spring2008issue64 · pdf filethe rock solid foundations of the ... with a score of others, to...

SPRING 2008 ISSUE 64

SOUTHERN HAMPSHIRE BRANCHOF THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

CONTENTS:

Editorial 4

Pub News 7

Crossword Competition 12

A Brewer’s View 14

Walking and Drinking (6) 18

Glass Hysteria 22

With Regret 25

Join CAMRA 26

SPRING 08 HOPPRESS ISSUE 64 3

HOPPRESS

Editor: Pat O’Neill1 Surbiton RoadEastleighHants, S050 4HYTel: 023 8064 2246Email: [email protected] web site: www.shantscamra.org.uk

© CAMRA Ltd 2007/2008

unfairness to cask beer drinkers and thus toBritain’s small brewers in particular. Of allalcoholic drinks, cask-conditioned beer —real ale — call it what you will, can only beobtained in pubs or traditional clubs; the veryvenues where drinking conduct is well regulated.Increasing prices there disproportionately hitsthe discriminating drinkers who appreciatebeers for taste and quality rather than theircapacity to produce a quick coma.

With their much lower margins the cheapsupermarket offers will go up by a lot less andthe binge drinking problems in our streetsand parks will actually get worse. Globalbrewers will be sanguine — any loss of pubsales of their standard lagers will be made upfor by increased off-sales. Only our small andmicro brewers, who just produce cask beer,will suffer. And, of course, our long-sufferinglandlords who will see falling incomes whilstbeing berated by authority for not curing ‘thedrinking problem.’

The country’s economy is slowing, maybeeven heading for that dread state, a recession.Traditional wisdom of the stock jobber wasthat in such stormy times the solid bricks andmortar of breweries and pubs made a suitableshelter for investments until the storm abated,but not this time around seemingly — why?In a word, securitisation, or if we want to per-sonalise it, Lord Young.

In 1987, Lord Young, Mrs Thatcher’s trademinister, introduced the ‘Beer Orders,’ostensibly to cut monopoly in the brewingindustry; in practice it achieved exactly theopposite. By saying that breweries could notown more than 2000 pubs, but then by notsaying that this should also apply to any otherorganisations. Almost overnight tens ofthousands of pubs were transferred to

cobbled together ‘pubcos’ set up by billionsof pounds borrowed from the banks aroundthe world, on the security of their projectedfuture rental cash-flows.

With precisely the same reckless treatment ashappened to American mortgages, financial‘engineers’ rolled up these loans and usedthem to generate a borrowing spiral on aseemingly ever more gilt-edged base. In thereal world, meanwhile, the pub trade wasbecoming ever harder — beer sales continuedto decline steadily, overheads rose faster thaninflation and legislation such as the licensingchanges and the smoking ban added to theburdens. The rock solid foundations of theBritish securitised pub estate suddenly beginsto look distinctly sandy.

Since last midsummer shares of EnterpriseInns have declined almost linearly from 750pto around 400p today, Punch Taverns havemore than halved from nearly 1400p to 600pnow. But the whiz kids in red braces nevergive in, their latest wheeze is to try topersuade the Treasury to let them turn thesefinancial instruments into forms of invest-ment trust that can avoid corporation tax —with one bound they will be free! Perhaps...

Our cover for this issue shows apicture that we had not expectedto ever be able to show and now

hope not to show again. Which seems amighty queer thing to say about an inoffen-sive looking country inn! It is of a pub, theBugle in Twyford, that has featured in virtuallyevery issue of Hop Press for years and it isthere to celebrate the pub’s reopening.

The Bugle was an Eldridge Pope house and inthe decline of that unfortunate brewery it wassold, with a score of others, to the very inap-propriately named Inntown Pub Company.Inntown have little interest in running pubsbut great interest in closing them to extractthe, often large, property value in ‘developing’them, usually for housing. The Bugle wasclosed immediately, in 2004, and an epictriangular struggle began between these‘developers,’ the planners and the pub’s cam-paigning supporters (ourselves included).

After many rebuffs from the Winchesterplanners — congratulations to them forstanding firm against this very persistent com-pany — all that Inntown came away with waspermission for a few houses on part of the carpark and with the all-important clause thatthe pub had to reopen before they could besold. Which has now happened.

The pub was bought by Richard Yonwin andLenny Carr-Roberts and after an extensiverefit it opened on March 22nd, just 1330 dayson from its closure. The refit has resulted in alarge, single bar pub with a modern, light andairy feel, with lots of pale wood furnishings.Although obviously hoping for plenty of foodtrade (the menu is available daily) it is verydefinitely a pub rather than just a restaurant— it passes the Hop Press ten second three-part test — you can stand at the bar withoutbeing ushered away, there are bar stools if

you do not want to stand and, vitally, a pintcan be ordered without any subsequentsuggestion of viewing menus!

