Darlington CAMRA - Darlington Drinker 162

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ANOTHER of Britain’s long-established regional breweries is being axed by the acquisitive Greene King company. The latest in a stream of closures over the past decade.

Greene King, based in Suffolk but now of a scale to warrant national brewer (or perhaps ‘greene emperor’) status, bought Hardys & Hansons of Nottinghamshire for £271m in June. The main attraction was its 262 pubs across the east Midlands, which swelled GK’s tied estate to 2,600.

Despite thousands of Hardys & Hansons customers signing a petition to retain the 174 year old brewery in Kimberley, Greene King have announced that brewing will cease by Christmas and production of Hardys’ beers such as Olde Trip will be shifted to HQ at Bury St Edmunds.

That has something of a split personality already, being the home today not only of GK’s own brands but of ‘ghost’ beers sold under the name of Morlands (eg Old Speckled Hen), Ruddles and Ridleys.

Drinkers in Nottinghamshire reacted with anger at the news. Andrew Ludlow, of the Save Hardys & Hansons Brewery group said, “Only weeks after acquiring this remarkable Victorian brewery, Greene King has ignored calls from across the UK to keep brewing in Kimberley. We will continue our campaign until Greene King reverses its decision.”

CAMRA’s Mike Benner said Britain’s brewing heritage was being eroded by a string of closures through consolidation

WHILE HARDYS and Hansons are still brewing Kimberley ales it is worth going to Nottingham to sample their beers.

During a visit to the Grand Central Railway at Loughborough we travelled up to Nottingham and drank Kimberley Ales at the Olde Trip to Jerusalem (in Brewhouse Yard, below the castle), which is worth a visit in its own right. All the beers were on excellent form.

We then took the tram to Basford (passing the former Shipstones Brewery on the way) and walked to the Fox & Crown which is the home of the Alcazar Brewery. The brewery shop is close by.

To finish off we returned to Nottingham station and visited the Vat and Fiddle (turn left from the main entrance) which serves a number of beers from Castle Rock Brewery as well as numerous guest beers. All the Castle Rock Beers were good and the Harvest Pale was exceptional. David Hill

“DARLINGTON drinkers are about to be presented with a ‘free house’ with the widest range of real ales in the area - courtesy of Camerons.

The Hartlepool brewery are busy remodelling the Old English Gentleman, Bondgate as a “free real ale managed operation”. Put simply, cask beers from other brewers will be on sale alongside those from Camerons - six or more in total.

The pub’s name and decor will change - with bench seats, bare floorboards and exposed brickwork designed to create a traditional ‘Victorian’ alehouse atmosphere.”

DRINKERS at the recent Darlington Rhythm ‘n’ Brews festival selected the wonderfully hoppy, and at 5.9% abv deceptively strong, Jaipur IPA from the Thornbridge brewery in the heart of Derbyshire’s Peak District as the 2006 Beer of the Festival.

White Bull (5%) from Sunderland’s Bull Lane micro-brewery was runner-up, with Williamette (4.3%) from Roosters of Knaresborough in third place. The winning voters who get free beer tokens were Messrs PR Weavell of Durham, D Storey of Darlington and JD Fenwick of Aldbrough St John.

IN THE SPACE of just five weeks recently Darlington real ale drinkers found themselves with a hugely-improved choice of pubs. In a town where cask beer is still a minority taste no fewer than three new, and very different, destinations presented themselves: two brand new hostelries - one central, the other suburban - and one of Darlington’s oldest boozers given a much-needed kiss of life. We introduce here The William Stead, The White Heifer That Travelled and the reinvigorated Slater’s Arms. It’s over to we customers now to show the licensees it’s worth their while stocking those pesky handpulled beers ...

JD WETHERSPOON’S new Darlington pub was so long in gestation - more than four years - that it when it opened it was already on its third choice of name.

The name William Stead, like the discarded options, ‘echoes’ the inky traditions of Crown Street, WT Stead being a campaigning Victorian editor of the Great Daily of the North over the road.

Never a great tippler (some say he was a puritan) he would surely still have toasted the fine job the chain have done in his name (with a mere £1.8m) to restore a previously-drab shell of a shop into a dignified, redbrick asset to the street.

The building is big even by super-pub standards but the ground floor, unified by its long counter, is neatly sub-divided and - apart from a disco floor tucked into one end - is well provided with tables and chairs. TVs are set mute to sport during the day; music ramps up on an evening.

