DECEMBER 2006 SOUTHERN HAMPSHIRE BRANCH OF THE … · SOUTHERN HAMPSHIRE BRANCH OF THE CAMPAIGN FOR...

DECEMBER 2006

SOUTHERN HAMPSHIRE BRANCHOF THE CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE

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HOPPRESSContents:

Editorial ........................................................................ 2Walking and Drinking (4) ............................................ 5Community, the Fabric of a Nation ............................. 7Bowman Ale ................................................................. 9Goodbye to the Crown ................................................. 11Competition Crossword ................................................ 12Advertising in Hop Press. ............................................ 13Can Cyclops see his way? ............................................ 15Where did they go? ...................................................... 16Ethically does it ........................................................... 17Is Prize Old Safe? ........................................................ 17Pub News ..................................................................... 18All Roads Lead to... .................................................... 22Bah Humbug ................................................................ 22Kegbuster ...................................................................... 23

Issue number 61, December, 2006

Editor: Pat O’Neill1 Surbiton RoadEastleighHants., SO50 4HY

Tel. 023 8064 2246Editor’s e-mail:

hop-press@shantscamra.org.ukBranch web site:

www.shantscamra.org.uk

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EDITORIALThe last issue, in early May, signalled ouralarm and despondency at the sudden de-mise of the Cheriton Brewhouse. Now, bare-ly half a year on, the picture is vastlyimproved with the strong possibility of thatrarest of outcomes — everyone ending up asa winner.

When the original partnership at Cheritoncame to grief, Paul Tickner the Flower Pots’licensee, was tempted to relegate ideas ofre-starting brewing and to just concentrate onrunning the pub. But fortunately for every-one, he concluded that the brewery was suchan asset it could not be left idle, and,as heknew someone with a background in bio-chemistry who wanted to go into brewing thescene was set for a phœnix like renaissance.

The new brewer is Iain McIntosh who hadbeen working in local government but is nowfree to pursue his true interest. First brewsappeared in the summer, just in time to catchthe Flower Pots’ enormous Bank Holidaybeer festival and the home grown beers havenow regained their places behind the pub’sbar.

The first beers were Flower Pots Ale, 3.8%session bitter and Goodens Gold, 4.8% pre-mium bitter. Initially, the beers had a dis-tinctly sweeter palate than those of the oldCheriton Brewhouse, this was due to thedifferent yeast strain needing more oxygena-tion during the ferment — a simple fix.

To this sampler’s taste the brews are nowexcellent. As readers can now also find outwithout having to travel to Cheriton since afree trade distribution is being rapidly re-established. November marked the additionof a third beer, the welcome return of anelder flower brew, Flower Pots ElderflowerAle, 3.8%. The first brew was slightly hoppi-

er than the Village Elder from the previousbrewery and undoubtedly there will be slighttweaking from Iain but this one is also sureto be a firm favourite in the portfolio. Otheroccasional beers will follow — one that Paulwould like to try would be a bit specialised,a high gravity ruby mild — but already thisparticular phœnix has fledged and left its nest.

One problem that the new venture had toovercome was tracking down the stock ofcasks, a logistical headache for all brewers.There are still quite a number missing,whereabouts unknown, and readers may beable to help. If anyone knows of a cobwebencrusted Cheriton cask lying abandoned,please let the brewer know (01962 771166).

In the mean time another bird is about tohatch out as the other two original partnersare busy building their own brewery at a sitenear Droxford, page 9 has some details oftheir progress.

On Friday, November 17th, the final docu-ments were signed to complete the sale ofone of our popular local Good Beer Guidepubs, the Oak at Bank, near Lyndhurst. Thishardly seems an issue worthy of the secondlead in this issue’s Editorial, but it undoubt-edly is. For the purchasers were Fuller,Smith and Turner, brewers, of Chiswick inWest London.

This was but one more example of a trendthat has been under way and accelerating forsome time; our regional brewers are assidu-ously picking off one-by-one the very limit-ed, and un-replaceable, stock of free housesin our area. In recent years the main playersin Hampshire have been Wadworth and Halland Woodhouse (‘Badger’), now the evenmore powerful London brewer has joined in.Perhaps their take over of Gales at the turn ofthe year has stirred a long dormant empire-building tendency in the property department.

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We can conceive of nothing that we can doto halt the process but from the beer-drinkingpublic’s point of view it represents a creep-ing disaster. Not because there is anythingintrinsically bad with these regional brewers,they make fine beer, support cask ale, runsplendid pubs but the sparse supply of freehouses are essential to the survival of thesmall and micro brewing sector.

Only legislation that reinstates the ‘guestbeer law’ and in a stronger form, can save theday. CAMRA, along with SIBA (the SmallIndependent Brewers Association) havebeen lobbying Parliament on this for a longtime but so far the legislators have failed tograsp the seriousness of the situation. Europecould be a last lifeline — by effectivelydenying small brewers a market the regionalsare operating a policy that is a ‘constraint oftrade,’ something that the Treaty of Romeforbids. Of course the European legal author-ities are not famous as swift movers, sobreath holding is not recommended!

Just half a year to go — we now have a date,July 1st — for the implementation of the banon smoking in all public enclosed spaces.Yet many smokers seem to be in a state ofdenial, thinking in some confused way that itwill not actually come to pass, but it will.