At the time of visiting, three cask beers were onoffer, Ringwood Fortyniner and the intriguingchance of comparing, at the same sitting,Bowman’s Swift One with Flowerpots Bitter.

The Bugle is open all day from 11.30 and wewish it every success. And, as the first para-graph said, we hope there is no need to writeof it again in future editorials!

In the last edition’s Editorial we bemoanedthe seeming hysteria over drinking that wassweeping the corridors of power, with thelikelihood of dire consequences to come for along time into the future. And although it isnow some months since this year’s startlingbudget was imposed, the patent unfairness ofit and its potential for harm to cask beer inparticular, demand that we revisit the subject.

As ever, since before anyone can remember,the Chancellor intoned his ritual mantra of“I will add ... pence to a pint of beer”Knowing, again as always, this was, in un-par-liamentary language, a direct lie. Anythingadded to the ex-brewery, pre-VAT cost of beerwill result in at least four times as much ontothe customer’s pint. This is not from rapaciouslandlords taking advantage of their public, it issimple business economics, they have to keeptheir margins constant. In the case of thisbudget’s mythical 4p, after keeping themargins and also allowing for pint/half pintsplitting and avoiding small copper change nopint could increase by less than 20p withoutthreatening a landlord’s livelihood.

But this is all common knowledge, what isreally the scandal of this budget is its perverse

SPRING 08 HOPPRESS ISSUE 64 5HOPPRESS ISSUE 64 SPRING 084

Editorial

O

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Twyford/OtterbourneAs our Editorial lead describes, after almostfour years of waiting residents of Twyford canagain have a drink at the Bugle.Congratulations are due to the ‘Save theBugle Action Group’ who have shown that itis possible to save pubs that are threatenedand that closure is not inevitable.

In the last edition of Pubs News we noted thatpub chain Mitchells and Butlers had decidedto dispose of the Captain Barnard atCompton and its continuation as a pub wasunder threat. When we started to write thisedition of Hop Press we were cautiously opti-mistic about the future of the pub. Soon afterthe story became public the owners said thatthe pub would continue to trade and therewere rumours that a proposed sale had fallenthrough. In March M and B submitted anapplication under the Licensing Act to alterthe internal layout yet, in April, the pubstopped trading, having been abruptly sold byM and B. New owners are HighwoodResidential, a Chandlers Ford company whowant to create a fifty bed care home.

WinchesterThere is better news from the Stanmore. Forthe second time councillors voted (9-1)against a care home being built on this site,despite advice to approve the plan fromplanning officers. There was a big local cam-paign against the closure, including a 750strong petition and more than 300 letters ofobjection. Following the success, pub regu-lars celebrated by raising money for theSpecial Care Baby Unit at the nearby RoyalHampshire County Hospital with a week ofevents including a race night and a poolcompetition. In passing we note that super-market chain Aldi have submitted their fourthapplication to build a store on the site of thelong demolished Chimneys pub in Weeke!

East of the City centre, another pub faces anuncertain future. Two years ago the Heart inHand was handed a reprieve after policeobjections to a change of licence holder wereovercome. Now a plan has been submittedfor a change of use to a hair salon or physio-therapy unit (!) along with the inevitable 12flats.

In the City centre there may be better news;the Mash Tun, which had been due to reopenin March, is currently clothed in scaffoldingso could be due for renaissance. BroadcasterPeter White and his family gave up runningthe pub in 2007.

A forecast in the last Pub News that was right:the Guildhall Tavern in the High Streetreopened at the end of 2007 as part of thePitcher and Piano chain.

King’s Worthy/BramdeanA major revamp, set to last seven weeks, hasalso been taking place at the Cart and Horsesat King’s Worthy. The pub continues to beowned by Greene King but will be run by acompany called Innventure as part of theirabsurdly named “d’Arry’s” brand. Local res-idents were horrified when decorators start-ed to cover the exterior in a startling shade ofpurple. No permission had been granted forthe painting of such a bright colour onto alisted building within a conservation area andWinchester City Council ensured that itstopped and was replaced by a more accept-able pale coffee hue. The owners claimedthat the purple paint was delivered as theresult of the wrong code being entered on anorder sheet (although the purple was thespecified colour in the planning application).

A little further to the east, staff at the Fox Innat Bramdean had reason for celebration afterthey received a ‘Hampshire Hospitality


Pub News by Rob Whatley

Continued overleaf >

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Shirrell Heath/CurbridgeSimilarly, such a change was required at thePrince of Wales in Shirrell Heath. Winchesterenvironmental health officers applied for areview of the pub’s licence after complaint ofnoise and nuisance. The license was retainedafter the owners, Osprey Pubs, a sub-group ofAdmiral Taverns, agreed to install newlicensees who would ensure that the pubreverted to a more family friendly establish-ment with more of an emphasis on food.

