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Darlington Drinker 166 Newsletter
of the Darlington Campaign for Real Ale - Autumn 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s a New Golden
Age THE
EDITOR of the Good Beer
Guide has hit out at the global brewers, pub owners and marketing analysts
who believe that cask beer - real ale - has no future. “Total
sales of cask beer have fallen, but that is due to the fact that the
global brewers have turned their backs on the style. Bigger profits can be
made from dead, pasteurised keg ales and lagers, the Long Life of the beer
world. Cask
beer is fiddly, demands skill and attention and, horror of horrors, has a
short shelf life. At best it’s ignored by these companies, with little
or no promotion, at worst it’s consigned to the scrapheap. It’s a
policy the globals may live to regret: premium lager sales are static or
even declining. Stella is no longer stellar.” The
reality, says Mr Protz, is that cask beer is entering a new golden age.
More than 50 new breweries are listed in the latest edition of the Guide,
following on from 80 in each of the previous two editions. Demand
is fuelling the growth. People do not give up regular jobs or sink savings
in risky ventures if no one wants to drink their beers." “Today
choice and diversity are awesome. The craft-brewing sector has abandoned
the comfort blanket of mild and bitter and added a brilliant range of new
beers - genuine IPAs, porters and stouts, and summer, wheat, fruit and
honey beers. In our universe we are full of optimism. Go forth and sup.” *Good
Beer Guide 2008 (35th edition, 880 pages), provides comprehensive
information on more than 600 breweries and 4,500 of the best pubs in
Britain. Available now from bookshops at £14.99 or from CAMRA
on (01727) 867201 or www.camra.org.uk. Success in Spades THE
UNIQUELY named Hack and
Spade, in the beautiful but tiny village of Whashton, six miles west of
Scotch corner, had such an emphasis on food for so many years that most
people regarded it as a restaurant rather than a pub. The
current owners, Anne and Alastair Dowson-Park are on a mission to change
that, and seem to be doing a grand job. Following a major refurbishment in
May they have, in their own words, “restored the pub back to its role as
the heart of the community, embracing all the traditions that make the
great British pub great”. Food,
homemade and locally sourced, is still served, but no longer to the
exclusion of the traditional elements and ambience of a village pub. No
longer are drinkers merely tolerated, made uneasy by every table being set
for dining. The very opposite: walkers and cyclists are warmly welcomed in
for a pint, and all households in the village have been asked what they
want to see in their local pub. A symbolic moment in the revival was the introduction of
cask beer. Previously the pub had no proper cellar facilities, and in any
case diners focused on wine. Now the first thing a visitor sees on the bar - above an
eponymous spade and hack (an agricultural pick) - are a pair of handpumps.
Trade has grown as word of the changes has spread but Anne and Alastair
wisely restrict themselves for the time being to one real ale at a time,
to ensure turnover and freshness. The choice varies but the leaning seems
- sensibly, here at the gateway to the Dales - to be on Yorkshire
breweries: Taylor’s, Black Sheep and Theakston have all featured. Darlington Drinker “FOLLOWING
last month’s launch of cask-conditioned Durham Ale by Whitbread, a
second northern brewery - Theakston’s - has just unveiled a brand new
real ale. The
new beer, christened simply XB, is clearly intended to bridge the
considerable gap in taste and strength (and price) between the light Best
Bitter (original gravity 1038) and the rich, heavy, ‘loony juice’ Old
Peculier (1058.5). XB, with a gravity of 1046, is smoother and
fuller-bodied than the Bitter but has that distinctive Theakston’s
flavour.” Darlington
Drinker 5, September 1982
Arden ‘Harm’ PLANS
TO build a two-storey