Talking recently to a number of members ina working men’s club (with a much higherthan average complement of smokers) thealmost universal sentiment was ‘Oh well, itwon’t affect us, we can just ignore it andnobody will notice,’ some hopes!

However, from a CAMRA viewpoint andespecially in this part of the country the realworry is further losses of pubs to the vora-cious property market. Greene King havejust announced that they will be selling about150 of their pubs (nationwide, 6% of their2600 pub estate) which they describe as

‘wet-led, small freehold properties with de-velopment potential’ and ‘likely to face diffi-culties‘ in coping with the ban. These arealmost certainly the classic little street-cor-ner style pubs that so many of us appreciate.And in Hampshire they will certainly bepriced out of reach of any commercial pur-chaser, and will go for private housing,.

The planning application lists are also juststarting to show the impact of the impendingnew law, applications for outside deckingareas and canopies have appeared in the lastfew weeks and this trickle will presumablysoon turn into a torrent.

Unhappily, this Editorial has to finish on avery sad note. We have to report the recentdeath of one of the branch’s longest standingmembers, Derek Markell, at his Freemantlehome on October 8th. Derek was seventy. Hewill be remembered by many readers as anarchetypical irascible, bearded, pipe-smok-ing, sandal-wearing, old style CAMRAmember, always to be found on duty at thedoor of any of our beer festivals. Derek wasburied in the New Forest at the HintonWoodland Burial Centre, most appropriatelya modest sample of real ale accompanied theinterment and somewhat larger amountswere used at the subsequent wake. Derek issurvived by his two daughters and wife Lynnto whom we extend our thoughts.

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WALKING &DRINKING (4)

This Autumn I would like to suggest a walkfor drinkers based on Copythorne Com-mon. Copythorne is a small hamlet on thesouth side of the A3090 (formerly the A31)about 2 kilometres northeast of Cadnam.Why Copythorne, when the delights of theNew Forest are close at hand? Well it is anice walk, through pleasant empty country-side (apart from the motorway), it is very dryunderfoot, you can get there by public trans-port and it passes two pubs that are newentries in the Good Beer Guide 2007. Whatmore could one ask?

The public transport in question is the 31 busfrom Southampton to Cadnam, which leavesWest Quay hourly from 0820 to 1820 Mon-day to Saturday. Alight at the far end ofPollards Moor Road, at the junction withRomsey Road (A3090) [1 on the map, over-leaf].

Retrace your route about 200 metres, andturn left up Vicarage Lane, past a footpathsign (FPS), along a good gravel track. Gopast Dell Cottage, through a farm gate, pasta sign to Scammels Farm, and past the farmitself. When the track turns sharp right, gostraight on along a well surfaced footpath[2], climbing gently. Soon you reach thecorner of Copythorne Churchyard, with thechurch away on the left. Continue on thepath past the churchyard to two more FPSs[3]. The long walk turns left here, see later.The short walk continues straight on alongthe right hand edge of the field to a stile.Cross the stile and turn half right uphill alongthe right hand edge of a field, going away

from the school on the left. At the far cornerof this field cross another stile into PoundLane [4].

You may wish to take a momentary diver-sion here, by turning right. The OS 1:25,000map shows a Roman Road crossing the fieldon your left. There may be a slight raise inthe hedge on the far side of the field, but youcertainly wouldn’t notice it without a map tosuggest it.

However, what you really want to do at thestile [4] is to turn left, slightly uphill, alongPound Lane for 200 metres. Then turn rightinto Copythorne Crescent, a gravel road withhouses on the right hand side. Keep bearingleft, especially at a fork where a trackbranches off right. Soon the line of housesends with a larger building, you reach themain Romsey Road, and the building on yourright is seen to be the Empress of Blandings(Badger Beers, open all day, food all day,large car park).

The second part of this walk is very straight-forward. Leave the Empress, and turn rightinto Barrow Hill Road — a quiet road withhouses on the right and a wooded part ofCopythorne Common on the left. Althoughthe road has no footpath, it is reasonablywide with verges, and the visibility is good.After about 600 metres the road bends verysharply right [5]. Continue uphill; when theroad then bends left, the houses end and thereare now fields on the right. The route of theRoman Road is in the first field, but I couldsee no sign of it. Continue to the junctionwith Winsor Road, and straight ahead of youis the Compass Inn (Ringwood Best, FullersLondon Pride, HSB and Greene King AbbotAle; open all day, food available daily andwith a small car park).

Most conveniently the 31 bus back to South-ampton stops outside the pub, hourly from0907 to 1807 Monday to Saturday.

Ray Massey

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If you want to take the longer walk, whichmakes a complete circuit of the northern partof the common, here are the details: Turnleft at the two FPSs [3] along the left edge ofa field, aiming for a newish wooden gate bya building. Go past the scout building andthrough 2 gates to reach the A3090, to bedeafened by the motorway noise. Turn rightalong Romsey Road, past Copythorne In-fants School to the school car park. Oppositethe middle of the car park turn left across asingle track bridge over the motorway.