With the food trade in pubs becoming evermore competitive, landlady Helen Hill andher head chef, and son, Daniel, offer a menuthat is completely gluten free at the Horseand Jockey in Curbridge. Both are coeliacsufferers and turned their frustration at beingunable to find suitable dishes on menus wheneating out into an opportunity to produce aunique menu so that all their customers canenjoy their food without worries.

New ForestGood news reaches us from the Waterside,where an application has been made to buildan hotel, a pub, a restaurant and functionrooms on the site of the former Flying BoatInn at Calshot, which closed in the late1990s. Outline planning permission wasgranted for a similar scheme on the site threeyears ago but it has remained vacant since theoriginal buildings were demolished afterbeing severely damaged by fire in 2001.

Fire has also hit two currently trading Forestpubs, but with ultimately happier outcomes.At the end of March more than 60 firefight-ers were needed to fight a blaze at theWoolpack in Sopley, which was first spottedby a passer by at 4pm in the afternoon. Themain damage was to the thatched roof andthe flat below and so it was hoped that thepub was due to reopen quickly by the end ofApril. A more minor blaze took place at the

Musketeer in Pennington at the end ofFebruary but was quickly extinguished byfirefighters and trade here was not affected.

Also in Pennington, the Wheel Inn is underthe new management of Pete Walters andMarie Richards. In addition to live music andan interesting selection of real ales, beauty treat-ments are also being offered at the premises.

In the centre of Lymington congratulationsare in order for Borough Arms landlordGlenn Miller who has recently won a BritishBeer and Pub Association gold award for thequality of his beer, one of only ten suchawards that are presented in the UK eachmonth.

North, in Pilley, there was good news forlocal residents when the Pilley Stores and PostOffice was saved from closure after it wasbought by Hadie Bradley, landlady of the vil-lage’s Fleur de Lys pub, and it will be run byher brother Havior Hughes.

In New Milton the Wheatsheaf has reopenedafter being shut for more than a month for asubstantial refurbishment. The popular foodtrade does not diminish the pub’s appeal todrinkers with Ringwood Best, Fortyniner,Jennings Sneck Lifter and Mule from OutlawBrewery available when we visited. The firstthree of these beers are of course brewedwithin the Martsons group and readers mayhave noted Jennings beers appearing in anincreasing number of local pubs recently.

The Wheatsheaf came to Marstons as part ofa package of former Eldridge Pope outlets.Although the pub has now reopened, some ofthe original alterations were rejected by NewForest planners and had to be resubmitted.Marstons/Ringwood also had a setback inthe refusal of a side extension and other


Award’ after an anonymous visit by judges whoassessed hospitality, service and food quality.

Horsebridge/DunbridgeMoving from the north east extremity of ourarea to the north west, worrying news reach-es us from Horsebridge. With a guide priceof £700,000, the John of Gaunt Inn is up forsale with the advert that appeared in the localpress stating: “The price includes a detachedresidence with substantial first floor privateaccommodation, a ground floor area currentlyoperating as bar and restaurant with detachedcottage, parking and private gardens ideallysuited as home and income, dual family occu-pation or the entrepreneurial restaurateurwishing to exploit great business scope.”

A little to the south, there have been newattractions at the Mill Arms in Dunbridgewhere live theatre with dinner is becoming aregular event. A performance of HaroldPinter’s “The Lover” was a complete sell outand more events are being planned. Whileexpanding the attraction of the Mill Arms,owners Andrea and Ian Bentall have alsotaken over the Abbots Mitre at Chilbolton,following refurbishments.

RomseyWe mentioned in the last edition of Pub Newsthat the White Horse in Romsey was due toreopen before the end of the year. However,there have been a number of delays to theproject and permission has been sought tobuild an annexe that would create 16 addi-tional guest rooms. It is now likely to openagain in June — rumours still abound, twosuggest that (good) there will be local beersand (probably bad) that the bar will be relo-cated to another part of the building.

In 1996 the Horse and Jockey in Mainstonereopened as a pub having been last used as a

veterinary surgery. Then in 2000 it becameCasa Bodega. Now, while remaining part ofthe Dalmeny Leisure group that includesBanana Wharf and Dockgate Four inSouthampton, it has reopened again as theCromwell Arms, a gastro-pub.

EastleighThe awful behaviour of drinkers in Eastleighhas been under the spotlight in past months.We noted in the last Pub News that Earth Barin the town centre had been closed afternumerous serious disturbances linked to thepremises. Permission has now been grantedto Inntown Properties (familiar name...) toerect an eight storey block facing the busstation that will feature restaurants and caféson the ground floor. The rest of the 63 flatswill be in a six storey block overlookingSouthampton Road which will also includeother retail and office space.

Drinkers who were expecting to celebrateChristmas at the nearby Home Tavern weredisappointed as it was also closed over thefestive season as a result of an application bypolice following a major disturbance on thepremises in the middle of December.There was then another mass brawl outsidethe still open High Street pub, Stones, onBoxing Day evening.