micro-brewery on land at the back of the Arden Arms, at Atley Hill have
been turned down by Hambleton district council. The pub’s owner, Marcus
Lund, also wanted to build three timber holiday cabins. The
Council agreed the development would be relatively small scale but
concluded it would be an intrusive feature in an area of special landscape
value. Mr
Lund said he was extremely disappointed by the decision: “I have done a
lot of research into the history of the pub. It has been bankrupt twice,
closed for two or three years and had a serious fire. “If
the pub is bankrupt again and closes for two years, will they still say
these plans would have a visual impact, or the surrounding land is too
flat?” A Real Brewer ? FIRST, SCOTTISH & Newcastle Breweries stopped brewing in Scotland and Newcastle. Now it doesn’t brew at all. At least not in the ‘real’ sense - of traditional, cask-conditioned beer. Britain’s leading brewing company no longer makes real ale in its own breweries following the contracting out of production of John Smith's Bitter and Magnet. The once-Yorkshire beers are now brewed in Cheshire, by the independent Thomas Hardy Burtonwood Brewery. A spokesman for S&N, whose main focus seems now to be the Kronenbourg brands it acquired in 2000, said the out-sourcing followed the company’s decision to close the cask racking line at its Tadcaster brewery after the sale of the Courage ale brands to Wells & Young’s earlier this year. No cask beer is brewed at S&N’s two other surviving British breweries at Dunston (the former Federation plant) and Worton Grange, Berkshire. *BEDFORD-based
Wells & Young’s are relaunching the Courage cask beers with a £2
million media campaign. S&N’s advertising expenditure on the
once-iconic southern brands over nearly ten years? About £2 million
less... Carlsberg in for
S&N ? MEANWHILE
CARLSBERG have poured cold
water on rumours that they are considering a bid for Scottish &
Newcastle. Talk
has been rife in the stock market for months about a possible takeover of
S&N, with speculation focused on Carlsberg since the Danish brewer
changed its charter to enable it to issue shares. But
Carlsberg chief executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen dismissed this as
“wild speculation”. “We are interested in buying in growth markets - east
Europe and Asia. If we are to buy up in west Europe, the return must be
good.” Industry
analysts say that doesn’t mean a merger with S&N couldn’t happen
in the long term. THE
BAY HORSE at Great Smeaton closed
temporarily in August, when tenants Dave and Julie Mash left after two and
a half years at the Good Beer Guide listed pub. Replacement licensees
could not be installed in time by the owners, the Tadcaster Pub Company,
for a seamless handover. Tadcaster made the pub available on a lease or a
five-year tenancy. They described it as “a rare opportunity to take on a
traditional village inn offering an established wet trade combined with
good quality food”, adding there was “excellent scope to further
develop trade”. Rural Retreats A
COUPLE of
country pubs have opened their doors again after months of work by their
respective new licensees, breathing life back into them. As with most
rural hostelries these days, both place a strong emphasis on food - but
real ale is also very much in evidence. A well-fed Alan
Holmes
reports from the Comet, overlooking the Tees and ancient Croft bridge at
Hurworth Place, and first from
the newly-renamed Monk’s Table in the
village of Welbury, north of Northallerton. The Monk’s Table MIKE
AND Carol Oldroyd have really put a lot of effort into transforming this
pub, formerly the Duke of Wellington. The
pub has gone distinctly up-market, the lounge bar having been extensively
refurbished to create a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere with marble
columns, Grecian figurines and scatter cushions much in evidence. This to
complement the decor of the 42 seat gastro restaurant which aims to appeal
to “the most discerning” customers. Apparently,