Immediately after the bridge [6] turn left pasta FPS, along a neat tarmac track. After 200metres, just before a house, turn right over astile into pleasant open conifer plantation,and climb gently with a wooden fence onyour left. At the top of the rise turn slightlyleft (ignoring a tempting grassy ride thatfollows the property boundary) and continuefor 200 metres through open woodland to astraight gravel track crossing your route.Look for the FPSs by a metal gate at thehighest point on the gravel track [7]. (I thinkthat this is the route of a very old road fromCadnam to Romsey via Paultons Park.) Go

over the stile by the gate and along a pleasantgrassy path through private woodland. Thepath ends at the corner of a large field. Goover a stile onto a well marked path edged byfences, under a line of mature oaks and thenScots pines. The path continues downhill toend with some steps leading down to New-bridge Road [8].

Turn right towards Newbridge, past a tele-phone box. When the road bends left contin-ue straight ahead along the no-through road

to the quiet Edwardian hamlet of Newbridge.When the road bends left and becomes pri-vate [9] follow a FPS half right along a trackbetween hedges. After 150 metres cross astile into an avenue of small trees, and thenrhododendron bushes. Ignore a left fork justbefore the next stile. The track graduallyreduces to a small but still well defined path,then grows to a track again as you approachLyndhurst Lodge on the left [10].

Cross the gravelled track (the old PaultonsPark road again) and enter coniferous wood-land (Copythorne Common) past a Hamp-

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shire Wildlife Trust sign. Continue straightahead along a pleasant grassy avenue forabout 500 metres. Just as you begin to seeand hear the motorway traffic again look outfor a FPS directing you right [11] across anopen space. The path runs along a very smallembankment, under some local power lines,and continues straight on to meet the motor-way fence [12]. Bear right with the fenceand follow it back to the motorway bridge [6].

Cross the bridge to the far side of the Rom-sey Road (A3090), and turn left beside it.Walk past Copythorne Garage, and at PoundLane either continue along Romsey Road foranother 200 metres to the pub, or for a morepeaceful short detour go down Pound Laneabout 150 metres, and turn left into Copy-thorne crescent to join the short walk.

Note on maps: I definitely recommend theOS 1:25,000 maps for walking. Most goodstationers carry a limited supply, Sussex Sta-tioners seem a pound or so cheaper thanothers. Gorman’s Map Centre in Freeman-tle near the Shirley Road / Payne's Roadjunction is an OS agent that carries a verygood supply (not far from the WaterlooArms either). The number of the New For-est Sheet is Explorer OL22.

Note on seasons: The woodland of Copy-thorne Common is mainly coniferous sodoesn’t change much seasonally. The Com-mon is good for fungi, and early autumn isbest for those. I saw my first goldcrest on thecommon, and that was probably in thespring. Personally I would like to try thewalk after a hard frost or with a sprinkling ofsnow on the ground.

Note on times: The short walks from the busstop to the Empress, and from the Empress tothe Compass are both about 1.6 km, about20-30 minutes for each part. The loopthrough Copythorne Common adds about 4km, which would take a full hour more.

COMMUNITY,THE FABRICOF A NATIONMancunian realism in the Rover’s Return, anEast End cultural kaleidoscope in the QueenVic, true Yorkshire grit in evidence at theWoolpack and even the fey agricultural fan-tasies at the Bull all have one commonthread. These nationally treasured (orloathed?!) pubs, centre pieces in their respec-tive soaps, are all depicted as traditionalcommunity locals — none has even a whiffof being a ‘circuit pub, all have completelymixed clienteles, identifiable licensees andact as the focal points to all the sundry activ-ities of their fictional communities.

Sadly ‘fictional’ is fast becoming the keyword since in real life such essentials ofcommunity life are disappearing fast. Onesuch pub is closing, for ever, every day andthis rate is accelerating. For hundreds ofyears community pubs have proved theirworth as hubs of their surrounding localitiesand, if gone, can never be re-created.

Saving community pubs will become a keyelement in CAMRA’s national campaigning,starting with ‘Community Pubs Week’ inFebruary.

In our early days CAMRA’s fear was thedisappearance of traditional, living beer. Inthe thirty or more years since, it has gradual-ly become clear that, in reality, this threat isjust a part of the real battle — to save thepub. A brewery can be switched back toproducing real ale at the stroke of a market-ing man’s pen but real pubs require genera-tions of use to grow organically. Yet, just theglint in a property developer’s eye is enoughto lose one. For ever.

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BOWMAN ALE

Wallops Wood sounds a pretty good place tofind some beer and so it is likely to prove inthe coming months.

On the ordnance map it appears as a poten-tially tranquil green dell above the Easternside of the Meon Valley. However, on ap-proach, it might more likely be taken as amajor production plant As, truly, it once was,a huge egg factory, happily now disused asbattery hens are being freed from their livesof slavery, and it is being converted into amyriad small business ventures, one ofwhich is a new 25 barrel brewery.

When the Cheriton Brewhouse partnershipbroke up earlier this year, it looked as if wemight lose some of our favourite beers, froma splendid brewery, for ever. As we arepleased to report in this issue’s Editorial,brewing is underway again at the FlowerPots and the former brewers, Martin Robertsand Ray Page are now establishing their owntotally new brewery at this John ParkerFarm’s former poultry unit.

