesbrough, which can usually only be viewed by appointment, is “a sight to behold”.

John Holland stressed: “This guide is essential for anyone who is interested in the heritage and conservation of the North East’s superb historical pubs.”

*North East Regional Inventory, 36-pages, available price £2 from CAMRA at www.camra.org.uk/books or by calling(01727) 867201.

Darlington Drinker …Twenty Years Ago

“CLUBLAND’S own brewery - the Federation - is producing traditional beer again after a break of 16 years.

This completes a remarkable about-turn by British breweries. Every single company now produces at least one cask-conditioned ale. Not so long ago many were telling us it was a thing of the past.

Federation’s move comes at a time when they are trying to expand sales beyond their established clubs base into the free trade, including pubs. They admit they had to add cask beer to broaden their product range: ‘It was something we had to do.’”

Darlington Drinker 47, Sept 1986

VISITORS TO this year’s Rhythm ‘n’ Brews festival at Darlington Arts Centre may have to be a little forgiving. Not of the unquestionably-great beer and music, but of construction work that may be ongoing.

An £800,000 refurbishment of the building got underway in April, with completion planned “by the end of the Summer”. Whether R‘n’B 2006 - the 27th annual autumn beer and music festival to be held at the one-time training college - just misses, or just catches, the works remains to be seen.

Whatever is the case, the event will definitely take place from 14th-16th September.

Tickets are already on sale for the three evening sessions, at bargain admission prices which have been held steady for the fifth year running (they must increase next time). And as ever, the Friday and Saturday lunchtime sessions are free of entry charge - with regular favourites Copperhead playing - at a sensible level - in the beer hall on the latter.

Darlington Campaign for Real Ale members will be running the beer side of the festival - kicking off with fifty great British draught brews, along with a good choice of classic imported bottles, farmhouse ciders and the odd perry (pear cider). A special CAMRA membership enrolment offer will be available to visitors too. But why wait to join? Do so now and you’ll get a discount on the price of the evening tickets - £1 off each for CAMRA members.

The Arts Centre Rhythm ‘n’ Blues Club are in charge of the music line-up (see panel for details) and tickets can be bought in person or over the phone at the Arts Centre in Vane Terrace or at the Civic Theatre in Parkgate. See you there !.

Darlington Arts Centre R'n'B Club and Darlington CAMRA present

The 27th Darlington Beer & Music Festival

Rhythm

‘n’

Brews

2006

A Celebration of R’n’B Music

and Real Ale

Fifty Great British ales from independent, family and micro breweries, traditional ciders and imported bottled beers - plus top quality rhythm and blues

DARLINGTON ARTS CENTRE,

VANE TERRACE

Thursday 14 September

6-11.30pm (admission £3)

Friday 15 September

12-3pm (FREE) and

6-11.30pm (£4.50)

Saturday 16 September

11.30-4pm (FREE) and

7-11.30pm (£3)

£1 off evening sessions for CAMRA members & concessions

Advance booking recommended for eves

R’n’B bands: Rivers (Thu 8pm);

The Smokehouse Blues (Fri 8pm);

Copperhead (Sat 1pm); Sean Webster Band (Sat 8pm)

TICKETS ON SALE FROM THE ARTS CENTRE Tel. (01325) 486555

——— 0 ———

AND don’t miss Rhythm ’n’ Blues Sunday, 17 September: live and free in the Market Place and nearby pubs from 1pm

THE ARDEN Arms at Atley Hill, South Cowton reopened in May, under Alex Liddle and Charlotte Parry, after being closed for two years.

There have been no major changes to the building, which has two large bar areas and separate dining areas. Black Sheep Best Bitter is a regular beer alongside two changing guest beers taken from the Coors guest list. These have included Greene King IPA, Adnams Bitter and Old Speckled Hen. There is a regular menu with starters from £3, main courses with changing daily specials from £6 and a number of vegetarian options with sweets at £3.95.

The pub is on the B1263 between North Cowton and Scorton. Tel (01325) 378678; www.geocities.com/ardenarms. Open 12-3pm (close 4pm Sunday and Monday lunch) and 6-11pm. Meals served until 2.30pm (3pm Sunday) and 9.30pm. DH

PS If any DD readers are venturing to the Gdansk area in Poland look out for draught beers from the Amber Brewery located to the South of Gdansk. They are unpasteurised and had ‘homemade’ pump clips. We found them in Sopot and also the seaside resort area to the east of Gdansk (in the mad fish smokers bar/restaurant).

PUBS COULD charge higher prices for beer, according to the brewing conglomerate InBev. And they should know: their leading brand, Stella Artois, is advertised rather ludicrously as “refreshingly expensive”.