the whole theme and decor was design and arranged by Carol herself. Patio
doors lead from the luxury seating area to a back garden with tables and a
covered smoking area. More tables are available at the front. Sunday
lunch (two courses) will set you back £13.99 but for this you can relax
in splendour until called to table, and then dine in surroundings designed
to impress. There
are some fine wines and the real ales when I called were Marston’s
Pedigree (the regular beer) and Jennings (a guest) costing £2.40 a pint. The
Comet EXTENSIVELY refurbished by Sue and Ian Kemble (who also run the Fighting Cocks to
the east of Darlington), the Comet now boasts a large and modern lounge
bar, with new seating, and a separate 30 seat restaurant - all designed to
give a light and airy feel to the place. There
is an outside patio seating area at the rear, as well as roadside seating
at the front. The light and modern furnishings give the place a distinct
bistro feel and real ale is always available - John Smith’s Magnet and
Black Sheep Best Bitter, both at £2.30 a pint. Cask Max is Back ONE
OF the North East’s
oldest brews is back on handpump after the opening of a new brewery with
deep roots in the region. The
Double Maxim Brewery Company has been set up by three men who worked for
Vaux until the unnecessary closure of that 162-year old brewery in July
1999. Double
Maxim was first brewed to commemorative a maxim gun famously used by a
brewery family member during the Boer War. Samson
is also available from the cask for the first time since Vaux closed. The
first deliveries of Samson and Double Maxim in late August went to more
than fifty North East pubs. Jim
said: “We are geared up to do 5,000 barrels in the first year and up to
15,000 going on from there. This is not a micro.” Doug,
an ex Vaux director, added: “Although the beer market as a whole has
been in decline, bottled ales, locally brewed cask ales and English ales
for export have all shown growth over recent years. We believe we will be
well placed to capitalise on those areas of growth.” After
the closure of Vaux the three commissioned Robinson’s of Stockport to
produce bottled beer, to keep the brands alive. The brewery starts with
seven employees but that’s sure to grow. RICHMOND
will be hosting its 6th Ale Festival from
12-14 October. Organised by the NW Yorks branch of CAMRA, more than 30
real ales and ciders will be available, ranging from milds to bitters,
IPAs to stouts and very strong brews, all from small traditional
breweries. It takes place in the Victorian Market Hall, in the shadow of
Richmond's medieval castle, and admission is free. Traditional games,
breweriana tombola and music - something for everyone. Friday and Saturday
from 5-11pm. Sunday from 12 noon to 5pm - fine refreshment for runners
taking part in the Richmond Castle 10km road race! Details on
camra_nwyorks@yahoo.co.uk. *BEFORE
then, hop on the train to Redcar for the town’s first CAMRA beer
festival, 'Ale at Sea' at Coatham Memorial Hall 27-29 September. 22 real
ales, free entry to CAMRA members. Open Thu 6.30-11, Fri and Sat
11.30-5.30 & 6.30-11. Live music on Friday evening and Saturday
lunchtime. Pat Hops it to a Yorkshire Daleside FORMER BLACK Sheep director Patrick Green has focused his attentions once again on a Yorkshire brewery, after reluctantly pulling the plug on his embryonic Wild Hop operation in Hartlepool. Pat has acquired a one-third share in the Harrogate-based Daleside Brewery, alongside the existing owners Eric Lucas (managing director) and Alan Barker (chairman). He has taken on the duties of commercial director, with a brief to build awareness of Daleside and its beers. “The
main thrust will be to get the exposure and distribution that the Daleside
brands deserve,” Pat told us. “They’ve got a cabinet full of awards,