The site is a little over a mile South-east ofDroxford, just off of the B2150 Hambledonroad (map reference 630180 for the anoraks);only two miles for a healthy crow fromStumpy’s brewery, which of course also re-placed some pensioned off hens.

At our visit in mid-November conversionwork had been in hand for about a month andthe site was a hive of activity — the roomybuilding was fully insulated and lined outand most of the major stainless steel vessels(all newly fabricated) were in place. Serviceswere being put in and secondary walling was

being installed to form the cold store, condi-tioning room, cask wash and storage, hopand malt stores, office etc., etc. At the rate ofprogress so far the first trial brews should bepossible before Christmas week

Martin and Ray emphasised that they willnot be rushed into marketing beer too early,if necessary a number of brews will be madeand destroyed until they are entirely satisfiedwith taste and quality. Three beers are in linefor the first offerings — a 3.8% session bit-ter, provisionally named Swift One; a bestbitter, Wallops Ale, in the 4.0-4.5% rangeand a powerful 5% beer to be called Quiver.

When ready to their satisfaction, the firstbrews from Bowman Ales as the brewerywill be known, will appear at the HampshireBowman at Dundridge and then follow infree houses (if the predatory bigger brewershave left any!).

Pat O’Neill

The first conditioningtank is now in place

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Fine Ales From

www.keystonebrewery.co.uk

Traditional southern English beers brewedusing the unique Fonthill spring water fromdeep below the chalk downs, English hopsand malting barley grown on Wiltshire farmsand malted in Warminster. Now wellestablished in four counties, Keystone Beerhas been featured in over 100 pubs. From the8th of December ‘Large One’ will be availablein bottles.

The Old Carpenters' Workshop, Berwick St Leonard,Salisbury, Wilts SP3 5SNTel. 01747 820 426info@keystonebrewery.co.uk

www.keystonebrewery.co.uk

Traditional southern English beers brewedusing the unique Fonthill spring water fromdeep below the chalk downs, English hopsand malting barley grown on Wiltshire farmsand malted in Warminster. Now wellestablished in four counties, Keystone Beerhas been featured in over 100 pubs. From the8th of December ‘Large One’ will be availablein bottles.

The Old Carpenters’ Workshop, Berwick St. Leonard,Salisbury, Wilts. SP3 5SNTel: 01747 820 42 email: info@keystonebrewery.co.uk

GOODBYE TOTHE CROWNCalm down hopeful republicans out there, itis not the start of your long hoped for revolu-tion!

More than three hundred years of history hascome to an end without ceremony or pomp.The official crown ‘Government Stamp’ onpub glasses will be replaced from now on bythe ubiquitous European CE mark.

The crown mark was introduced in the sev-enteenth century by the 1699 Act for Ascer-taining the Measures for Retailing Ale andBeer. However the last two major Britishglass makers closed in 2001 (and here liesanother story, how on earth can such a major

manufacturing country not be able to profita-bly make a simple pub beer glass?) and thelast stamping office, at Bury in Lancashire,now only approves glasses from small spe-cialised makers.

The big French, Belgian and Czech makerswho now produce almost all of our pub glassstock all have self-verification schemes ap-proved by the UK’s National Weights andMeasures Laboratory so direct measure-ments are now no longer conducted.

Old glasses with their regal markings willcontinue to be legal of course until the lastone finally succumbs to the glass washer’smercies. Without a doubt they will becomecollectable items as their numbers decrease.Anoraks (none of those in CAMRA surely?)will probably initiate trips to see the lastspecimens in use, it could be like the end ofsteam traction all over again...

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COMPETITION CROSSWORDPrizes for the first twoCorrect entries drawn.

Closing date: 1st Feb

To: The EditorHop Press1 Surbiton RoadEastleigh, HantsSO50 4HY

QUETZALCOATL

Across DownAll across solutions are a set so are mostly 1 Forest liquidation: gets into the papers.(4,4)only partially clued. 2 Astound without more ado (4)8 Wear, Tyne? More on the west coast (8) 3 Support the queen, a creationist (6)9 Welsh in cut-throat horror (5) 4 Lewd island woman, topless! Cry panic,10 Middle Eastern road ends here (4) run! (7)11 Is there a shrine to Satchmo here? (10) 5 ‘Cuff pair at fault (8)12 Mesh high power and office complaint (6) 6 Drunken orgy is a natural state (10)14 442 (8) 7 Fussy, cross Greek pair (6)15 American returns captured bear (but not 13 Enhancing effect of city’s greenways(10) dancing!) (7) 16 A kind of loathing (7)17 Able to walk tall in East Midlands (7) 18 Travel reporter emoted or showed20 Another Athens has been read into this (8) confusion (8)22 Early street maps with nothing north 19 Left a green salad to grow (7) of the river (6) 21 Butter upon cloth ends mealtime (6)23 UK surely? No, nearly a world away! (10) 22 Our Navy is saintly! (6)24 favourite food, not timid — capital! (4) 24 A herd in relative ecstasy (4)25 Rhodes’ dream start for a trip south (5)26 US energy supplies end here. (8)

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May’s Solutionand WinnersP M A G P B R EA Q U A P L A N E A L E R TR T R T B R V HL A T T I C E B A R G A I NI E L L L A M IA C R E T E L E S C O P I CM E R G U CE N D L E S S C O D I C I LN S O A O ET R A M P O L I N E P R O AA N E I C S N NR A D I C A L R E M A I N SI E T I E E C IA M A Z E A S T R A K H A NN N D N E R E G

An excellent entry, twenty-five solvers withseveral new names appearing for the firsttime and coming from as far afield as Essex.

