|
|
Darlington Drinker 172 Newsletter
of the Darlington Campaign for Real Ale - Winter 2008 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It’s
Supermarkets v Pubs THE
CAMPAIGN for Real Ale is backing a call from a group of influential MPs
for a ban on the below-cost sale of alcohol in shops. A
report by the Commons Home Affairs Committee says the cheap availability
of alcohol in the off-trade is fuelling crime and disorder and under-age
drinking. The
backbencher MPs are urging the Government to “establish as soon as
possible a legal basis for banning the use of loss-leading by supermarkets
and setting a minimum price for the sale of alcohol”. CAMRA’s
view is that cut-price supermarket booze is driving people out of pubs and
into purchasing huge quantities of alcohol to drink at home. The pub
industry is in crisis with as many as 36 pubs a week closing, largely as a
result of supermarkets selling alcohol below cost. CAMRA’s
Jonathan Mail said: “Pubs provide a safe and regulated environment for
people to drink alcohol responsibly and Ministers must recognise that
well-run community pubs are part of the solution to Britain’s binge
drinking problems. CAMRA
is supporting the pub trade in backing a minimum price for alcohol to
prevent supermarkets selling it at a loss. *CAMRA
is also calling on Chancellor Alastair Darling to scrap his
ill-advised beer duty escalator which has had no effect on supermarket
prices but will pile misery on pubs and pub-goers for four years. Bitter
Over Tetley CAMRA
has joined Yorkshire drinkers in attacking the Carlsberg’s decision to
close the largest real ale brewery in the world. The
Danish conglomerate has said its Tetley brewery in Leeds - which it
acquired in 1992 - will close by 2011. Production
of the iconic ‘huntsman’ bitter and mild may be shifted to
Carlsberg’s lager brewery in Northampton, although “other
possibilities” in Yorkshire or the north are also to be investigated.
This would probably mean ‘Tetleys’ being contract-brewed by other
another brewer. Carlsberg UK’s marketing director, Darran Britton said
the economic downturn was piling “unprecedented pressure” on the
company, at a time of strong competition, higher duties and increasing
regulatory costs. “It is a reality of the market - people are drinking
less beer.” But
CAMRA criticised Carlsberg for failing to promote Tetley beers at a time
when consumer interest in real ales is growing. Vice
chairman Bob Stukins said, “Brewed outside their Leeds heartland the
beers would lack the provenance which today’s discerning consumers
expect. CAMRA
is seeking a meeting with Carlsberg. The Tetley brewery still has its
unique open square fermenters. *The
Intelligent Choice Report, published September by CAMRA, Cask Marque, SIBA,
the IFBB and Why Handpull shows that real ale sales are moving towards
growth while the overall beer market has declined by 8% in the year to May
2008: www.caskalereport.com. Darlington
Drinker .…Twenty-Five
Years Ago “LAST
month
we said the takeover of Theakstons by Matthew Brown could be a tragedy.
Chairman Paul Theakston now writes: ‘When I first approached Browns I
was well aware of the possible dangers, but I am perfectly satisfied in my
own mind that you will for a very long time indeed continue to have
Theakston beers available. Brewery closures are not envisaged at either
Masham or Carlisle, in the short or medium term. One of the strengths of
the company is its ability to produce individual beers at its two
breweries and Browns fully recognise this.’” Darlington
Drinker 19, November 1983 New
Look for the Old Bay IT
TOOK some time and the small matter of £300,000 but the
idyllically-located Bay Horse at Hurworth reopened in October - and how
different it is. The
external appearance and room layout of the old listed building - it dates
from the 1700s - remain much the same. But the once slightly-battered
boozer has been taken decidedly upmarket, and made more foody, by its new
owners, the restaurateurs Marcus Bennett and Jonathan Hall. They
describe it today as a ‘dining pub and restaurant’ but emphasise that
it does very much remain a pub. Indeed, “a real old English pub with
dimpled pint glasses, open fire in the main bar and hand-pulled local
ales”. The
new opening hours are 11-11 Mon-Sat and 12-10.30 Sun. See www.thebayhorsehurworth.com