InBev managing director Steve Kitching believes licensees are restricting profits by not being ‘flexible’ with their prices.

He said “Pubs need to move to a pricing system that reflects how the beer category is developing. Traditionally, pubs had a limited range, but as more brands come on to the market, retailers’ approach to pricing needs to change to reflect this.

“Traditionally, retail pricing was determined purely on margin terms based on retailers’ need to make a certain percentage profit. Today it’s more about what consumers are willing to pay, but there is still some way to go” he said.

Meanwhile, Fuller’s has “significantly reduced” its sale of Stella in its pub estate, apparently in response to falling demand for the lager. Too expensive perhaps?

THE WENSLEYDALE Brewery of Bellerby, near Leyburn, has taken over the Three Horseshoes in - appropriately enough - Wensley.

The pub has been acquired on a free-of-tie lease from the Bolton estate. Brewery part-owner Richard Thompson says the Horseshoes will be a flagship outlet. It should stock all of Wensleydale's award-winning beers plus guests from micro breweries in Yorkshire and the north east.

"When we knew the lease of the pub was available we jumped at the chance to take it and we are very excited about the possibilities it will bring to the business," he said.

The brewery expanded into converted farm buildings at Bellerby last year from its previous cramped home within the Forester’s Arms at Carlton in Coverdale. The move enable Richard and his business partner Peter Fairhall to increase production up to 60 barrels a week and to install modern bottling plant.

The brewery actually started life in Suffolk, under the name of Lidstones, and their Rowley Mild was voted Champion Mild of Britain in 2003.

Country Pub Correction

OUR APOLOGIES to the to staff and customers of a couple of local pubs. We said in DD160 - correctly - that the Crown at Manfield had once again been voted Country Pub of the Year by Darlington CAMRA members. We then managed to get the runners-up in the wrong order. Steaming into second place was actually the Locomotion One at Heighington Station, whilst third spot went to the lovely Langdon Beck Hotel in Teesdale. They’re all worth a trip out !

THE CAMPAIGN for Real Ale is calling on Greene King to keep the Hardys & Hansons' brewery in Nottinghamshire open if - or when - their £271m takeover bid for the company is successful.

It is also renewing pleas to the Government to reintroduce the right of publicans who are tied to big companies like Greene King to stock a guest beer. The board of Hardys & Hansons is backing the takeover after becoming the latest of Britain’s long-established regional breweries to call it a day.

But history shows that such takeovers damage consumer choice and competition. CAMRA is particularly concerned at the increasing power of Suffolk-based Greene King, which has become a national force in recent years. Recent Greene King acquisitions have included the breweries of Morlands, Ridleys and Belhaven as well as some major pub chains. Only Belhaven of Dunbar in Scotland is still brewing.

GK’s main interest in the brewing companies is their pubs. Acquiring Hardys & Hansons’ 269 houses will take GK’s estate to some 2,680 nationwide. In 1996 they had 900. CAMRA says such a strengthening grip of the country’s pubs is worrying and justifies the reintroduction of the Guest Beer Right, abolished by the Government in 2002.

Campaign spokesman Mike Benner said: “We warned the Government that the abolition of the Guest Beer Right would result in a series of mergers and takeovers that would undermine competition and consumer choice. Do we want to find ourselves in a situation where every other pub sells only Greene King IPA? The Guest Beer Right must be reintroduced before it is too late so that licensees can sell a beer of their choice to preserve the future for independent breweries.”

Hardys brewery was formed in 1832 and Hansons was formed in 1847, both brewers merged in 1930 to become Hardys & Hansons brewery.

Down Route 66

MAY’S DARLINGTON CAMRA coach crawl visited six Yorkshire pubs. First stop was the Bay Horse in Middleton Tyas, a very friendly, busy pub where a pleasant pint of Black Sheep Best Bitter (£2.25) was available.

Next was the Shoulder of Mutton in the same village, a charming pub consisting of a bar and a large restaurant. Real ales on offer were Black Sheep Best, Marston’s Pedigree and Tetley Bitter.

The Angel at Gilling West, a traditional friendly pub, had John Smith's and Theakston’s bitters at a reasonable £2 a pint. A short walk along the High Street took us to the White Swan, a charming 17th century pub consisting of a bar area with real fire and a dining area. A good selection of real ales included Silver Stallion, Emmerdale and John Smith's.

The next port of call was the Fox Hall, a large stone-built roadside inn beside the A66 near East Layton with a welcoming real fire. Black Sheep (again) and Theakston Best Bitter as a guest ale didn’t disappoint us.

