DECEMBER 2006
Peter
Gets His Plaque
At the recent Darlington
CAMRA Christmas
Social at Darlington
Snooker Club the licensee Peter Everett,
right in picture, received his certificate
from North East Regional director Nick Whitaker for
CAMRA North East Club of the Year for 2006 making
a hat trick of wins in this competition. However, as the
picture shows Nick, while making his speech realised that the certificate
actually read 2007 and not 2006,
hence the need to suddenly arrange
the cover up !!.
However,
despite the inaccuracy,
it was all taken in good heart and a
replacement with the correct year will be presented to Peter shortly, and
in
the meantime, congratulations on winning the 2007 CAMRA North East Club of
the Year award already !. Is
someone out there with a crystal ball that knows something
we don't ??.
To spot the mistake click the picture on the left.
OCTOBER 2006
King's
Arms Presentation
The Kings Arms in
Deptford, Sunderland has
won the North East Pub of the Year competition
for 2006, making a hat trick of wins
in this competition for pubs within the Sunderland & South Tyneside
Branch following in the footsteps of previous winners the Robin Hood in Jarrow
and Fitzgeralds in
Sunderland.
A presentation was made by North East Regional
Director Nick Whitaker, centre in picture,
on 19th October to
licensee Lucie Young in front of a packed
house with regulars in attendance along with the North East CAMRA
fraternity.
Along
with winning the North East Pub of the Year
for 2006, the Kings Arms also won the Branch's
Pub of the Year award for 2006, and Branch
Chair Michael Wynne, pictured right, presented
the staff with the award.
The award allows the Kings Arms to enter
the North East Pub of the Year Competition for
2007 thus allowing it the opportunity
to repeat this year's success.
The Kings Arms
now goes forward into the National Pub of the
Year competition and has a
chance along with fifteen other pubs in the
country of winning this prestigious award. Darlington
CAMRA sends its very
best wishes
to the
Kings Arms in this competition.
SEPTEMBER 2006
Crown
Commended
The Crown at Manfield,
pictured left, has
just recently been
awarded joint
third in this year's Yorkshire
Pub of the Year Competition as voted by judges
represented from Yorkshire CAMRA
branches.
Following the "beginners success" of the Crown as a winner on its first entry to this competition last year, it was pipped at the post this time round by the West Riding Refreshment Rooms at Dewsbury Station (the overall winner), the Kelham Island Tavern in Sheffield and the Fox and Goose at Hebden Bridge. A presentation will be made to Peter and Karen Hynes in the near future, and the branch passes its congratulations to all at the Crown making it one of the "third best pubs in Yorkshire".
IT'S A SUCCESS !
The 27th Rhythm 'n' Brews Beer Festival proved to be successful once again despite the weather and the ongoing alterations to the Arts Centre. Darlington CAMRA provided an excellent range of approximately fifty different real ales from around the country, and this range proved a hit with the punters.
The results of the Beer of the Festival were as follows:-
1st: Thornbridge - Jaipur IPA, 2nd: Bull Lane - White Bull, 3rd: Roosters - Williamette
Punters also donated of total of £120 in the form unused beer cards for charity. This amount will be split and given to our two nominated charities which are St Theresa's Hospice and Talking Newspapers.
AUGUST 2006
BREWER
WITHIN THE BRANCH:
As a member of Darlington Traditional Brewing
Group, former
Branch Chairman
Ian Jackson has started assisting with the
brewing at Wear Valley Brewery in Bishop Auckland following the
recent departure of Head Brewer Ian
Boyd. Having helped Wear
Valley owner
Simon Gillespie since
the four barrel plant opened behind the Grand Hotel
last year, Ian,
pictured left, has
brewed for a number of years on a much smaller
scale, and will hopefully be
bringing his experience along to
the brewing side.
IT'S
A HAT-TRICK !
Darlington Snooker Club
has won the North East Club of the Year award for 2006 making it a
hat trick of wins in this competition. Peter
Everett, pictured
left, and his staff beat off competition from the Pelaw Grange
Greyhound Stadium near Chester-le-Street to scoop this major prize.
A
presentation will be made in the near future, and in the meantime Peter
has now increased
the range of guest ales from
three to
four.
JULY 2006
CROWN
IS COUNTRY CROWN:
The Crown at Manfield
has once again won Darlington CAMRA's Country Pub of the Year. It is the
fifth time in a row that the Crown has won the award.
A presentation was made to Peter and Karen
Hynes, pictured left,
by Branch Chairman Angus Gair at the
summer social held at the Crown on 30th July.
SNOOKER
CLUB IS BRANCH CLUB OF THE YEAR:
Darlington Snooker Club
has won the Branch's Club of the Year
award for 2006. Peter
Everett, pictured left received his award at
the July branch meeting at the Greyhound from
Branch chairman Angus Gair.
