Welcome to the online version of Beer Necessities, the highly successful newsletter of the Gwent branch of the Campaign for Real Ale.
The printed version has a circulation of 2000-2500 copies and is distributed to pubs all over South East Wales.
To advertise please phone / fax Ray Pickthall on (01633) 857091 or send email to Beer.Necessities@POBoxes.com
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When the Weather is Fine
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Aiming to reverse this trend, CAMRA members have been asked to contribute to a fighting fund as we seek to be more active in promoting traditional cask conditioned real ales. The main thrust will be towards
Let's take a look at what's happened so far this year.
Morland's most famous brand is Old Speckled Hen but they also have a jaded star in Ruddles County. The Greene King portfolio includes the well known Abbot Ale and IPA. The deal will bring casualties. The fight is on to save Morland's Abingdon brewery and, while Old Speckled Hen will survive, the future of other Morland and Ruddles beers must be doubtful.
The industry as we knew it is rapidly changing out of all recognition.
The original assessment by the Newport Valuation Office was £7,000, subsequently reduced to £4,900. Now, following a hearing by the Lands Tribunal, this has been reduced to £500 back-dated to 1 April 1995.
After a four year struggle for justice, much painstaking research - expertly assisted by a Red Hart customer - and despite a couple of setbacks, Jim proved that guidance agreed between the Inland Revenue Valuation Office Agency and the Brewers & Licensed Retailers Association (BLRA) on how pubs should be assessed, was only binding on BLRA members. Commenting on the decision, a jubilant Jim said, "What this surely means is that thousands of free houses and pubs belonging to non-members of the BLRA are paying high business rates based on assessments which have no force in law. It opens the door for thousands of similar appeals, which in many cases could make the difference between staying afloat or going under."
Jim and the customer who
helped him hope to pass on advice to others in the same plight and he can be
contacted by email at iain@redhartinn.co.uk
or by telephone on 01600 780227.
Moving into Monmouthshire, news from Llangattock Lingoed is that a new landlord has arrived at the Hunter's Moon. We are told plans are underway to rejuvenate the pub with a kitchen refit and conversion of upstairs quarters to five en suite bedrooms with a view to attracting those who enjoy walking holidays and get away weekends. Beers at the time of the visit were reported to be Fullers London Pride and Robinson's Best, with traditional Thatchers Medium cider. Not far away the Kings Arms (Llanvetherine) which has had a bit of an open and shut existence in recent years is definitely open and reported to be serving Flowers IPA, Fullers London Pride & Wadworth 6X. In Monmouth it seems Keith Jones of Brains' Old Nag's Head looks set to leave after putting the tenancy on the market. Keith will be missed as he has done much to put the pub on the real ale map.
News from the prospective city of Newport is that Punch Taverns has put the Engineer's Arms in Baneswell on the market. Could this herald the end of an era? Landlord Roger Boswell has been pulling pints in the Engineer's for about twenty years. It's one of the town's most popular watering holes despite being off the main circuit; perhaps that's the attraction. Elsewhere, a new manager has been installed in the Ridgeway.
In Torfaen, it's all change in Talywain where Paul Cooper has at last got his feet behind the bar of the Globe - and the pub sign is back! The distinctive globe is looking good after being carefully repainted. Other licensee changes have seen father hand on to son at the British Constitutional, where cask ale is no longer on sale, and the Commercial, nicknamed the "Dagmar" ("Eastenders" fans will understand), which sells Hancock's HB.
Sad to see the Labour In Vain in Pontypool has closed; what does the future hold for this traditional community local? Better news is that Kevin & Mandy Meredith, formerly of the Cross Keys (Cwmbran), have awakened local tastebuds to the pleasure of drinking real ale in their new pub, the Masons Arms in Griffithstown which backs onto the canal. A choice of four ales is usually on offer and this more than makes up for the loss of a neighbouring pub, the Hanbury, as a real ale outlet.