Our trips nearly always come up with something new or different and this time it was the A66 Motel at Smallways, between Scotch Corner and Barnard Castle. I confess that the name ‘motel’ conjured up a vision of a bland functional establishment catering for the weary traveller, which was far from the truth. Not only did we feel very welcomed, the Motel had a good selection or real ales and for the non beer drinkers (benighted souls) a selection of over 100 whiskies and 30 gins. Pints of Fat Cat (4.4%) Aviator (4%) went down very pleasantly.

In all a very pleasant night. It was nice to visit pubs many of us never get the chance to visit very often. Angus

WORLD PRODUCTION of beer increased by 3% in 2005 to 1.598 billion hectolitres (more than 35 billion gallons) according to the authoritative Barth Report. That’s 43 pints for every person on the planet.

But the UK bucked the growth trend by registering a significant drop of 2.9 million hl as drinkers switched to imports and to bevvies perceived as being more fashionable.

China contributed by far the largest amount of the production increase. In Europe, Ukraine and Russia provided strong growth. An increase in the Americas was accounted for by Brazil and Mexico, with output also falling in the USA.

Africa showed the highest growth of all continents in percentage terms, with an increase of 4.9 %.

AFTER A brief glimmer of hope, the lights at the White Horse at Harrowgate Hill are set to go out for the last time. It will leave the expanding residential area ‘dry’ for the first time in at least 150 years.

Staff have been told that the pub and hotel will close on 17th September. It will do so less than three years after being acquired at auction by a Mr Jay Patel of Leeds for something less than £900,000. And virtually a year to the day of planning permission for residential development being granted by Darlington Council, in the face of vociferous objections from regulars, residents, the parish council and the local branch of CAMRA.

To objectors’ sceptical surprise the manager, Sue Bennett, announced in March that the White Horse would remain open for two years. But the reality was that the site was placed on the market by Mr Patel in May, with offers invited of £1.75m and above.

The White Horse has existed in one form or another since at least the 1850s when it served the needs of local farm workers, and travellers on the old turnpike roads which met at this point. It marks the site of the Harrowgate gate toll bar and was a landmark on the old Great North Road.

CAMRA’s objections argued that the pub is the social focus for a population of over 5,000 people. Residents have no alternative pubs available to them within reasonable walking distance: the nearest is the Burns (which unlike the White Horse doesn’t offer real ale), a round-trip of 2.2km away. The Springfield is a round-trip of 3km. A visit to the Forester’s Arms at Coatham Mundeville would entail a walk along a busy country road of 6km.

IN DD160 we published a 24-page guide, Real Ale in and around Darlington & Teesdale. And very well-received it was (with one or two exceptions). Below are significant updates and corrections that we have become aware of: many thanks to everyone who has been in touch. Copies of the guide are still available free on request from the editor of DD, contact details on our back page. Do let us know of further changes to pass on.

Quaker House: apparently not in a ‘dark old yard’. Although the yard is very old, and narrow. So the sun doesn’t get in that much…

Central Borough: real ale not always on. The pub dates from at least 1881, not 1906.

Kirby Hill, Shoulder of Mutton has replaced the Jennings with Caledonian Deuchar’s IPA.

Middleton in Teesdale, Bridge Inn, doesn’t wish to be included. Not in a terrace and not owned by Teesdale Traditional Taverns, just leased from them. Just forget you we ever mentioned it...

COULD YOU please tell me who supplied the wording and approved the ad for the Bridge Inn in Middleton-in-Teesdale.(It wasn’t an ad, it was our free real ale guide - Ed.) The description of our pub is appalling, compared to descriptions of other pubs in the area such as the Rose & Crown, Romaldkirk, and the Bridge Inn, Whorlton.

No-one contacted us to ask if we wanted to be featured in this publication. If they had, we would probably have taken a decent sized space and supplied the wording we normally use for our ads, i.e. traditional village inn offering warm & friendly welcome, bar meals and beer garden with spectacular views, etc. We would also add our web site address.

Teesdale Taverns are the freeholders only. We are the leaseholders, joint licensees and owners of the business and the phone number you printed is ours. Our customers were therefore very surprised to read that we are not the owners !.

THE CAMPAIGN for Real Ale holds its national annual general meeting each Spring over a long members’ weekend. Every one of CAMRA’s 80,000 members is invited to attend, although some focus a bit more on the social side of things than others. Two recent Darlington recruits report here on their trip to breezy Blackpool ...

AS WE only joined CAMRA late last year this will not be an expert assessment!