The lengthy hours, all-day menu and opposition-busting Wetherspoon prices - even here in the upmarket ‘Lloyd’s No.1’ brand - attract legions of eaters before the drinkers take over.

The upstairs area does remain the preserve of diners through into the evening. The range of beer on high is more limited than below, but that could give you an excuse to try the fancy, see-through lift if you’re carrying a few pints.

We told in DD159 how in 1912 Stead went down on the Titanic. We speculated on the “morbidly-ironic, but entirely-possible, prospect of one day a beer from the Titanic brewery being sunk in the William Stead”. That day wasn’t long in coming: September 17 to be precise. Sorry WT, but we just had to do it !.

*The William Stead, 8 Crown Street, Darlington DL1 1LU. Regular real ales Courage Directors, Greene King Abbot, Marston’s Bitter and Pedigree plus a guest beer or two. Also stocks bottle-conditioned Belgian Duvel. Open 8am-1am (2am Fri & Sat; alcohol sold from 9am) Food served until 10pm. Children permitted with an adult until 9pm if both order food. No smoking other than in/on the innovative ‘indoor-outdoor’ patio.

IF ‘THE White Heifer That Travelled’ isn’t the longest pub name in Britain it can’t be far off. It is certainly unique, and will doubtless stay that way.

DD157 called the name “ponderous”. The publishers of another Darlington freebie thought it so “ill-advised” they refused to use it even in the month the pub opened! (Presumably they’ll be happy too do so if an ad is forthcoming.)

Well, the Heifer etc has stopped its travelling and come to rest in a rapidly-disappearing field at Westpark on the edge of town. So we’d better all get used to it. And will when we appreciate the local origins of the name.

Plenty of customers already have got used to it, especially families and others seeking a relaxed and mainly smoke-free environment where food is available all day and there’s good beer and service. The design style is ‘sort-of-farmhouse’, both inside and out, with a varied choice of semi-enclosed spaces off a central servery. Huge, heated parasols on the front patio offer outdoor drinking in previously-unpromising weather.

The Heifer (etc) and its three real ales, brewed in three different towns, are all the products of a single company, although you’d never guess it. Pathfinder Pubs is the managed house division of Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries. Whose Black Country HQ brews Banks’s Original (the budget beer here, currently £1.90 a pint; not many realise it’s a mild).

The Pedigree comes from Marston’s of Burton-on-Trent, which was taken over in 1999. Whilst the changing third ale is usually from Jenning’s of Cockermouth - acquired by W&D in 2005.

All of which raises the question. Why are W&D, like the breeders of the first White Heifer That Travelled, so keen to grow big but, unlike them, so reluctant to display it?

*The White Heifer That Travelled, Tillage Green, Westpark, West Auckland Rd (A68), DL3 6HX. Real ales: Banks’s Original and Marston’s Pedigree plus a rotating beer such as Jenning’s Cumberland. Open 11-11 (midnight Fri & Sat). Food until 9pm.

THE PUB name comes from the early 19th century when Darlington led the world not only in railways but in agricultural innovation. To feed the growing urban populations, livestock needed to mature young and give a high beef yield. The shorthorn cattle bred by farmers Charles and Robert Colling became the first breed reliably to do both, and descendants of their herd sold all over Britain. Breeders would tour their best stock around cattle fairs and The White Heifer That Travelled crossed the country in a specially-designed box. As an advert for one show said, “The like of bigness was never seen in the World before !”. (Thanks to Westpark poet WN Herbert)

BONDGATE is possibly Darlington’s oldest street, originating in early medieval times, and The Slater’s Arms is one of the town’s oldest pubs. Listed grade II, the official description dates the building as early-mid 18th century, although its ‘pubby’ features are mainly Victorian.

Punch Taverns’ 21st century refit has been commendably restrained, TV screens and music (which can be loud on an evening) in the bar notwithstanding. It is now more inviting generally and offers a surprising choice of pleasant spaces.

The front bar is in three parts, centred respectively on a pool table, the serving counter and a cosy snug.

But the best for anyone who enjoys seeing original pub fixtures and fittings, instead of instant bric-a-brac and gutted interiors, comes a step or two up behind the bar. There two further areas survive. The smaller is brightly decorated in modern style but retains traditional half-height tongue and groove boarding.