At the southern end, the pub scene in Cwmbran village has livened up since Kim & Malcolm Gough bought the Halfway. This large pub has suffered in recent years from periods of closure and lack of ambition by successive licensees, but Kim & Malcolm have re-established it as a community local by staging popular events on most evenings. The cask beer is usually Courage Best while a local ale from Cottage Spring has also appeared at the bar. Coincidentally although the Halfway takes its name from its half way point on the canal between Newport and Pontypool, it also stands half way between the two other village pubs. These offer a complete contrast in ambience and surroundings. The Mount Pleasant - welcome to new hosts, John & Diane Brain - is a quiet and comfortable retreat serving Ushers Best & Founders. On the other hand, the Rose & Crown (Courage Best & occasional guest ale) caters for those with a livelier night out in mind although it too has its quieter moments in mid week.
On the border of Torfaen
and Monmouthshire, passers by on the Pontypool - Abergavenny/Usk road near Mamhilad
could do a lot worse than pop in the attractive Wain y Clare Inn. With
a good reputation for food it serves up a decent pint from a choice of Hancock's
HB, Ruddles County and Wadworth 6X. Once a Courage house, one of our older readers
remembers it in its pre-war years as having a small basic bar with spittoons
and serving cheap cider - quite a contrast to the comfortable interior of today
minus spittoons! It's also hard to imagine that the exit road from the pub used
to be the main road years ago. While in the Mamhilad area a visit to the Star
about a mile off the main road is certainly recommended. Excellent food washed
down by excellent beer (Bass, HB + 2 guest ales) is the order of the day there.
Examples are old keg beers like Allbright served with carbon dioxide pumped into them to give them life, otherwise they would be absolutely lifeless and totally flat. Similarly the new generation of keg beers, like John Smith's Smooth or Worthington Creamflow, are served with mixed gas for the same purpose.
We in CAMRA are, quite frankly, fed up with all the advertising hype surrounding bland cream/smoothflow keg beers. British drinkers are being brainwashed into thinking these over-rated brands are trendy, cool, the best thing since sliced bread etc., and where's the flavour? Oh dear, don't say you have been taken in too?
Obviously,
you pays your money and you makes your choice, but too many people - particularly
impressionable young drinkers - go with the (smooth) flow because some false imagery
persuades them to do so. Massively funded promotions by Britain's big brewers,
all too ready to turn their back on centuries of brewing tradition, are drawing
people to inferior (but by no means cheaper to buy) keg beers. Most smaller breweries
can't afford to advertise their ales. None have the national market reach or financial
muscle of the big breweries who hardly bother to promote their real ales. As a
result sales of traditional cask conditioned beers have slumped. CAMRA is determined
to fight back and soon posters will be appearing to promote the delights of drinking
cask ale. National brewers may not care for it but many other brewers do, and
it is they who can replace big brewers' beer at the bar.
CAMRA has put the boot into keg beer before and will do so again. We won't be told by absurd advertising blurb what to drink. We can't and don't necessarily want to kill off keg beer - we respect other people's preferences - but we do demand the option of drinking good real ale in our local pubs.
If you want smooth and cool
and taste - DRINK REAL ALE!
It is perhaps surprising just how many varying styles and names of glasses and handled mugs there are. They should come in pint and half pint sizes, lined or unlined and be Government stamped. Standard capacities are: 10oz, 12oz, 20oz, and 24oz.