Winners:

J E Green, St AlbansStephen Harvey, Chandler’s Ford

Other solutions were from:

Pauline Alderson K T BartlettJocelyn Britcher C F BussellKate Chessman Rich ChristieNigel Cook Robin CorkKen Crawford Trevor CrowtherRoy Garraway Mike HobbsBob Howes B E JuddAsh Mather Al MountainTim Parkinson Nigel ParsonsHarvey Saunders John TrueD B Wallis Andrew WithnallJohn Yalden

ADVERTISINGIN HOP PRESSIt is the advertising within Hop Press thatenables us to print and distribute it free tosome 250-300 local pubs and clubs in theSouthern Hampshire area.

The print run is 3000 and these are entirelydistributed to establishments in the licensedtrade. Taking your message to a very selec-tive audience of pub users.

Edition frequency is two to three per yearalthough we would like to make this strictlyquarterly if we could overcome the Editor’slethargy and the contributors’ indolence.

Rates are:Full page: £80 Half page: £50Rear cover: outside £100, inside £80Front cover: inside £90£10 (£5 half page) early payment discount isavailable.

Sizes (H x W maxima) are:182mm x 126mm and 90mm x 126mm

In most cases we can generate artwork tosuit requirements although a ‘camera-ready’ electronic file is always preferable.From experience, faxes never produceworthwhile artworks, colour photographscan be difficult and half-tone pictures willusually cause ‘aliasing’ problems . Whenpreparing artwork it is essential to use a highdefinition — 300 dpi or better. Input in aTIFF or a PDF format is usually good.

Email: hop-press@shantscamra.org.ukor ring the Editor on: 023 8064 2246

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the

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36 Bugle Street, Southampton SO14 2AHTelephone/Fax: 023 8033 9222

Full selection of Wadworth BeersRingwood Best & a Guest Ale

Food: 12noon - 2.30pm and 6.00pm - 8.30pmSundays: 12.30pm - 3.00pm, Roasts £6.95

Established 1438

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CAN CYCLOPSSEE HIS WAY?

Pat O’Neill

The Great British Beer Festival this year, attheir new Earls Court venue, saw the launchof a brewing industry initiative that it ishoped will have far reaching and long lastingimplications. This was the rather curiouslynamed Cyclops scheme.

Supermarket and off-licence customers havebecome accustomed to examine labels ontheir wine bottles and expect to find an easyto understand, more-or-less universal, set ofindicators of the wines’ taste, body,dryness/sweetness, flavour elements and soon. Nothing of the sort has existed for beer.Beer is just brown(ish) liquid that, in suffi-cient quantity, produces inebriation. Evenworse, over generations, there has been anattitude from many brewers that, in someway, it was impertinent for customers toeven ask about the details of their products!CAMRA’s lengthy battle to get alcohol con-tent displayed was a telling example.

Now, a regional family brewer, Everards ofLeicester, have come up with what they hopewill become a widely adopted system for thesimple description of a beer’s characteristics.The idea came from the brewery’s head ofmarketing, David Bremner, and is aimed atnew, first-time drinkers, who are notoriouslywary of the supposed arcane mysteries ofcask beer.

The scheme aims to cut through the com-plexities and to eliminate the more high-flown, pretentious language used by somebeer writers and brewery PR departments.Seven key one-line descriptors are included.

A zero to five scale of hop symbols willshow the bitterness and a similar scale ofsugar lumps the sweetness. Stylised symbolsfor an eye, a nose and a pair of lips willprecede short descriptions of colour, aromaand taste respectively. Finally, perhaps forthe slightly more knowledgeable, the varie-ties of malt and hops will be listed

Cyclops has met with a great response fromthe brewing industry and many other inde-pendent brewers have recognised the bene-fits of joining a standardised scheme. In ourarea companies such as Fullers, Wadworthand Hall and Woodhouse (Badger) haveagreed to join in. SIBA, the smaller brewers’organisation, is enthusiastically promotingthe idea and even the giant multinationalScottish and Newcastle have made approv-ing noises and may take it up to help their,rather limited, commitment to cask beer.

CAMRA has, of course, welcomed the ideaand we will do what we can to further itsaims. It chimes directly with all of our objec-tives.

Another important , although not immediate-ly obvious, benefit is toward the education ofbar staff. Almost everywhere customers areinhibited from enquiring about aspects of thebeers on offer by the expected response of“dunno” to any question asked. In any otherform of business an intending purchaser ex-pects to be able to ask simple questions abouta product, why not in a pub? Cyclops, if itcan engage the imagination of pub staff,could be the answer.

An area still needing some work is the pres-entation of the information. Everards havestarted with beer mats but they are a bit starkand functional. An opportunity for mediacreativity to meld the information into, forexample, artistic pump clips.

And the choice of name is still a mystery...