but have been far too reticent to turn that into sales success”. He will also work with Eric Lucas to ‘grow and restructure the company’. A resident of Darlington - “I tell people it’s like Harrogate but with attitude” - Pat has made a good start in building awareness in his own local, with a number of Daleside brews appearing in Number Twenty-2 in recent weeks! He’s also regularly supplying Daleside Bitter, re-badged as ‘Tap & Spile Bitter’, to his namesake Patrick Freeman, across the town centre at the Bondgate alehouse. Pat had invested a lot of time and effort, not to mention money, in developing the 10-barrel Wild Hop Organic Brewery, and even supplied a trial brew to the Darlington Spring Thing festival. But he felt obliged to pull out before the final exchange of contracts with the brewing kit’s present owners, Camerons. He retains ownership of the Wild Hop organic brands and recipes and says he’s considering bringing the beers back at Daleside at some stage in the future, most likely bottled for the supermarket trade. Take a Tip: Take a Trip to Cameron’s
FOR ANYONE who has not visited a large brewery our nearest, Camerons in Hartlepool, is well worth a visit, writes David Hill. Public tours are available Tuesday to Sunday at 11am and 2pm and start at the Brewery Tap in Stockton Street (book on 01429 868686). Parking is available or it’s a short walk from the rail station. The entry fee includes a free pint as well as an attractive pint glass. I had one of the last UK crown-stamped ones. The tour starts in a museum section, with pictures and brewery artefacts. The guide explains the brewing process for those who need it explained. Much of the original brewery building is used for storage or empty but the fermenting room with its square fermenters is still in use. Interestingly, the yeast press, which used to extract every last drop of beer, is redundant because of changes in the way duty is now applied. You also visit the new fermentation vessel area and the brew plant which was installed in the 1970s. And don’t miss the well head which supplies the brewery with all its water. Cameron’s beers and brewery merchandise are available in the Good Beer Guide -listed Brewery Tap and there are good value meals in the bistro. Further information on www.cameronsbrewery.com. CAMERON’S have got out of the cut-throat business of wholesaling to free houses and clubs to concentrate on building up their own tied estate. They have sold their free-trade operations, including nine depots, mainly in the North East, to the giant Coors.
Yousif
Doubooni, Cameron’s marketing manager, said the company had built up
their free-trade business in the North East in recent years but now found
the market to be an “extremely competitive, low-margin business." “We
want to go back to basics and be a regional brewer again”, he said.
“We’ve currently got 53 pubs and ultimately want to get that up to the
200 mark”. The Lion Brewery has a capacity to brew 700,000 36-gallon barrels of beer annually, but production presently reaches just half of that. Beer
World: Antwerp Globetrotter
ADRIAN BELL continues his mission to show Darlington drinkers that good
beer can be enjoyed overseas, in our series on short-break destinations. ANTWERP
is just a two hour train ride from Schiphol, and the prices are a lot
cheaper than in Brussels. The
everyday beer is, in contrast to most of the rest of Belgium, a top
fermenting ale called De Koninck. If you ask for a ‘bolleke’ (a type
of glass) you get a 25cl measure. A good place to drink is Den Engel
or Den Bengel, adjacent bars on the Grote Markt main square. Or try
Pater’s Vaetje, next to the cathedral. A good
place during the day (it closes at 7pm, and on Thursdays) is the Oud
Arsenaal, halfway between the station and the old town. The interior
walls are covered in old beer advertisements, and the bottled rage
includes beers from several small gueuze breweries. Gueuze (pr. ‘gurz’)
is beer that is fermented naturally by wild yeasts and has an acquired
(sour) taste. The frambozen (raspberry) and kriek (cherry) versions are
tasty though and more balanced than the bigger brands which tend to be too
sweet. There is a
modern brewpub in the city called ‘t Pakhuis (Warehouse) which