Of course you may have your own personal tankard behind the bar. If it is not Government stamped, beer should not be dispensed into it directly but transferred from a stamped glass. Naturally we in CAMRA would like to see lined oversized glases used everywhere so we could all be sure we're getting a full measure. It's something we are pushing hard for but until such time as full measures are forced through by legislation, mind you don't spill what you've got - whatever type of glass it is in!
| The glass range for draught beers looks something like this - | Whilst the range for bottled beers includes - |
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1. Cripple Creek InnComfortable country inn on the village outskirts catering for drinkers and diners. Just off old Raglan - Abergavenny road (about 20 mins walk from village). Anslow bus service 83 passes by.Brains SA, Marstons Pedigree, Tetley Bitter |
4. Beaufort Arms HotelHistoric residential hotel with a characterful interior comprising a small public bar, spacious lounge, and restaurant.Bass, Hancock's HB |
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2. CrownSpacious open plan bar with dining area, real log fire, and pictures of old Raglan.Bass, Hancock's HB |
3. Ship Inn
Fine old multi-roomed, low-beamed, inn with cobbled
forecourt. and an ancient fireplace said to originate from Raglan Castle.
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Construction began in 1435 to build not so much a
defensive fortress but rather a grand residence for Sir William ap Thomas.
It later suffered at the hands of Cromwell's army during the Civil War
but even in ruin it remains a magnificent structure. Today it is owned
by CADW and is open to the public. |
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PUBLIC TRANSPORTStagecoach Red & White (01633 266336) run service 60 Newport - Monmouth approximately every 2 hours Mon - Sat.Phil Anslow (01495 767999) service 83 from Abergavenny - Monmouth operates irregularly (about every 2 hours) and also passes the Cripple Creek Inn. Note that there are no evening services on either route. |
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Our destination was the historic village of Grosmont and a beer festival at the Angel Inn but en route we called at the historic Skirrid Inn at Llanfihangel Crucorney to sample some Ushers ale. This was a first time visit for one of our party so we lingered to chat about the pub's past and take in the atmosphere. Then it was off to the Angel.
The
Lion has been owned and run for the past 4 years by husband and wife team, Tom
and Debbie Zsigo. (Zsigo is not computer jargon, it is a real name, though as
Tom combines running the inn with a full time day job of running his own computer
consultancy business, currently commuting to Swindon and back each day, maybe
it is computer jargon!). Debbie runs the pub during the daytime, and Tom helps
out in the evening and at weekends. Combining this with being the parents of
a young child means that their life is a fairly busy one, to say the least.
The Lion runs bar skittles and quiz teams and also a folk club (Mondays). It usually has three or four real ales on at a time. Some are unusual beers, others are regulars' favourites (there is a request board, where customers can ask for their favourite tipple). There is also a fine selection of whiskies, many of them single malts, and Tom and Debbie even manage to find time to run a whisky club!
Should
you be tempted to stay a while to explore the area there is accommodation in
the form of one twin room. Bed & breakfast is £30 October to March
/ £35 April to September.
As befits someone whose day job is running a computer business, Tom has made sure his pub is on the Internet. If you want more information on either Trellech or the Lion Inn, http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~zsigo/ is a good place to start.
It's a different picture in Wales though. Our beer went up on average by 6.5% to 169p as against 158p last year. The cheapest pint was 120p and the dearest 216p. Lager prices were 149p for the cheapest and 182p for the dearest. How does that compare with your local?
It was no surprise to find that the cheapest beer is to be found in the north west of England, where there is healthy competition from local independent breweries like Hydes, Holts and Robinson's, while the most expensive is in the south east. Best value beer was found in independent brewery pubs at an average £1.68, compared to £1.76 in national brewery pubs, and £1.72 in pub chains.
So there you go - another
good reason for drinking real ale.
From Pints to Plastics
The
former Westlakes Brewery at Cwmavon, between Pontypool and Blaenafon is one
of the few brewery buildings in South Wales to have survived demolition. Today
it houses a plastics factory but when it was built in 1900 by leading brewery
architects George Adlam & Sons, it was at the pinnacle of modern brewery
design.
The origins of the brewery began further up in the valley in Blaenafon when in 1884 Charles Westlake bought the Cambrian Brewery, James Street, which had been brewing since at least 1844. In 1889 he formed a limited company, Westlake's Brewery Limited, valued at £35,000. However there was one serious problem, the water supply was unreliable. This necessitated the move down the valley to a site with a better water supply.