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WHERE DIDTHEY GO?1. Mixed drinks. Anyone with a bus pass intheir pocket will have been brought up in apub scene when boilers, black and tans, lightsplits, platers and many, many more were thecommon currency of orders across the bar.Now, to ask for one of these would be aslikely to be successful as if one had ad-dressed the bar staff in Anglo-Saxon! Whyhave these drinks, which are all various mix-tures of draught and bottled beers, fallen outof fashion?

This question should be recast as ‘why didthey come into fashion in the first place?’The answer is quite sad. An age ago, whenall draught beer was real ale a great deal of itwas served in very poor condition. Poor cel-lar hygiene and management and particularlythe evil practice of ‘putting back’ were rife.This was so prevalent that the general drink-ing public came to assume that this was justhow draught beer was and to overcome theflatness and to mask the poor flavours itneeded a carbonated bottle to perk it up (thesame considerations were largely responsi-ble for the rise of keg draught beers).

The, almost, total ascendancy of keg andlager beers (which are essentially just bottledbeer in rather large bottles) in the ‘60s and‘70s more or less put an end to the mixeddrink era and the recognition now of cask aleas a high quality product in its own rightshould prevent any renaissance.

[Historical notes: Black and Tan — bottledGuinness and Bitter, named in the ‘20s afterthe colours in the uniforms of the brutalBritish mercenaries recruited to suppress thenationalist Irish. Boiler, or more accuratelyBoilermaker — bottled Brown Ale and Mild.

A number of mixtures have supposedly hu-morous names like Mother in Law — Oldand Bitter or Grandma — Old and Mild.There are many more, some just popular inparticular areas or particular brewer’shouses.]

2. Nips (all the other ones). Although notstrictly a matter concerned with real ale, partof the vastly varied pub scene in the past wasthe great number of strong beers in the formof bottled, third pint nips. Usually describedas Barley Wines or Strong Ales and withalcohol content of 6% to 9%. Virtually theonly survivor, and by no means the best ofthem, is Gold Label.

[Local note: In Hampshire we have lostsome fine little gems. Watneys (really) Stin-go and Courage Imperial Russian Stoutwere two once widely available dark nips.Two paler but beautifully warming beersfrom Dorset were Devenish’s Crabber’s Nipand Eldridge Pope’s Goldie whilst the Pom-pey brewed Little Bricky still evokes manyfond memories.]

3. Scottie dogs made of Players cigarettepackets (!). My up-bringing (in Weymouth)introduced me to pubs in the 1950s and prob-ably more than 50% of the town’s pubs thensported a full size model of a terrier, wovenfrom the fronts of Players packets (thesailor’s head surrounded by a life belt).Whether this was a local thing (from Navalconnections?) or national, I do not know.

The real question though is not so much‘where did they go?’ — with the cardboardpackets no longer available, supply of dogshad to dry up. The real question, which haspuzzled me for decades, is ‘where did theycome from in the first place?’ Follow upquestions then include ‘why always Scot-ties?’ and ‘Who made them? (they were allidentical)’ Even Google fails on this one, ifanyone out there knows, let us in on it.

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ETHICALLYDOES ITCAMRA has been banging on for yearsabout the iniquities of capitalism and howthe money-grubbing policies of breweriesare usually detrimental to the real interests ofthe beer drinking public — who are the partof society that we are dedicated to support.

Now we seem to be setting up a plan todefect to the other side, for we are proposingto establish a Venture Capital Trust (VCT) tochannel investments into brewing or pubrelated projects. However, we have notthrown out any of our principles, this VCT,although only investing in projects that makesound business sense, will also only do so inideas that it finds ethical from theconsumer’s viewpoint.

For a number of years CAMRA has had itsInvestment Club, a cooperative movement ofordinary CAMRA members who contributesmall monthly sums towards buying invest-ments in the country’s brewing companiesand which operates on the lines of a unittrust. In its initiation the intention was to giveus a say at all shareholders meetings. It hasbeen very successful (on the back of thegenerally bullish performance of thepub/brewing sector of the economy) and itsfund now stands at more than £10 million.

The Investment Trust is now in discussionswith an investment firm with a view to set-ting up the separate VCT, also with a £10million initial kitty. The Investment Trustwill contribute a £50,000 seed and will thencanvas for individual investments of £1000plus. Once the details of the scheme aresettled they then have to be reviewed by theFSA (Financial Services Authority). Thepublic launch should be next summer.

The ability to arrange ethical investments,although they would be on strictly commer-cial terms, dovetails with our campaigningaim of also encouraging social ownership orcooperative ownership of pubs to help main-tain the free house base and to counter theever increasing power of the big pub chains.

The Society of Independent Brewers hasalready welcomed the initiative which willgive their members another route to develop-ment financing.. Obviously this representsonly a very small drop in a pretty large finan-cial ocean but it demonstrates CAMRA’sfirm commitment to the industry.

IS PRIZE OLDSAFE?Fullers of Chiswick have taken the last Horn-dean brewed batch of the wonderful 9%Prize Old Ale up to their West London brew-ery where it is still quietly maturing prior tobeing bottled early in the New Year.