brews a 5.1% Blond, a 5.5% Bruin and the 9.5% Nen Bangelijke. It is a bit
of a walk from the Grote Markt but worth it. Not as far
from the Grote Markt is the Kulminator, reputedly the best bar in
Europe (if not the world) with around 500 different beers, some of which
you can choose by year of bottling. It is small and looks like a
restaurant but they serve no food - there is just a very thick beer menu. Other pubs
worth a visit are the Berenbak, the Waagstuk and the Highlander,
all to the NE of the Grote Markt. All serve a good range of Belgian beers,
and the Berenbak does a good steak. See www.adrianbell.co.uk. DETAILS,
DETAILS: Sights…
include the Cathedral, the Zoo, Reubens’s House, the Royal Museum, and
for something different there is a pedestrian tunnel under the river. A
site with information on what to visit is www.trabel.com/antwerp.htm. And
don’t forget the diamonds and chocolate. Flights…
from Durham Tees Valley to Schiphol start from £95 (www.klm.com)
and trains to Antwerp from there cost 53 euro return (www.ns.nl
or www.b-rail.be). Accommodation…
A good place is www.zeemanshuis.be
(from 43.50 euro/nt single). Alternatives on www.bookings.com. Your
Best Guide... Good Beer Guide Belgium (2005), CAMRA, £12.99. Teesdale
Tales FIFTEEN CAMRA members made the trip up to Langdon Beck where we got a warm welcome from the owners, from the open fires (it was a bit chilly) (it was also July, Ed !) and from the other customers. Peter had researched the pubs we visited and provided a beer list that helped us choose our drinks. We found the beers here - Jarrow Rivet Catcher and Black Sheep Best Bitter - well kept and we enjoyed our visit. Onto the High Force Hotel, the Cauldron Snout was in excellent condition but the other beers had not been drawn off, and the landlord insisted on not doing so because of the wastage that would be incurred. This was very surprising considering he was Cask Marque Accredited and our visit gave him the chance to prove its worth. We soon arrived at the Strathmore Arms at Holwick. Live folk music, which is regular every Friday evening, and very nice Wells Bombardier, Brakspear’s and Thwaites. We could easily have stayed the rest of the evening. We continued our trip and visited the pubs in Mickleton. The Rose & Crown has a new landlord - a young man from Darlington who married a local lass - and they have refurbished the pub, retaining the public bar but also enticing people to visit with their food; booking advisable. We enjoyed the open fire and the Cumberland, and a large group went on to the Blacksmith’s Arms which was lively and had three good real ales - Ruddles Bitter, John Smith’s Cask and Marston’s Pedigree. Another excellent
evening. SD *Darlington CAMRA organizes regular Friday evening mini-bus tours of local country pubs. The next two take in Eggleston, Romaldkirk, Cotherstone and Bowes, and pubs in North Yorkshire respectively. All welcome: see back page for contact details. A
Review View THE
BRITISH Beer and
Pub Association has played down sensationalist news stories that the
Government is to review the Licensing Act, which introduced more liberal
rules on pub opening times in England & Wales in November 2005. The
press picked up on comments made by Gordon Brown at his first prime
ministerial news conference when he said he would look carefully at a Home
Office review on the impact of the law changes, due by the end of the
year. Mark Hastings of the BBPA said: “This review is nothing new. It
was first talked about two years ago and has always been part of the
process of the Licensing Act. We welcomed it two years ago and see no
reason to change our mind. Trends are moving in a positive direction. The
changes are having a positive impact on broader social issues, such as
binge-drinking and the atmosphere of the night-time economy.” Grown-Up
Guiding “THE GUIDE is
magnificent ... the sort of book for which a stranger in town would
cheerfully pay a couple of quid and still think he’d got a bargain ..
meticulously detailed ... beautifully produced, enthusiastically executed.”