The tall, five-story tower brewery was constructed in local stone and red brick. The Brewers Journal said of the brewery, "The construction of the building is of the most substantial character in every way. The plant will be of the most modern description, both scientifically and practically."
The beers were highly regarded, winning awards at brewing exhibitions in 1905, 1908, 1909 and 1910.
A
poster from 1910 proudly advertising "Westlakes Prize Medal Ales & Stout
in Cask and Bottle" shows the brewery, Afon Lwyd and the railway line. This
rare poster is on display at the Whistle Inn at Garn-yr-Erw. Westlakes claimed
to supply the public houses in the whole valley with, "Nourishing Ales brewed
from best quality materials and pure rising spring waters". By 1907, the brewery
owned 18 pubs. In 1911, Westlakes took over the Castle Brewery, George Street,
Pontypool and their estate of nine pubs. The Castle Brewery had been brewing
since at least 1830 under the name of the Pontypool Brewery.
During the 1920's the business declined and brewing finally stopped in 1928. Westlake's Brewery Limited was merged with Daniel Seys Davies' Reform Brewery, Union Street (Foundry Road), Abersychan, founded 1832, the year of the Reform Act. The company still used the name of Westlakes on their beer and in 1933 offered Westlakes Draught XXB, XXX, IPA as well as three bottled stouts and a dinner ale.
In 1935, the brewery buildings were taken over by the Eastern Valley Subsidence Production Society, aiming to alleviate the mass unemployment of the Depression. The society was the idea of a Newport Quaker, Peter Scott and provided work in food production, clothing and agriculture with no wages but the goods the workers produced were sold to them at much reduced rates.
In 1939 the Reform Brewery was taken over by Buchan's of Rhymney.
Today a nearby pub carries on the name of Westlakes; the Westlakes Arms which changed its name from the Railway Inn some time ago. Inside the pub you will find another copy of the 1910 advertising poster and photos of the area, as well as oversized lined glasses!
In 1997 CADW, the Welsh Historic Monuments Agency, gave a Grade II listing to the former Westlakes Brewery, describing it as, "A scarce surviving example of a grand Victorian brewery in Wales, built by notable brewery architects and highly regarded at the time of construction".
The former brewery survives today as a plastics factory
References:
"Prince of Ales", Brian Glover; "Whitbread in South Wales", Nick Redman
"Gwent CAMRA needs your support to promote the interest of real ale drinkers and pub-goers in the area. We have over 200 members and are always on the look out for more - you might see me wandering in and out of pubs with a big net slung over my shoulder! We particularly welcome support from those of you interested in becoming active members. We have a small hard working committee and a handful of other members who are active but we need more help in such loathsome chores like visiting pubs and sampling the beer to keep us in touch with what's going on in our area.
If you have ever wondered what you get out of CAMRA membership, here are a few things to consider -
Interested? Then just go
to the membership
page on CAMRA's website and follow the instructions."
| This guy walks into a pub, orders
10 large whiskies and slams all 10 in about 30 seconds.
The landlord asks "Are you alright? Why are you drinking so fast?" The guy answers "Because I only have fifty
pence." |
A second guy walks into the bar
and orders a beer. After a couple of sips he looks up and sees a woman sitting
at the end of the bar. He calls the barman over and says he'd like to buy
the lady a drink.
The barman says "Listen pal, let me save you some trouble. She's a lesbian". The guy takes a second, thinks it over, shrugs his shoulders and says "That's ok. I'd like to buy her a drink anyway." So the barman brings the woman her drink. The woman lifts her glass and gives the man a nod of thanks. The guy gets up from his bar stool and saunters over to the woman. As he's sitting down on the stool next to her he says "So, what part of Lesbia are you from?" |
Sieved
malt is crushed in the grist case and malt mill.
Raglan
Castle