for a remarkably comprehensive view of the new Bay Horse. ALL
MEMBERS of
Darlington CAMRA are invited to the branch Christmas social that will be
taking place again this year at Darlington Snooker Club, on the corner of
Corporation Road and Northgate. Free pint and nibbles! Guests are very
welcome - but not quite so welcome as to be given a free pint… Saturday
27 December, from 7.30pm.
All
Beered Out THE
2008 RHYTHM ‘n’ Brews festival was a “great success”, reports
organiser Ian Jackson of Darlington CAMRA. It
saw the first sell-out of draught beer and cider for four years, at around
10.10pm. But, Ian says, “customers still had a range of bottled beer
available until the scheduled closing time !”. Just over 3,500 pints of
ale were consumed between Thursday and Saturday: 50 draught beers from 45
brewers - 19 of the breweries having only started in 2008. Ten of the
brews were festival specials. The
first beer to sell out on the Friday night was a special,
Stephenson’s Rocket (4.6% abv) from Wensleydale brewery. “There
were some very good comments made about the festival”, Ian
reports. They included friendly staff, beer range, the new layout of the
bars, the relaxed environment, fantastic choice and even ‘the
receptionist with the nice cleavage’... The
few negative comments included having to pay to see bands when only
coming for the beer and not enough choice of food. “Neither are in our
hands”, says Ian. Insufficient seating in the beer hall and the beer
card system (instead of cash over the bar) were others. A
big spin-off benefit of the beer cards - introduced at the festival a
couple of years ago to reduce the number of volunteers having to handle
cash - is that unused amounts can be donated at drinkers’ discretion to charity.
Ian revealed that the nominated charity for this festival, the Great North
Air Ambulance, benefited by £161. That takes the total raised for
charities since the system started to £970. Thanks one and all! *CAMRA
will again be running a beer festival at the Darlington Spring Thing folk
festival at the Arts Centre, Vane Terrace. Make a date: 12-14 March 2009.
No admission charges. Thanks
Glen MEMBERS
OF Darlington CAMRA were greatly saddened to hear of the death, due to
cancer at just 51, of Glen Matthews, landlord of the Langdon Beck Hotel. An
hugely affable East Ender Glen, moved with his wife Sue 250 miles to the
North Pennines inn in 2004 when they heard new licensees were being
sought. They
immediately set about reviving the lovely old place, not least by
installing real ale. A place in the national Good Beer Guide soon
followed. Happily,
Sue intends to carry on at the Beck “to continue with the task we set
ourselves, as there are still things we had planned but not finished”. And
as a tribute to Glen she has committed already to running a beer festival
next year, over the usual Spring bank holiday weekend, May 23rd-25th. Be
sure there will be a lot of beery toasts drunk to Glen both then and now. Join
CAMRA and get £20 worth of real ale vouchers JD
WETHERSPOON
is to supply all CAMRA members - new and old - with £20 worth of real ale
vouchers as part of their membership package. This benefit will only run
for one year and, Wetherspoon’s say, is a ‘thank you’ to members and
prospective members for their support. Only one voucher can be used per
visit. In fact, the vouchers are being split into four sheets of ‘50p
off a pint units’ which can only be used at seasonal intervals over the
year. For
more information on all of CAMRA’s membership benefits visit www.camra.org.uk/joinus.
For
full terms and conditions of the JD Wetherspoon vouchers see www.camra.org.uk/jdwvouchers.
Change
at the Inn NICK
TODD has leased out the Stanwick Inn at Aldbrough St John to husband and
wife team Neil and Helen Maddison Potts. Neil
has been the renowned chef at the Shoulder of Mutton, Middleton Tyas for
the past 20 years but the couple have decided to make a go of it on their
own. Helen
will be ‘front of house’ while Neil works the kitchen. They say the
bar “will be left for drinkers” rather than becoming a dining area. As
for real ale, between two and four beers will be available and Neil and
Helen want the regulars to chose some of the guest beers to stock. ‘Come
out of the cold to open fires’ is their message. Opening
times are ‘traditional’ pub hours: 12-3pm and 5.30-11pm (6.30-11 Sat,
6.30-10.30 Sun). Food every session. It’s
a Beer World: Brussels Beer
hunter ADRIAN BELL continues his mission to show Darlington drinkers that
good beer can be enjoyed overseas, in his series on short-break
destinations. WHY
NOT visit Brussels as you can now travel by train from Darlington to
Brussels Gare du Midi with only one change? Just cross the road from Kings
Cross to St Pancras in London. Hundreds
of different beers are brewed in Belgium and most cafes stock at least
half a dozen, although many some stock a lot more. A 25 or 33cl beer will
cost around 3 to 3.50 euros and the majority are around 6-11% vol. Just
a bit further out to the north-east of the Grand Place are A la Mort
Subite (www.alamortsubite.com),
with its grand old interior, and the quirky Estaminet Toone (www.toone.be)
which doubles as a puppet theatre. Of course there is the famous Delirium
Café (www.deliriumcafe.be)
which boasts over 2,000 beers, but it is a bit characterless and full of
tourists and students. North-west
of the Grand Place are three bars down alleyways. La Bécasse
serves, unusually, Timmerman’s draught faro (sweetened gueuze) in a
stone jug. L'Imaige De Nostre Dame, a locals’ bar with seven
draught and 14 bottled beers. And Au Bon Vieux Temps with eight
draught and 24 bottled beers and stained glass widow lifted from an old
cathedral. Also
in this area is Le Cirio with its magnificent ‘fin de siècle’
interior and reasonably priced food. Just
a bit further out from this are two good bars - La Fleur en Papier
Doree, an old authentic cafe, and Porte Noir, a cellar bar
which can get full in the evenings. DETAILS,
DETAILS: Food…
For a great but inexpensive dining experience try Restobieres (www.restobieres.be).