Many local CAMRA members have ex-pressed fears that Fullers’ takeover of Galeswould be the end for this fine strong, darkbeer. To allay these fears the brewers haveissued a statement confirming that they willcontinue to brew the old ale into the future.The one thing not clear is whether any willbe bottled in the old style half pint corkedbottles or if it will all go into the crowncorked nips.

Future brews, however, will not be made inthe original Gales fermenter — an 80 yearold, copper-lined wooden vessel made fromrare New Zealand kauri pine — this has beensold to Ringwood, not to use but to form amajor exhibit in a museum of Hampshirebrewing that they are setting up in theirbrewery yard.

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PUB NEWSRob Whatley

The landlord of one of the most popular pubsin Winchester had two reasons to celebraterecently. David Nicholson has obtained plan-ning permission for an outside seating area atthe Black Boy on Wharf Hill, which he hasrun successfully for over ten years. He hasalso taken over the Kings Arms just acrossthe road in Chesil Street. He plans to concen-trate here on food, similar to the presentBlack Boy’s menu. While designs for theconversion of the new premises are beingfinalised it is opening from 9.00pm to1.00am, Tuesday to Saturday, with Taylor’sLandlord on offer for the discerning drinker.When the work is finished the Black Boywill concentrate more on beers although stillproviding food but to a more limited menu.

Just up the road in Bar End, the Heart inHand has had a reprieve from the threat ofclosure. Earlier this year a licence was re-fused after police raised concerns over crimeand disorder. An appeal was lodged by land-lady Eileen Osborne and just before the hear-ing was due to be heard the police droppedtheir objections. Back in the centre of theCity, the Foresters in North Walls closed inmid-August. In February 2003 the pub had asubstantial revamp and the licensee responsi-ble for that design, Martin Meijer, has nowleft the pub. Owners Greene King said thatthe pub, which is now open again, may be-come a more food-focussed operation.

One City pub that closed years ago, thePrince of Wales in Hyde Street, attracted theattention of the fire brigade in October aftera small fire was spotted in an outbuilding.The pub had been up for sale for a long time.It was one of a number of local pubs thatwere purchased by the Inntown Pub Compa-

ny from Eldridge Pope. In 2004 applicationswere submitted to convert the premises tohousing but there has been no sign of actionover the last two years.

This summer Eldridge Pope, the owners ofthe Stanmore Hotel on the City’s Westernedge, consulted local residents on a proposalto demolish the pub and replace it with a65-bed care home. A survey in the Hamp-shire Chronicle found that two thirds of re-spondents wanted to retain the pub and it isstill open at present. No planning applica-tions have yet materialised. Meanwhile, thefuture of the former Chimneys pub site isstill unresolved as the enquiry into plans tobuild a supermarket was postponed due to awitness having an emergency operation

With all this talk of closures and long-closedpubs, at least one bar/night-club in Win-chester has reopened. The Porthouse re-opened on 14 October with a promise ofgoing upmarket after a £½ million refurbish-ment. Meanwhile, Mix Bar has opened inthe increasingly bar oriented Jewry Street.During the day it is offering a selection ofteas and ‘health’ juices while at night theemphasis is more on ‘music, beers, cocktailsand champagnes.’ Another change of namemay be on the cards for a High Street pub. Inan interview with the Daily Echo, in Septem-ber, licensee Colin Clark, said that he hadwas thinking of changing the name again ofthe former India Arms (now the Old CoachHouse) to Alfies. Why oh why?

Moving to the North of the City, there was animpressive reopening for the March Hare inHarestock. To mark the occasion there was afanfare by buglers from the Light Division,who are based nearby at Littleton. The pub-lic bar has doubled in size and the there arenew kitchen facilities. And, in the South onthe very City limit, there is a new licensee atthe Bell in St. Cross. Penny Appel-Billsberrytook over on October 4th, for the past three

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years she had been running the Yew Tree atLower Wield near Basingstoke. The Bell’sprevious landlord had been due to move upto the Fulflood in Cheriton Road but at thelast minute decided against, the Fulflood isnow under relief management until a newlicensee is appointed after Christmas.

Just East of Winchester, the Chestnut Horseat Easton, which is now owned by Dorsetbrewers Hall and Woodhouse, can now openuntil midnight and have entertainment insidethe pub. This is later than the previous clos-ing time but not as late as the 12.30am thathad been applied for, and to which localresidents objected. Going North, up the A33,older readers may recall the Lunways Inn,which was known as the Roman Post beforeit closed for the last time after a fire. At longlast the future of the site may have beenresolved as the Winchester Gospel Hall Trusthave won outline planning permission toconstruct a hall to be used by up to 100worshipers each week.

A pub that was built with the intention ofbeing a chapel but is happily offering cus-tomers a wider choice than just communionwine is the Rockingham Arms at WestWellow. Although there were fears, whichwe expressed in a previous Hop Press, thatthe pub would close and be converted intohousing, a recent advertisement proclaimedthat the pub was ‘Not Sold’ and we arepleased to report that long standing licenseesPaul and Wendy Broomfield, who have hadthe pub since 1988, are looking forward toserving customers throughout the Christmasperiod and into 2007.