In an attempt to improve the situation,Eastleigh’s licensing committee have nowrevoked the Home Tavern’s late licence soalcohol cannot be served after 11pm.The change was backed by both the policeand the owners, Laurel Pub Company. Thecompany is now looking to ‘re-market’ thepremises, which in the past used to be sparse-ly occupied before 11pm. Perhaps it can bemarketed as a proper pub! But we are nothopeful as enquiries from ourselves toLaurel’s bosses have gone unanswered.

HOPPRESS ISSUE 64 SPRING 088

Pub News continued


minor alterations to their flagship Inn on theFurlong in Ringwood A substantial refurbish-ment that has gone ahead is at the Red Lion,Totton, with alterations throughout thepremises.

SouthamptonAnother major refurbishment, this time inWoolston, led to the temporary closure of theSwan. Happily it is now open again, with anew entrance and access ramp. The pubcontinues to be a major venue for live music.

Sadly though, most news is of closure. Closedand unlikely to reopen is the Merry Oak.It was put up for sale for more than £½m andrecently a new application was submitted forits demolition and replacement by two retailunits with 10 flats above. Also boarded up isthe Bridge Tavern in Coxford. Continuingwith the bad news, the Star and Garter inFreemantle has been replaced by a block offlats, while nearby the former Victory, oppo-site the Central Station, has been closed andpartially replaced by a Costa Coffee outlet.

It’s not all closures though. Work has startedon a new bar to replace what was a Christianbook shop in Carlton Place. Just round thecorner in Bedford Place, following a£500,000 refit, the Lizard Lounge is nowtrading as Revolution Vodka Bar, part of a 50strong national chain. A substantial amounthas also been spent on the White Star inOxford Street. The bar and restaurant havebeen refurbished and 13 en-suite bedroomshave been added. Changes to the outsidedrinking area of the Gate in Bassett are instore for the summer. The new manager isJan Wisniewski, who has previously trans-formed Kolebka in Bevois Valley. There hasalso been a change of licensee at the KingGeorge in Millbrook, where Wayne and RoseJohnston are pulling the pints. Substantial

changes may be in store for the CoopersArms in Northam where an application hasbeen made to host entertainment includingplays, films and music under the banner of theJoshua Tree.

WinsorFinally we feature a local pub that has recentlyreceived worldwide publicity. JackHammond moved to Cadnam at the end oflast year to be nearer his family and had thegood sense to make the Good Beer Guidelisted Compass in Winsor his local. However,his son Michael finds it difficult to accompany88 year old Jack on his twice weekly visits.As a result he put an advert in the local postoffice asking for people to escort Jack, twoevenings a week, for £7 an hour plus expenses.So many people responded to the advert thatMichael and Jack had to sift a mountain ofapplications. Many stated that they did notwant payment, while the Compass’s landlady,Mop Draper, offered to drive Jack to andfrom the pub. Two people, HenryRosenvinge from Emery Down and TrevorPugh from Southampton have now beenchosen to accompany Jack on his visits to theCompass Inn.

New Ringwood BeerA rare new beer was brewed by Ringwood inthe spring. The new ale is called SeventyEight, and is commemoration of the found-ing of the brewery in 1978, thirty years ago.

The draft version of the beer, a nice hoppy,4.2% abv bitter, and which is brewed withSovereign hops, should be finished by thetime you read this but it will still be availablein bottles and we will have some at theSouthampton Beer Festival (in the Guildhall,June 5th to 7th).


Pub News continued


Unit G1 Railway Triangle, Walton Rd, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 1TQTel: 02392 389988 www.irvingbrewers.co.uk email: [email protected]

4s and 5s are all 7s, so only partially clued.

Across1. Firstly, test if blood entered river (5)4.Do nameless parents make acceptable parents? (8)8. Coward’s patriotic flag-waver, or a GraceBrothers’ mission statement? (2,5,2,5)10. Dental student’s fear — or joy? (4,4)11. A mistake at the junction horrifies (6)12. To cut, a corset is relaxed (9)15. Took horse to Scotland? — more thebus from Shrewsbury! (5)17. Several Heavens (5)18. MD, no hoper, may look overweight (9)19. People mounted additions to contract (6)21. Ribs that broke are obnoxious (8)24. Tempestuous spirit’s 9.144 metresounding (4,6,4)25. Soft shoe shuffle is no scam (8)26. Managed church (5)

Down1. It may be no more gritty, considering allthe angles (12)2. Leading medieval naval weaponsplatform, east London fortress (9)3. Inheriting half the proceeds (5)4. It is a rash time to be in retreat (9)5. Is monarchy overdrawn? (4)6. As a result of using mere froth (9)7. Flower, a French bank flower (5)9. Screen chef — he used diced brie! (6,6)13. Get golden salt air treatment here? (9)14. An 18 fashion, with MO in a swap,gets nature’s well-being drug (9)16. Antipodean Scot (!)? No, a true believerin the effects of breeding (9)20. Grim cipher (5)22. Troops cause damage (5)23. 40% of ‘92 treaty? (4)


Crossword Competition

QUETZALCOATL

Prizes for the first twocorrect entries drawn.