Alain Fayt serves Bruxellois fayre and matching the food with unusual
beers; reservations recommended - it’s small and opening times are
limited. Of course if you are in a hurry there are always the ubiquitous
frites with (too much) mayonnaise. Sights…
Grand Place, Mannekin Pis, Atomium (www.atomium.be),
Autoworld (www.autoworld.be), Royal
Museum of the Armed Forces & Military History (www.klm-mra.be).
The official sites www.brusselsinternational.be
and www.visitbelgium.com have
lots of information. Travel…
From
Darlington with Eurostar (www.eurostar.com)
from £81 return, or flights from Newcastle with www.brusselsairlines.com
from £120. Accommodation…
La Grande Cloche (www.hotelgrandecloche.com)
is directly between Gare du Midi and the Grand Place, 90 euros for a twin
room. Other options can be found on www.booking.com. Guide… Good Beer Guide Belgium, Tim Webb, CAMRA, £12.99.
Seasonal
Success DARLINGTON
CAMRA branch members over the last few months have been busy surveying
pubs in the picturesque Teesdale area. And the reason ?. To award our Pub
of the Season for Teesdale. There
are many outlets within this area eligible for the award and our choice as
overall winner was the Black Horse at Ingleton, situated between
Darlington and Staindrop. A presentation was made by the branch’s Pubs
Officer Pete Fenwick to landlord Peter Dodd on Thursday 6th November. The
Black Horse usually has three real ales on offer, with Jennings Cocker
Hoop being a regular along with two guests, which on our visit were
Wychwood Hobgoblin and Black Sheep Ale. This
is our branch's first award of its kind. The next pub of the season
voting, at the end of December, will be for a pub in the County Durham
area on the outskirts of Darlington. Then we’ll be out and about in the
North Yorkshire part of the branch area in the first months of 2009. Ian
Jackson/Pete Fenwick Winter
Brewser BRITAIN’S
ANNUAL
festival of winter ales is once again being held in the North, early in
the New Year. New
Century Hall in Manchester will be bursting between 21st-24th January with
beer-lovers downing more than 200 winter warmers and other real ales,
foreign beers and traditional ciders and perries. The
event will be entirely staffed by CAMRA volunteers, without whom, Graham
stresses, there would be no beer festival. Thursday afternoon will see the
announcement of the Champion Winter Beer of Britain, judged by an expert
panel in a blind-tasting. *National
Winter Ales Festival 2009,
Wed 21-Sat 24 January, New Century Hall, Corporation St, Manchester M60
4ES (5 mins from Victoria station). Entertainment/events, food, T-shirts,
tombola. Families welcome Saturday. Open 4-10.30pm Wed/Thu, noon-10.30pm
Fri/Sat; £3 entry all sessions except Wed (£2) & Fri night (£5 from
5pm); £1 off for CAMRA members. Tickets on the door. Info: www.alefestival.org.uk,
(01727) 867201. Make
a Pint a Pint! CAMRA
HAS visited 10 Downing Street to hand in a 23,000 name petition calling
for an end to short beer measures in pubs and other licensed premises. CAMRA
launched the full pint petition in response to research showing that: -
one in four pints are short measure by over 5%; -
short beer measures cost consumers a staggering £481 million a year. During
the 1997 General Election the current Government promised that if elected
they would “guarantee drinkers a full pint”. Eleven years on pub-goers
are waiting for the promise to be fulfilled. In that time consumers have
been short changed to the tune of over £5 billion. Speaking
at the petition handover, CAMRA Chief Executive Mike Benner said: “It is
unlawful for consumers to be short measured when buying petrol and it
should be unlawful for consumers to be short measured when buying a pint
of beer. “The
Government takes over 80 pence in tax for every pint sold in a pub. It is
time that instead of simply taking money from the pockets of the pub-going
public it gives something back by ensuring that consumers are served with
a full pint and not 90% or 95% of a pint.”