QUAKER
CELEBRATION:
The Quakerhouse situated in Mechanics
Yard has been voted Darlington CAMRA's Pub of the Year for 2006 by
members of Darlington CAMRA. Manager Steve Metcalfe on hearing the news
said, "Normal service has been resumed". It is the fifth time
in seven years that the Quakerhouse has won the award.
IT'S
OUT !:The long awaited guide to real ale in and around the Darlington area has been published by Darlington CAMRA. Issued in conjunction with our latest newsletter Darlington Drinker 160, the guide also includes clubs, hotels, restaurants and off licences.
Entitled "Real Ale in and around Darlington & Teesdale 2006", the guide is divided into five specific areas of our branch area:-
SNOOKER
CLUB IS NE CAMRA CLUB OF THE YEAR:
Darlington Snooker Club has once again
won the North East Club of the Year Competition, this time for 2005. Proprietor
Peter Everett received his award, left, from Regional Director Nick
Whitaker during the recent North East Regional Meeting held at the
Snooker Club on 21st February to add to last year's award.
EMMERDALE
RE-LAUNCHED:
Black Sheep Brewery based in Masham,
North Yorkshire has revamped two of its flagship beers and chose the
current CAMRA Yorkshire Pub of the Year, the Crown at Manfield to
launch the beers. Black Sheep Special (4.4%) in cask form has now become
Black Sheep Ale to keep in line with the bottled version, while
Emmerdale has had its gravity reduced from 5% down to 4.2% to give it
more appeal. Actor Chris Chittel, pictured left, who plays Eric Pollard
in the soap pulled the first pints of the beers at the launch.
Paul Theakston, founder of Black Sheep in 1992 said, "It's not often that we launch a new beer brand, but two in one night is unheard of !".
NEW LICENSING HOURS:
The new permitted licensing hours came into force on 24th November. In our Darlington branch area, in particular the town, the majority of pubs were allowed to extend their opening times with only a few applications for 24 hour drinking. However it was a different story in the Upper Teesdale area with four pubs being granted to open all hours, the Blacksmiths Arms in Mickleton, Strathmore Arms at Holwick, Ancient Unicorn in Bowes and the Langdon Beck Hotel at Langdon Beck, (pictured above). Having being granted the licence, Glen Matthews, landlord of the Langdon Beck Hotel was finally allowed to give shooting parties toddies at breakfast and also cater for walkers using the Pennine Way which runs close by.
JOHN CALLS IT A DAY:
John Taylor, the man behind Binns’ Off
Licence in Darlington has retired after spending a decade in establishing an excellent range of bottled
beers. From starting out with just a few dozen beers, John, pictured
left, increased the range to over 400 beers from small
and rare microbreweries in Britain and around the world. Due to John’s
enthusiastic involvement, Binns is the only department store in the Good Beer Guide to
appear in ten consecutive editions and in
2000 was highly commended in the Take
Home Beer Awards by the British
Guild of Beer Writers.
The
branch presented John with a tankard at last week’s branch
meeting at the Tap & Spile, left, and thanked him for his
contribution to promoting real ale in our area.
The branch wishes John a very long and happy retirement.
"BOOZE 'n' CUES" BEER
FESTIVAL:
Not content with being the first snooker
club to get into the CAMRA Good Beer Guide and to be the first snooker
club to win a CAMRA award, Peter Everett, pictured left, the proprietor of
Darlington Snooker Club continued his "firsts" crusade in the
form of a beer festival which ran from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th October.
Over twenty real ales were available including Amos Ale, brewed by members
of Darlington Traditional Brewing Group at Wear Valley Brewery
in Bishop Auckland. The group's founder
John Winterburn produced the recipe named after Northern Echo journalist
Mike Amos, who in turn opened the festival by pulling the first pint of
Amos Ale.
Peter Everett declared the event a big success and plans are being made
for a "Booze 'n' Cues 2" festival, sometime in March 2006.
SEPTEMBER 2005
CROWN
INN GLORY:Yorkshire members of CAMRA have awarded the Crown at Manfield as Yorkshire Pub of the Year for 2005. Licensees Peter and Karen Hynes were thrilled to bits at winning this prestigious award. Yorkshire Regional Director Mick Moss said, “The Crown was a worthy winner due to the excellent range and quality of beers on offer plus the friendly atmosphere and also the wonderful service given by Peter, Karen and all the staff”. The Crown’s award makes it the most northerly pub in the county to win the Yorkshire Pub of the Year, and adds to the local branch’s Pub of the Year award won back in Spring, thus giving the opportunity to enter the Yorkshire Pub of the Year competition.
Pictured left is Yorkshire Regional Director Mick Moss presenting Peter
and Karen with the certificate for Yorkshire Pub of the Year. The
Crown now goes forward to the CAMRA National Pub of the Year Competition
and has a chance of winning the award along with 15 other pubs, and the
overall winner will be declared in January 2006.
Best of luck to the Crown in this competition.