Closing date:25th August

To: The EditorHop Press1 Surbiton Rd.Eastleigh, Hants.SO50 4HY

Mea culpa! Although the last issue wasintended to be a bit easier than number 62,It was not meant to contain a glaring error!

24 across should, of course, have beenLENNON. I think the second ‘N’ fell byThe wayside because I had been toyingwith a more Bolshevik based clue for thatlight...

Winners:Nigel Cook, St DenysJohn Green, St Albans

Other correct solutions from:T. Bartlett C. F. BussellD. Chessman R. ChristieR. Cork K. CrawfordM. Cromie T. CrowtherP. Doughty M. HobbsD. Jones T. ParkinsonN. Parsons H. SaundersA. Stilwell J. TrueJ. Yalden

Hop Press Issue63 Solution

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Telephone: 01962 865512 • Fax: 01962 87715099 Alresford Road • Winchester • Hants • SO23 0JZ

s your favourite beer a slightlydifferent flavour than it used to be?Don’t be surprised — last year’s

harvests were poor and brewers are makingsubtle changes to recipes to compensate. Wetalked to Martin Roberts of Bowman Ales tofind out what’s going on.

“We live in interesting times with maltingbarley. The last season (2007) was awful,purely because of the weather. The harvestwas difficult because the wet weather contin-ued right into the end of the growing season,when it should have been ripening. It wasactually germinating in the fields rather thanon the malting floor. So the quality is downand the yield that we get from it is also down.We seem to get variation even in the samebatch of malt. We get one analysis perpurchase of malt although it does seem tovary throughout the batch and everybody ishaving the same problem.”

“Malt prices have gone through the roof as aresult of all this and we’ve just had to increase ourprices. We certainly didn’t want to — especiallybefore the budget — but we had to. Our malt-ing barley prices went up from £404 per tonne to£623 per tonne, a more than 50% increase.”

“We thought at one stage that hops would bea real problem too. All the growing areas inthe northern hemisphere were afflicted byone of more natural disasters, either floodingor hail storms. These shredded the growinghops — so they had to re-grow. The resultingquality was good but the yield was awful. Wewere using the standard Styrian Goldingshops grown in eastern Europe and we nowhave to use a Styrian Golding variety calledBrobek. Which is slightly different, discerniblydifferent, though it’s still a lovely hop. It hasbeen grown in the same part of the world, butit’s a stronger plant and survived the hail.”

“Our main bittering hop in Swift One isGreen Bullet from New Zealand. This wasalways about the most expensive hop youcould buy, mainly because of the distance ithas to travel. However, because of all theproblems in the northern hemisphere,suddenly, because of the limited supply, NewZealand hops are under great demand.We were advised by our hop merchant thatwe should order a whole years worth becausethere won’t be enough to go around!”

These problems are affecting breweries allover the world so as pint prices creep upduring the next 6 months we should all prayfor a good harvest this year.

As previously reported in the pages of HopPress, Martin and Ray were the brewers fromthe Cheriton Brewhouse. Readers will recallthat this Cheriton partnership was dissolvedin 2006. (The brewery at the Flowerpots isagain producing great beer, we are pleased toreport, under its new brewer, Iain McIntosh.)

“Initially Ray and I thought we would go ourseparate ways — because we were both fedup. We both thought what we’d probably dois set up two small breweries, but as the dustsettled we both realised that it would be awaste of our talents to trade separately, so wedecided it would be better for both of us tostart again with a single, larger, brewery,which is how Bowman Ales came about.”

Martin has brewed beer for a long time andcertainly knows what he’s doing. What start-ed as a hobby became a profession whenCheriton Brewhouse was formed.

“I’d always been a very keen full mash homebrewer. Before the resurgence of small breweries,in the late ‘70s, it was unusual to find a decentpint. There were only one or two decent pubsaround. The only way to get a decent beer was

to brew it yourself. So I got the wonderful bookby poor, dead Dave Line — which is still avail-able — “Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy.”Which must be the worst title ever!”

“I got into conversation with a gentlemanfrom Cheriton. He was thinking about start-ing a brewery — and I said I’d go off and doa brewing course then come back and be thebrewer, with Ray taking on the greater partof the brewing later. It’s just the same as fullmash homebrewing, just on a larger scalewith a bit more knowledge of microbiology,which came from my earlier occupation as adairyman. So that’s how the CheritonBrewhouse started. And that continued for 13½ years until the partnership was dissolved.”

Nuts. Bowman have recently released aseasonal ale called Nuts. It is an interestingconcoction made with sweet chestnuts.