Ale
Guide Updates BELOW
ARE the latest updates and corrections to the 2008 edition of Darlington
CAMRA’S local beer guide: Real Ale in and around Darlington &
Teesdale. Do
tell us if you hear of any other changes in the availability of cask beer
in the area covered by the guide. Click here to
contact us. The guide was published with DD170 in June: thirty-two pages detailing 120 pubs, clubs, hotels, restaurants and off-licences that sell traditional British beer. Copies are still available - click here to contact us.
Additional
Real Ale Outlets: COUNTY
DURHAM: COMET,
16 Tees View, Hurworth Place DL2 2DH. Tel. (01325) 722228. Open
11.30-3 & 5-11 Mon-Fri. All day Sat & Sun. Black
Sheep Best Bitter; John Smith's Magnet. Next to the ancient bridge over the Tees. Reopened 2007 after refurbishment as a bar lounge and restaurant; has a modern light and airy feel. Patio seating area at rear and roadside seating at front. B&B.
Updates: COUNTY
DURHAM: TAWNY
OWL, Creebeck. Postcode is now DL2 1QE BAY
HORSE, Hurworth. Open 11-11 Mon-Sat, 12-10.30 Sun. www.thebayhorsehurworth.com CARLBURY ARMS, Piercebridge. Reopened 12 November; the new landlord is Alan Park. NORTH
YORKSHIRE: STANWICK
INN, Aldbrough St John. Opening times are now 12-3 & 5.30-11pm
(6.30-11 Sat, -10.30 Sun). TEESDALE: ROSE
AND CROWN, Mickleton. Has reopened.
Black
Sheep Quiz BELOW
ARE this month’s Black Sheep Quiz questions. The sender of the first
correct answer drawn out of the hat on 12th January will win our latest
quality Black Sheep T-shirt, courtesy of the Masham brewery. Send
your entry to DD Black Sheep Quiz, 6 Clareville Road, Darlington DL3 8NG
or dd@idnet.com. Include your name,
address and shirt size: sorry, no size, no prize. 1,
What report in September said that real ale sales are ‘moving towards
growth’? 2,
By how much did it say the beer market as a whole declined to May 2008? 3,
What does SIBA stand for? Stuart
Trout of Savile Park, Halifax won the DD171 quiz: just published at the
time was the Good Beer Guide 2009; it features 4,500 pubs;
and it’s published by CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale.
BREWS,
NEWS AND VIEWS THE
ANGEL at
Gilling West welcomed new licensees at the end of October, Michelle
Patterson and her aunt Maureen Roper taking over after a brief closure.
Michelle was already very familiar with the pub as she worked behind the
bar for the previous tenants. The pair are retaining the line-up of Black
Sheep Bitter with two rotating guest ales. Opening hours too remain the
same: 12 (4 Mon & Tues)-11pm weekdays and 12-10.30pm Sun. THE
TANNERS HALL in
Darlington’s Skinnergate has also had a managerial change, so welcome
Rob Watson. He’s organising a festival of Christmas ales from local
breweries between 11-14 December. THE RABY HUNT INN at Summerhouse (see DD171) is being marketed through the Darlington office of agents Smiths Gore with a guide price of £200,000. A superb old pub: go for it !. DARLINGTON
CAMRA DIARY DATES Fri
5 Dec: Rural
coach crawl:
(Coatham
Mundeville/Heighington area). Departs Feethams 7pm, bookings: Pete Fenwick
(01325) 374817; (07792) 093245.
Tue 9 Dec: Darlington CAMRA Branch Meeting: Quaker House, Mechanics’ Yard, off High Row, 8pm. All welcome. Sat 27 Dec: Darlington CAMRA Christmas Social: Darlington Snooker Club, Corporation Rd (ring bell). All members and guests welcome. From 7.30pm. Tue 6 Jan: Darlington CAMRA Branch Meeting: Mowden
Park Rugby Club, Yiewsley Drive, 8pm. All welcome. Fri 9 Jan: Rural coach crawl : (Caldwell/Aldbrough St John area). Departs Feethams 7pm. Bookings: Pete as above. Tue
3 Feb: Darlington CAMRA Branch Meeting: Darlington
Snooker Club, 1 Corporation Road, 8pm.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Darlington
Drinker is
published every two or three months 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 dd@idnet.com.
Additional contributors this issue: Adrian Bell, Pete Fenwick, Ian
Jackson, David Hill, Fred Lawton. 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. 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.
|