The other - low-ceilinged, once a separate room but now doorless - has dark wood panelling, inset on three walls with old bell pushes. It focuses on a cast iron fireplace complete with old hearth tiles, reassuringly well-cracked. Punch’s designers have appropriately reinstated bench wall seats. Service to the back rooms is via a hatch overlooking the bar.

Overall one of the most sensitive pub refurbishments in Darlington: Punch can be proud.

*The Slater’s Arms, 50 Bondgate, Darlington DL3 7JJ. Real ales: Black Sheep Best Bitter and John Smith's Magnet. Open 11-11.30 Mon-Sat; 12-11 Sun. Food (pizza, paninis, salads) served 12-6pm. Tel. (07962) 436584.

GREENE KING have replaced the defunct Whitbread name on Darlington’s Red Lion with their own, a full two years after acquiring the Priestgate pub. Sadly, at the same time they’ve also replaced the old, hand-painted heraldic sign of a red lion with a bland, corporate representation of a …green king.

Pictorial signs depicting a pub’s name have been used in Britain since at least 1600, originating when most people were unable to read.

Greene King have burgeoned in recent years from a Suffolk regional to a national combine, growing their estate to 2,600 pubs. That’s bad enough without thousands of near-identical, computer generated signs sprouting up across the country.

AUTUMN, the season of mists and mellow cheerfulness. When a landlord’s fancy turns festive. Check out this fine crop of pub beer festivals over the coming weeks:

October 19 onwards, Chequers, Dalton-on-Tees. First Chequers Beer Festival, beers from eight different breweries (may not all be available at the same time). Free tastings of beers, cheeses and local produce. Info: (01325) 721213.

October 20-31, Tanner’s Hall, Skinnergate (and the William Stead, Crown Street?). Wetherspoon’s Full Moon Beer Festival: 32 different real ales over the festival. Info: (01325) 369939.

October 26-29, Darlington Snooker Club, Corporation Road. Booze ‘n’ Cues, up to 20 real ales with a Hallowe’en theme. Thu 7-midnight, Fri & Sat 11am-late; Sun noon-midnight. £1 cover charge, proceeds to Neuroendocrine Tumour Foundation. Info: (01325) 241388.

November 16-18, Surtees Arms, Ferryhill Station. Best of British, at least ten real ales plus ciders and wines. Thu 4-11pm, Fri 4-11pm, Sat noon-late. Info: (01740) 655724.

*DD will try to find space for a free plug for any pub in our area organising a festival of real ale. Drop a line to the editor with details as far ahead as possible.

AN EARLY 2007 date for festival followers’ diaries: the Stockton Ale & Arty Beer Festival will take place from 15th-17th February at the Arc arts centre in Dovecot Street. Billed by Cleveland CAMRA as “small but perfectly formed”, it will stock over 50 beers plus cider, perry and bottled beers. Opening hours 11am-5.30pm and 6.30-11pm daily.

THE WHITE HORSE closed its doors on September 17, leaving the Harrowgate Hill area of Darlington ‘dry’ for the first time in over 150 years. Owner Jay Patel blamed “a lack of trade”. The controversial planning permission he has in his pocket for 55 apartments on the site perhaps had a bearing on any recent decline in custom and on his decision? The photo shows the cellar in 1954 when trade was for huge quantities of Cameron’s from the wood.

DARLINGTON couple Jane and Paul Graham - faithful members of CAMRA that they are - didn’t let a mere rain forest get between them and some serious research on a trip to South America.

Jane has sent us a pic of Paul and new friends sampling moonshine in an Amazonian jungle juice bar: “The locals said it cured all ills - which is just as well as there was no hospital within a 50 mile radius and no other bars”.

“It was made from sugar cane using a 100 year old cow-operated press. The still was two old oil barrels and some pipes. It was very nice too!”

In the jungle town of Iquitos they switched to a local dark ale chilled in a wooden cask. It went nicely with the fried bananas and crocodile burger…

CONGRATULATIONS once more to Peter and Karen Hynes of the Crown Inn at Manfield. After their rural real ale mecca achieved the fantastic feat of being named CAMRA Yorkshire Pub of the Year for 2005 - the most northerly-ever - they have very nearly done it again. The Crown has been placed third in this year’s judging from literally thousands of eligible hostelries.