“It was an idea gleaned from the Waitrosemagazine. There was an article about aCorsican beer brewed with sweet chestnuts, Ithought it sounded interesting, so I got holdof some sweet chestnut flour, fiddled withthe percentage of ingredients a little until Iwas happy that it should work and — luckilyit’s really nice — it’s our winter ale.”

You might think that a brewer would make asmall batch of an experimental beer like Nutsbut Martin explains that it’s not as easy as allthat.

“It’s down to experience really. It’s very dif-ficult to do a half brew and then scale it up.So we just do full brews. It hasn’t happenedyet — touch wood — but we could end upwith 720 gallons of unsalable rubbish.”

“A lot of pubs are restricted in what they cansell. Customers don’t want to try anythingtoo different. A beer made with sweet chest-nuts can be a bit of a problem for some

people because they don’t want to go outsidetheir norm. We are really lucky and in adelightful position. Places like the Guide Dogin Southampton have supported us and drinkour beers at a staggering rate. We originallywere selling beer based on our reputationfrom the other place. I’m pleased to say thatnow we are standing on our own two feet.The beer we have produced for a year is ofgood quality and word has got around.”

Bowman Ales should be an inspiration toanyone who is contemplating setting up amicro-brewery. In their first summer of tradingthey managed to collect four ‘winners’ awardsand further bronze or runner up positions.

“It’s been an amazing year. Staggering.We’re now trading 15-20% up on what weever did at Cheriton. And that’s in the firstyear. It’s gobsmaking to be honest — it really is.When you are caught up in the day to daytasks of running a business, you sometimesdon’t give yourself enough time to stand backsee what you’ve achieved. But when you do,it’s wonderful, it really is. And it’s all thanksto local CAMRA members, who just likedrinking a decent pint. And the local land-lords of course. Not to mention a smallhandful of good old fashioned luck! Whenwe were setting up the brewery we didn’thave limitless amounts of money, but we didfuture proof to some extent. We started offwith three fermentation vessels and threeconditioning vessels — the brewery is a 20barrel plant, so it’s twice the size of the oldone. Last summer we purchased another twoconditioning vessels — so we’re now up tofive. We found that we had a bit of a bottle-neck in production. We’ve got space in thefermentation room for at least one morevessel then perhaps we could expand intoanother unit on the site.”


A Brewer’s View by Rob Bennett

I



The future of Ale in the UK?“I foresee things becoming more difficult.There is a strong anti-alcohol feeling in >government at the moment. If we want tohave the same freedom to drink what we wantand when we want to drink it, then peoplehave really got to start writing to their MPs,to the Chancellor of the Exchequer and alsoto the Minister of Justice. This anti-alcoholfeeling is shaping policy which will be with usfor years to come. It’s set to change the waywe drink entirely. Particularly with regard torural pubs — it could be the death of everysingle rural pub in the country and thatwould be a very great shame.”

“There has to be a differential made betweenthe different forms of drinking alcohol. Ifthey are going to tax alcohol almost outexistence — which I can see happening in thenot too distant future — It’s only right thatdistinctions are made between beer and aleand the strong lagers, alcopops and the spir-

its. You know — Vodka bars — they shouldbe taxed out of existence! When was the lasttime you heard of an antisocial incident at abeer festival?”

I’ve been a CAMRA member for longer thanI care to remember and I know that I would-n’t be in business today if it wasn’t for it. It’snot just about me brewing; CAMRA hasbeen instrumental in ensuring we can all get adecent pint. We wouldn’t be sitting here if itwasn’t for it!”

“CAMRA has basically reintroduced beer tothe great British public. They have keptgoing, constantly, though various campaignsand of course the beer festivals which takeplace up and down the land. CAMRA some-times gets caught up in it’s own battles butlike I was saying before, we have to step backand see what’s been achieved over the years.”

We’ll drink to that!

A Brewer’s View - continued

This Summer I would like to sug-gest a walk around Braishfield, alarge village less than three miles

northeast of Romsey. Although there are noshops left in the village, it is a great place forreal ale drinkers because of the three pubs ofdiffering styles.

The Newport Inn in Newport Lane has beenrun by Janet and Bernard Cook for very manyyears, and before that by Janet’s parents. It isa totally unimproved inn with a fifties feelabout it. I have been drinking there since1965 when I moved to Hampshire, and,apart from a small change to the bar positionin the public bar, it seems just the same.Many Hop Press readers will know the pubwell, and have very fond memories of it. TheNewport is now a Fuller’s pub, though it stillappears to be owned by Gale’s, so the beersare BBB, HSB, and Festival Mild or Fuller’sWinter Ale or Adnams. The simple, butfamed, ploughman’s and sarnies are recom-mended. Visit it now; it cannot lastunchanged for ever.