On Friday we left the members’ beer festival in the Winter Gardens and joined the organised coach trip to Thwaites’ Brewery in Blackburn, stopping on the way at a mini-festival in The Shovels pub.

At the brewery we were unable to see the first stage on the top floor for Health & Safety reasons, and as it was a Friday the bottling and cask racking was not being done. There was not a lot to see in between, large fermentation tanks of course, wort etc being boiled in concealed vessels. The price of £10 included a buffet and unlimited beer so it was good value.

On Saturday we did not feel knowledgeable enough to take part in the AGM or workshops so we visited some recommended pubs in the area, the highlight being The Taps in Lytham.

Back in Blackpool we spent a cheerful couple of hours at the Pump and Truncheon opposite the police station followed by a curry at a recommended restaurant – enlivened by a traditional hen party.

The evening in Fleetwood was (?marred) by tedious tram travel, but had a good choice of beer.

Leaving early next morning, we reflected that it had been an interesting (short) weekend and next year’s in Wolverhampton is a definite possibility. Liz and Alan.

A GERMAN brewery is reported to be marketing a beer that is supposed to slow down the ageing process.
The brewery, at Neuzelle near Frankfurt a/d Oder, has been brewing its “anti-ageing beer” for more than two years The project is apparently financed by the German Government.

Beer from the brewery is enriched with water from hot springs of Bad Saarow which is rich in algae and flavonoids. These are thought to regulate the metabolism of oxygen in the cells. Flavonoids are known anti-oxidants, neutralizing dangerous free radicals and counteracting inflammations.

The claimed beneficial effects against ageing are, however, unproven as there is no scientifically substantiated research into the link between consumption of such beer and the speed of ageing.

Chair Seeks Seat

LOCAL CAMRA branch chairman Angus was so busy on Friday he forgot the coach crawl to North Yorkshire pubs. Luckily, he was summoned by mobile phone and the bus collected him by 7.15.

Danby Wiske and its White Swan is off the map for some of us so it was good to call at a fresh pub. It served some energising Emmerdale at £2.20. Also on tap was from Black Sheep Bitter and Ring o’ Bells Dreckly at 4.8% (it means ‘chilled out’ in Cornish).

Moving in a north-easterly direction to Welbury brought the 14 of us to the Duke of Wellington where some agreeable Black Sheep Best (£2.25) went down. John Smith's also available. A short journey to Appleton Wiske enabled us to re-visit the Lord Nelson where recruitment posters were on view for the Royal Navy in 1800. The delectable Deuchars IPA was not out of date though.

The Grange Arms at Hornby provided our party with a choice of Landlord, John Smith's Bitter and Black Sheep at £2.30.

Amongst the many drinkers found at our next stop, the Bay Horse at Great Smeaton, was previous chairman Ian. He recommended the Umbel Ale and the Mars Magic, two new ones I had to try. Our national dominoes champion, Alan, felt he had to give four players of 5s and 3s his advice, which was not appreciated. They gave up playing.

On our return journey to Darlo, members reflected on the warm evening, the classic cloud formations over the distant but heavenly hills to the north-west and the milky moon rising beyond Barnard Castle. Lord Malcolm of Talcum

Darlington Branch of CAMRA Committee 2006/2007

Chairman: Angus Gair; Secretary: John Magson; Treasurer: Alan Holmes; Membership Secretary: Stephen Wade; Publicity/DD Editor: Brendan Boyle; Social Secretary & Pubs Officer: Peter Fenwick; Tasting Panel Organiser: David Edwards; Website Designer: Ian Jackson

Other Committee members: Phil Chinery, Peter Everett, Colin Holmes, Fred Lawton and Andrew Poole.

THE WILLIAM STEAD, Wetherspoons new ‘Lloyd’s No.1’ style pub in Crown Street, is now planned to open on 21st August, a few weeks later than scheduled. The delay was caused by work to create a novel indoor/outdoor garden area to facilitate smokers when next year’s ban comes into force. The bar should start life with four handpulled ales.

THE OTTER & FISH at Hurworth could, we hope, stock real ale for the first time in years when it reopens after the current refurbishment works, as the lease is being taken over by Bill and Barbara Weeks who sell good stuff at their existing pub. They intend to continue running that, the Beeswing at East Cowton.

THE CROWN, Manfield has started a designated drivers’ soft drink scheme. Anybody bringing three passengers to the pub in their car can drink non-alcoholic drinks for free, round for round with the tipplers. Pick up a token at the bar on arrival.

Darlington Drinker is published approximately two-monthly (with the odd beer break) by the Darlington branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Circulation 3,000. 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.