DARLINGTON’S 2006 10km road race had surprise early leaders. Three members of the Campaign for Real Ale not noted for their athleticism away from the snooker table exercised themselves before the pubs opened…

WHAT TO do on an August Sunday morning? Some stay in bed, some go to church, some think of the first pint.

Others, like Peter Everett, Mel and myself were looking forward to the Darlington 10k. Yes 6¼ miles around the streets of Darlo. Peter proposed to walk so Mel and I agreed to join in on that basis. We were all being sponsored, with proceeds to Carcinoid research, the quiet cancer.

We started half an hour before the runners and were on Coniscliffe Road before the leaders caught us, going at 30mph it seemed. It was a good job we were on the pavement otherwise we would have been trampled by the following pack. First CAMRA member passing us was Paul, Brendan gave some encouragement, then Sue came by.

Our calves were beginning to hurt, we were feeling our ligaments and my left knee was rather sore. Mel said we were on the last lap and only 2k to go. Only 858 runners had overtaken us... With the end in sight we were now being heckled by Ross and then John C.

Finally, after 1,102 runners overtook us we staggered over the finish line. But we’d done it. Some cash still to be paid but over £600 collected in sponsorship, mainly from Darlington Snooker Club and also CAMRA members. Malcolm

THE SCRAPPING of BMIbaby flights from Teesside (sorry DTV) Airport has reduced the options for short beer breaks from here. But it hasn’t ended them. Roving reporter ADRIAN BELL kicks off our mini travel feature with tips on Ireland’s second city ...

INSTEAD OF just going to the same old pubs every weekend why not try something different?

Cork city has a lot of old and interesting pubs, too many to list here, and don’t judge by appearances as what looks like a small bar can often go back a long way inside. The bad news is that I found no real ale in any of these pubs. Murphy’s and Beamish are on sale everywhere, but most pubs seem to serve it far too cold.

There is some good news though, Cork’s only brewery The Franciscan Well (www.franciscanwellbrewery.com) brews an impressive range of different styles of beer: bitter, lager, stout, weiss, Kölsch etc, and has a good sized beer garden to drink them in.

I have found breweries with this same range in both Oslo and Copenhagen, perhaps they all buy the same brewing kit and recipes? It is still good beer though!

Sights to see include Cork City gaol (www.corkcitygaol.com), and there are regular buses (€5.10 return) to Blarney Castle (www.blarneycastle.ie) if you really must kiss the Stone. More attractions can be found on www.cork-guide.ie).

Flights can be booked from Newcastle with www.jet2.com for about £35, and there are regular buses from the airport to the city for €6.30 return. Bed and (full Irish) breakfast accommodation can be booked with www.goireland.com from £30 a night single or £45 double.

IN MAY we published with DD160 our 24-page CAMRA guide, Real Ale in and around Darlington & Teesdale. Here’s the latest batch of significant updates. Copies of the guide are still available free from pubs or on request from the editor of DD (contact details on back page). Please let us know of further changes to pass on next time.

Additional real ale pub: The Slater’s Arms, 50 Bondgate reopened on September 25 after nine months in darkness.

New pub: The White Heifer That Travelled opened at Tillage Green, Westpark on September 11.

Pub closed: The White Horse, North Road, Harrowgate Hill has closed permanently to make way for housing development.

Piercebridge, The George Hotel closed temporarily on October 2 but will reopen. Ring ahead to check on (01325) 374576.

THE TEAM from the George & Dragon at Heighington has proven once again that the country’s top doms players reside right here. The six-strong side, which includes keen CAMRA members Alan and Colin Holmes, successfully defended the title they won last year of British National Domino Champions (team combinations) at the finals in Bridlington !.

DD161 mentioned that the Wensleydale brewery had taken the lease of the Three Horseshoes in Wensley. The pub is now open with the main bar room being refurbished and the two other rooms tidied up. There are new pine tables and chairs in all the rooms. The legendary toilets are still as rural as ever.

The bar has eight handpumps, five serve Wensleydale beers with the others being guest beers from Jarrow, Wear Valley, and Wharfedale. There is an ever changing blackboard menu ranging from baguettes to main courses at around £7, and food is served until 8pm. Only baguettes are served in the afternoon.