Mike Amos, Northern Echo DARLINGTON CAMRA published its latest, free, full-colour, 36-page local beer guide, Real Ale in and around Darlington & Teesdale, in June, and well received it was too. DD will bring updates of changes and below are those we’re presently aware of. Please tell us if you hear of more. Copies of the guide should still be available at regular DD outlets, or from the editor free on request (see back page of this for contact details). Pubs, etc wanting more bulk copies can ring Alan Holmes on (07791) 239008. Additional
Real Ale Outlets: Darlington (town) ARTS CENTRE (Lounge Bar), Vane Terrace, DL3 7AX. Tel. (01325) 483271. Guest beer (often Old Speckled Hen). County Durham: Hurworth Place COMET, 16 Tees View, DL2 2DH. Tel. (01325) 722228. Open
11.30-3 & 5-11 Mon-Thu; 11.30-11 Fri & Sat; 12-10.30 Sun. Black
Sheep Best Bitter, John Smith's Cask Bitter. North Yorkshire: Whashton HACK & SPADE, DL11 7JL. Tel. (01748) 823721. Open
12-3 (not Mon & Wed; 12-3.30 Sun) & 6-11 (not Sun). Guest beer. Updates: North Yorkshire: Great Smeaton BAY HORSE temporarily closed until new tenants take over. Welbury MONK’S
TABLE (ex Duke of Wellington) has reopened. Hours
5-11.30 Tue-Sat (& lunchtimes from Nov); 12-5 Sun. Marston’s
Pedigree plus guest beer. Deletions (No Real Ale at
Present): Darlington RED
LION, Priestgate. SLATER’S
ARMS, Bondgate. North Yorkshire Dalton TRAVELLERS
REST. Ale
Mail I
WAS MORE than a little annoyed to see the write up
in Real Ale in and around Darlington & Teesdale free guide that, the
Raby Hunt is run on a “part-time basis”. Having
got to page 21 and already reached the figure of 15 pubs with opening
hours similar or less than mine I must ask the question why have you not
described these on a similar base. The
most interesting one of all was the Crown at Manfield coming in a huge one
and a half hours more than me. I would think Peter and Karen would
certainly feel that “the pub with a cupboard full of glittering
prizes” was achieved by being part time. We
are now in 2007, six years since yourselves and the villagers managed to
“save” the pub and I would like to think that by next year’s
publication you are able to come up with something more upbeat to write
about, perhaps its hopefully rosy future as a traditional inn
concentrating on wet sales rather than food. MISS
P ASKEY, The Raby Hunt Inn, Summerhouse (The Editor replies: We’re sorry Miss Askey was upset by the description, which was not meant to be negative. The guide’s reference to the building having been a pub “usually on a part time basis since at least 1856” was meant to be factual: from 1894 until the 1920s, for instance, the then licensee, William Bowron, was described as a ‘joiner and victualler’. The pub seems to have rarely opened all the hours it could during its 151 years. We agree that a similar description could probably be attached to many other country pubs but we don’t know their history as well as we do that of the Raby Hunt - and we didn’t want all the descriptions to be the same! In fact, we wouldn’t have used the description for the Raby Hunt had we been aware earlier of Miss Askey’s concerns: the description was first used in the May 2006 edition of the guide.) THOUGHT YOU might be interested in our approach to
reopen our closed down local, the Fox & Hounds in the Market
Place, Shildon. It was shut for four months. Shildon is a cultural desert - not one boozer had
hand-pull. However we are putting in a handpump and cask ale, priced at £
2.10 a pint. One of the initiatives we are doing as a social
enterprise is taking a regional distributorship with the food
charity FairShare to redistribute unwanted food from shops and restaurants
to voluntary groups or vulnerable people. We are going to operate
it from the pub. It’s a typical old pub with lots of unused space; we
have opened out the coal fires and are having the grates re-fitted. DAVE
STEPHENSON (by email) (Thanks
Dave, we’re very interested. Shildon is outside the Darlington CAMRA
branch area but we’re delighted to give a plug to this project which
really makes ‘the pub the hub’ of the community. To amplify what Dave
says, the Fox and Hounds is being run as social enterprise on a not-for-profit