The Wheatsheaf has had a new lease of lifesince Peter & Jenny Jones took over someyears ago. The pub is comfortable, homely,and just slightly chaotic. The beers and foodon offer are generally adventurous and local.Peter keeps his own pigs which form part ofthe menu. The beers always include RingwoodBest Bitter, often Taylors’ Landlord and fromthe Isle of Wight, Goddard’s, with othersmainly coming from local breweries.

The Dog and Crook is a neat looking modestpub at the south end of the village, ably runby Alan Arthur (his first pub) and MiriamBevan. Again Ringwood Best Bitter is aregular, the second beer is often LondonPride, with a third beer on, when tradepermits (how sensible).

Start the walk from the village centre.Start from the T-junction in the middle of thevillage (by the red telephone box and the signto the Newport Inn). Walk downhill (north-wards) to the War Memorial, turn right intoChurch Lane, then immediately fork left atthe sign to the Church with the additionalduck warning sign, and immediately pass theduck pond on your right. When the roadbends sharp left towards the church, keepstraight on past ‘Festina Lente.’

Ignore a footpath on the right, and very soonafter the road reduces to a well surfaced trackleading to Merrie Meade Farm. Just beforethe farm, turn left onto a footpath that skirtsthe clutter of the farmyard, then leads intoopen countryside. Just after a stile on theright, the path squeezes between a tall fenceand hedge and leads straight on to a few stepsdown onto Braishfield Road. Turn right ontothe road which has a wide verge, bends leftand goes downhill to a crossroads. (If youwant to shorten the walk, turn left at thecrossroads into Paynes Hay Road and omitthe next two paragraphs!)

At the crossroads go straight on along KingsSomborne Road, then immediately left anduphill on a bridleway leading to WindmillCottage. Ignore all turnings, and as the gra-dient eases bend right and left by WindmillCottage. Stay on the curving and gentlyclimbing main track with private rides onboth sides. After a hedge on the left, a sharpbend left, and a hedge of trees on the right,the track suddenly bends right but follow abridle-way sign going straight ahead along asomewhat muddy path. (Alternatively, cheatslightly and use the parallel, drier, private ride.Further on there is a clear gap in the lowhedge that separates the ride from the path,showing that many others have walked thisway). After the gap, the muddy path soon

leads onto a small lane (Eldon Road whichlinks Braishfield and Kings Somborne).

Turn left on the lane going slightly downhill.Bend right at the first house on the left, thenjust before the first house on the right cross astile on the left into a field. Turn right alongthe field edge parallel to the lane you havejust left and cross into the next field.Immediately turn left to climb along thethicketed edge of the field. Cross a stile in thefield corner into a very large field, keep to theleft hand side, bending right after 100 yardsor so. After two more kinks in the field edge,and a dilapidated footpath sign, you come tothe end of the field. Here you pass through awooden chicane and go downhill on a smallpath between a hedge and a low fence to across lane in the valley.

Ignore the footpath straight ahead (though itwill take you back to Braishfield directly).Instead, turn right along the lane (PaynesHay Road again), past dilapidated farm build-ings with a fine weathercock, past the finefarmhouse, and turn left over a stile into agrassy field. Keep to the left hand side of thefield to a second stile onto a sometimesmuddy path going uphill inside the edge of awood. Soon the path crosses a trivial, single-plank footbridge and opens out into a field ofyoung trees. Continue along the left handside of this field to a very large open field bya double footpath post. Climb gently alongthe left hand side of this field with views allaround suddenly improving, until the summit isreached near a couple of fine isolated oak trees.

The view here is impressive considering themodest elevation — you are about to dropback into Braishfield village. Continue alongthe left hand side to a final stile which surpris-ingly takes you through the back garden of ahouse into the drive of a second house and

then back onto Braishfield Road oppositeForge Cottage. A footpath sign confirms theroute you have just used, so no trespass wascommitted. Isn’t it a typically English thingthat footpaths do sometimes take you acrossprivate gardens with complete immunity.

Back to the walk, which is nearly complete:turn right onto the road which takes youdirectly to the War memorial again, with thered telephone box just beyond. Now thechoice of pub is yours: The Newport is on theright down Newport Lane, The Wheatsheaf isabout 300 yards straight on, with the Dog &Crook about 600 yards beyond that.

NOTE ON MAPS: The OS 1:25,000 is themap for walkers. Most good stationers carrya limited supply, Sussex Stationers seem a


Walking and Drinking (6) by Ray Massey


T

pound or so cheaper than others.Gorman’s Map Centre in Freemantle nearthe Shirley Road / Payne’s Road junctionis an OS agent that carries a very good sup-ply. The number of the Romsey, Andover& Test Valley Sheet for this walk isExplorer 131.

Note on parking: All the pubs have theirown car parks and parking in BraishfieldRoad is unrestricted. There is also parkingat the village hall, though this seems to bediscouraged.

Note on buses: The only bus to Braishfield isthe 35 from Romsey. Its very limited timesseem designed to thwart would-be drinkers.