During a lunchtime visit there were a number of walkers, many of whom had travelled on the Wensleydale Railway (www.wensleydalerailway.com) and were walking from the terminus at Redmire back to Leyburn and had incorporated a pub stop for lunch. David Hill

‘Free’ Beer is Here

IF YOU are passing through Cockerton it is worth calling in to the Food Co supermarket on the Green to see what beers they have. Recently they had Darwin Hop Drop and Freeminer Waterloo Ale, both bottle conditioned, at five for £5. There are often other unusual beers available such as Thwaites-brewed Bombay lager and other UK brewed beers for export.

THE NEW Co-operative at West Park, near the equally new White Heifer, is also stocking a bottled real ale from the Forest of Dean-based Freeminer brewery. Gold Miner (5%, £1.89) is a mellow beer produced especially for the Co-op.

‘A Guide to Collecting Beer Mats’ (£16.99 plus p&p) is in A4 format and has 176 pages, all colour throughout.

It contains over 1,000 scanned images of mats dating back to 1929 and is proving popular with not only beer mat collectors but by general collectors of breweriana and others interested in brewery history.

AS YOU can see from my address, although born and brought up in Darlington I am now exiled in the South-east of England. I have just read and enjoyed as always DD161. I manage to get hold of the odd copy on visits or occasionally from friends in Darlington.

Faversham has good beers produced by Shepherd Neame; the downside is they control most of the pubs in town and there are no guest beers. I couldn’t agree more with your comments on page 9 [asking the Government to restore the right of publicans tied to big companies to stock a guest beer].

You mention the guide, Real Ale in Darlington & Teesdale, and I wonder could you send me a copy? In the meantime keep up the good work.

(Thanks Stephen, the cheque, sorry guide’s, in the post, as will be future copies of DD - Ed.)

FORMER Darlington CAMRA branch chairman Ian Jackson, a full-mash craft brewer for years, has fulfilled a long-held dream. He’s secured a top job with a commercial brewery, taking up the post of head brewer, no less, at the Wear Valley Brewery in Bishop Auckland. The next beer’s on you, Ian ...

IAN is still finding time for Campaign business however: he is webmaster for the new branch website. This gives up-to-date news of branch events, both social and non-social, has a section on how the branch was formed, plus an archive section detailing past news and presentations to pubs and breweries who’ve won beer of the festival awards. You’ll find it all at www.darlocamra.org.uk.

The Big Country

THE COUNTRYMAN at Bolam, west of Darlington, is doing so well these days that a new extension has had to be added. As we go to press the ninety-seat function room is due to open on November 3.

THE CAMPAIGN for Real Ale is offering special Christmas gift packages at big discounts. All the packages include one year’s CAMRA membership and are post-free:

* SAVE 10%: membership plus a CAMRA silk tie and bottle-opener keyring just £30.

* SAVE 33%: CAMRA membership plus the brand new Good Bottled Beer Guide and a bottle-opener keyring for a mere £25.

DARLINGTON SNOOKER CLUB in Corporation Road has been named real ale Club of the Year for North East for a remarkable third year running by the region’s CAMRA members. A great treble by Peter Everett and his team. It now goes through to the national judging rounds.

THE CROSS KEYS at Gainford has won the top award in the pub/restaurant/hotel category of Northumbria in Bloom. Ian and Maureen Ross had no fewer than 50 hanging baskets displayed this summer.

THE COUNTY, Aycliffe village has been named North East pub of the year by the 2007 Good Pub Guide for its top quality chef-prepared food and four real ales. Congratulations to Andrew Brown and his team.

THE CARLBURY ARMS at Piercebridge has been bought by the Flodrive Group from the now defunct London & Edinburgh pub chain.

Darlington Drinker is published approximately two-monthly (with the odd beer break) by the Darlington branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Circulation 3,200. 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. Additional contributors this issue: Adrian Bell, Malcolm Dunstone, Jane Graham, David Hill, Alan Holmes, Colin Holmes and Ian Jackson. To advertise, contact Fred Lawton: email Redfred4@aol.com; (07710) 493514. Rates a snip at quarter-page £30, half page £50, full page £80; sixth consecutive insertion free. Branch website: www.darlocamra.org.uk. CAMRA HQ is at 230 Hatfield Road, St Albans, Herts AL1 4LW; (01727) 867201; see www.camra.org.uk for all other real ale information.