basis, with any surplus going back into the community. The pub was bought
and refurbished by the Seymour Trust, which promotes recycling and
environmental issues in Shildon and Bishop Auckland. It has some paid
staff, including the licensee Chris Jones, but also relies on volunteer
helpers. It hopes to be able
to offer financial support to individuals and to apply for grants on
behalf of local groups - Editor)
Hobson’s
the Choice AN
INCREASINGLY rare
style of beer, from one of the country’s smallest breweries, has been
named the Champion Beer of Britain. Roger
Protz, editor of the Good Beer Guide and one of the judges, said:
“It’s a great victory for a traditional British beer. Unusually for a
mild, it’s got plenty of hop character. It’s great to see a classic
copper-coloured beer take the top award.” Nick
Davis of Hobsons said: “What a great surprise! It’s a nutty mild and
despite being only 3.2% abv it’s packed full of flavour.” The
runners-up Silver award went to another micro, the Mighty Oak brewery of
Essex for Maldon Gold with the Bronze also going to East Anglia, to the
Green Jack brewery of Suffolk for Ripper. Category winners: *Milds:
1st, Hobsons Mild; 2nd, Nottingham Rock Mild; 3rd,
Brain's Dark. *Bitters:
1st, Castle Rock Harvest Pale; 2nd, Twickenham Crane Sundancer; Joint 3rd, Surrey Hills Ranmore Ale & Fyne Piper's Gold. *Best
Bitters: 1st, Purple Moose
Glaslyn Ale; 2nd, George
Wright Pipe Dream; Joint 3rd, Fuller's
London Pride & Nethergate Suffolk County & Station House Buzzin'. *Strong
Bitters: 1st,
York Centurion's Ghost; 2nd, Inveralmond
Lia Fail; 3rd, Brain's SA
Gold. *Speciality
Beers: 1st, Nethergate Umbel
Magna; 2nd, Little Valley
Hebden Wheat; 3rd, St
Peter's Grapefruit. *Golden
Ales: 1st, Mighty Oak Maldon
Gold; 2nd, Oak Leaf Hole
Hearted; 3rd, Otley 01. *Real
Ale in a Bottle: 1st, O'Hanlon's
Port Stout; joint 2nd, Titanic
Stout & Wye Valley Dorothy Goodbody's Wholesome Stout; 3rd, Wapping Baltic Gold. *Winter
Beer (winner judged at
the National Winter Ales Festival in February): Green Jack Brewery Ripper. “MILD
was once the most popular type of beer in
Britain but was overtaken by bitter from the 1950s. It was developed in
the 18th and 19th centuries as a less aggressively bitter style of beer
than port and stout. Early milds were much stronger than the modern
interpretations, which tend to be 3% to 3.5%. Mild is usually dark brown
in colour, due to the use of well-roasted malts or roasted barley. Look
for rich malty aromas and flavours, with hints of dark fruit, chocolate,
coffee and caramel and a gentle underpinning of hop bitterness.” Good Beer Guide 2008
BREWS,
NEWS AND VIEWS / GUIDE UPDATES THE WHITE HORSE at Harrowgate Hill is well into its renovation (and resurrection) as we go to press, with new owners Mitchells & Butlers keen to get trading underway. The 1950s building has been separated off from the once-linked newer hotel block, which will operate independently. M&B say the pub - which closed in September 2006 - will be “a local drinking pub serving food on sizzling skillets”. Facilities include a large outdoor terrace. THE TAP
& SPILE in Bondgate is rapidly winning back its reputation with
Darlington ale drinkers for well-kept brews from small independents. New
manager, and self-confessed cask fan (“I really don’t like serving keg
beer”), Patrick Freeman aims to have four micro-brewed beers, mainly
from the North East and North Yorkshire, available alongside the
‘house’ cask beer, Magnet, at any time. Darlington
CAMRA Diary Dates Fri
21 Sep Wed
10 Oct Sat 13 Oct Sat 20 Oct Wed 14 Nov Fri 23 Nov: Trip to Cropton Beer Festival. Dep Feethams 6.30pm, bookings: Pete as above. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darlington Drinker is published sort-of two-monthly by the Darlington branch of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale. Circulation 3,500. 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. Additional contributors this issue: Adrian Bell, Sheila Dunstone, Peter Fenwick, David Hill and Alan Holmes. To advertise, contact Fred Lawton: email: Lawtonfred@aol.com; (07710) 493514. Rates a snip at quarter-page £30, half page £50, full page £80; sixth consecutive insertion free. 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. |