Note on seasons: A walk for all seasons,because it avoids the muddiest paths.The surprisingly good views from suchmodest elevations are all the better on aclear day.

Note on times: The complete walk is about3¼ miles, so allowing for the moderateclimb involved and stopping to admire theviews, 1½ hours should suffice.

Up in smokeWhile the smoking ban is being blamed forthe demise of many pubs, one Hampshirecompany is reaping the benefits. Sales atSwanmore based Trident Blinds haveincreased by 15% as a result of the installa-tion of awnings that enable pub customersto smoke outside. Seventy two Hampshirepubs, including the Happy Cheese inAshurst and the Red Lion at Totton havebeen supplied with the company’s awnings,which cost between £1,200 and £7,000.One licensee reckoned that he made hismoney back in six weeks as smokers wereattracted to the new facilities.


Walking and Drinking (6)continued


t is not usual for this small news-letter to take on the mainstreamPress but we are driven to it by a

wave of misinformed hysteria in recent issuesof the Southern Evening Echo. We areperplexed and to a degree concerned at theircurrent campaign to remove beer glasses frompubs, replacing them with plastic.

We have consistently reported on Britain’sserious drinking problems, one (but onlyone) aspect of which is a perceived increase inoutbreaks of gratuitous violence. But it wouldnot occur to us that a cure for the problemswould be to punish the entire pub-goingpopulation with a step-change in their lifestyle. Given the extraordinarily tough timesthat licensees are experiencing after the smokingban was followed by the budget’s mugging,to then suggest that they deliberately maketheir pubs and bars not only less (very much,less) welcoming but also specifically markedout as somewhere that it is unsafe to visitwould seem to be economic insanity.

Our answers to the distortions that havecome into the drink culture of the countryhave always been sensible, measured andworkable and centred around one thing: areturn to the mixed clientele, communitypub. This is a bottom-up approach thatrecognises that structural changes are neededin the licensed trade, the Echo’s recipe on theother hand would actually entrench the prob-lems and then just try to mitigate the results..

Should the Echo wish to support a seriouscampaign to improve the drink culture, ratherthan this cheap headline grabbing stunt, thenhere are some suggestions they might follow:

• Campaign for changes in the ‘licensingobjectives’ that are built into the newLicensing Act, to make it possible for licens-

ing authorities to discourage the spread of‘vertical drinking halls’ and High Streetbooze circuits. The present wording makes italmost impossible for authorities to controleither the geographical distribution oflicensed premises or their internal style.

• Campaign, with us, for improvements inthe planning laws to make it harder tode-licence and demolish pubs (almost alwaysthe community pubs that are the backbone ofthe sane drinking population) or to convertthem into other uses.

• Lobby Government to find ways to putrestrictions on the abuses being exerciseddaily by the supermarkets in their efforts touse alcohol as a loss-leader without anythoughts as to the social consequencesinvolved.

• Finally, a simple one, campaign for aone-line Bill outlawing the service of drinksdirectly in the bottle.

In 2007 the great city of Glasgow came with-in an ace of introducing byelaws that wouldhave pleased the Echo — anti-drink councillors,in league with a proselytising police chief,almost put through measures that wouldhave banned glasses entirely, throughout thecity. The plan was only ditched at the eleventhhour; perhaps the thought of drinking thecouncil tax funded wines at their civicfunctions from glorified yogurt pots finallymade them come to their senses.

Perhaps a lot less than one percent of pubusers are potentially violent. We wouldchallenge the Southern Daily Echo to explainwhy it is better to make life unpleasant for theother ninety-nine percent rather than dopositive things to discourage the tiny number oftroublemakers from being there in the first place.


Glass Hysteria by Pat O’Neill

I

Wallops Wood, Sheardley Lane, Droxford, Hampshire SO32 3QY

01489 [email protected]

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With RegretSince the last edition of Hop Press we haveheard of the deaths of three well known locallicensees.

In November Steve Sankey, who ran theExchange and the Rising Sun in Winchesterbetween 1979 and 2000, died suddenly athome, at the age of 58.

In December we heard that Steve Beaney,licensee of the Good Beer Guide listed ParkInn, Shirley had died after a stay in hospitalbeing treated for leukaemia. Steve, 55, waswell known in local sporting circles and wasmanager of many local representative footballteams.

Finally, in January Peter Smith, licensee of thePrince of Wales in Northam, died at the age of74 after suffering a stroke. Peter had been inthe licensed trade for more than 35 years andpreviously ran the long closed Engineers Armsnearby. Peter was chair of the SouthamptonLicensed Victuallers’ Association over a periodof ten years and was greatly involved in thecampaign to get extended opening hours forlocal pubs before the introduction of all dayopening.

We extend our condolences to the families andfriends of these great servants of the licensedtrade.

JULIE & STEWART ELLISWELCOME YOU TO THE LINDEN TREE,

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