Continuing along the A36, during the sum-mer the Shoe Inn at Plaitford underwent asubstantial refurbishment with the additionof five en-suite bedrooms. Also refurbishedduring the summer was the Mill Arms atDunbridge, which also underwent a changeof ownership. A little to the Northeast, in

King’s Somborne, there are also new ownersat the Crown Inn. The pub was closed forfive months but is now reopened under Hay-ley Marsh and Gary Gates, who hope toinstall new kitchens in the future.

There were threats to the Greyhound innearby Broughton but the pub was sold as agoing concern to Punch Taverns and after theaddition of eight letting rooms it is nowbeing run as a ‘gastro-pub’ by Tim Fiducia.The real ale includes Butcombe Bitter.

Also changing hands was the Enterprise Innthe New Forest Inn at Emery Down, nearLyndhurst. It now has Karen Slowen, fromthe Oak Inn at Bank, as licensee. The Oakitself has been purchased by Fullers. It ap-pears that the London brewers are intent onexpanding their estate in Hampshire follow-ing their recent purchase of Gales. MichaelTurner, Fullers’ chief executive, said recent-ly, after Fullers posted better than expectedyearly figures, that he is ‘looking for morefamily brewers...’ How ominous is that?

Another change of ownership during thesummer was at the Trusty Servant at Min-stead. Previous owners Tony and Jane Wal-ton, who had been in the village for 10 years,handed over to a newcomer to the trade,Chris Onions, who will run the pub with hisbrother.

Right on the Western edge of our area, theTyrrell’s Ford at Avon is under the newownership of Mark and Sara Watts who saythey have made the free house into a ‘familyfriendly country inn.’ Nearby in Bransgorethe appeal to build houses in part of theformer car park of the Carpenters Armswas rejected by government inspectors. Un-fortunately a further application is expectedfrom our old friends(?) the Inntown PubCompany, but meanwhile the CarpentersArms continues to trade after a redesign ofthe remaining car park facilities.

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Moving to the Waterside, one of the first nonsmoking pubs in the area, the Traveller’sRest in Hythe, also changed hands in thesummer. It was purchased by two local cou-ples, Mr and Mrs Dean, who previouslyowned a local tea rooms, and Mr and MrsBennett. A new smoke free establishment inHythe is Ebenezers in Pyewell Road. Markand Angie Holland, who previously ran thesports bar at Gang Warily have given thepub (which returning to an earlier theme waspreviously a place of worship for the UnitedReformed church) a complete makeover toturn it into an airy bar with modern furnitureand Greene King IPA on offer. The Water-side Inn has at long last been put out of itsmisery, with 34 flats, in two blocks, beingconstructed on the site. Moving on to Totton,an application for a rear extension and frontpatio extension has been granted for the OldFarmhouse. We might expect to see moreapplications going in for changes to the frontof premises as the inside smoking ban ap-proaches.

A Forest pub that had rather too much smokeearlier this year is now open again. The Hap-py Cheese was hit by a kitchen fire in Junebut reopened a couple of months later. At theend of June the White Hart at Cadnamreopened in the guise of a Blubeckersrestaurant/bar. There about twenty pubs inthe Blubeckers chain, all in the south of Eng-land.

Another new name that we missed in the lastedition is Stars Bar in Eastleigh. This is thenew name for Lucky Jims in Leigh Road.Round the corner in the High Street, the leaseof the former Bar 101, closed now for sever-al years, is available for £40,000 a year. Itremains to be seen if anyone will risk thismuch to reopen it again as a bar. Across thetracks, under new management is the Princeof Wales in Bishopstoke. New landlady Jan-ice Davies took over in September. On theSouth side of the town Greene King has

spent £360,000 on refurbishing the Cricket-ers in Chestnut Avenue, including a substan-tial extension to the drinking area. And acouple of miles to the West, the formerlyWhitbread owned Clump Inn is now inprivate hands and has had a massive refur-bishment of well over £½ million and re-opened as predominantly a food house, nownamed the Chilworth Arms. It still has caskale though, Old Speckled Hen and Taylors’Landlord at the time of reopening and thepresence of bar stools suggest that just drop-ping in for a beer is acceptable. The exten-sive array of pressure fonts includes thingslike Amstell, Leffe and Birra Moretti

The big Suffolk brewer’s attempts to spend alot of money in Bishop’s Waltham werethwarted by planners. An application to build12 hotel rooms at the Barleycorn in LowerBasingwell Street was rejected by Win-chester City Council. The City council andGreene King were also involved in a disputeover the licensing hours of the Prince ofWales at Shirrell Heath. The licensing con-ditions for the pub state that no customers areallowed in the garden after 9.30pm. The newtenants, Wayne and Melanie Tiller, considerthat this will put the pub at a disadvantagenext summer when the smoking ban in en-closed areas comes into force.

One of the new powers in the current licens-ing act was used for the first time in South-ampton recently. Following a brawl outsidethe pub in late October, the latest in a stringof problems, the police issued a temporaryclosure order on the Merry Oak in the Eastof the City. The Licensing Committee havesince decided that the next licensees willhave to call last orders at 10.30pm and closeat 11.00pm. Owners Punch Taverns havealso been ordered to install new CCTVequipment. When police went to check cov-erage of the recent disturbance on the previ-ous CCTV, the video in the CCTV recorderplayed a children’s show...

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Also under the 2003 Licensing Act, an appli-cation has been made to alter the internallayout of the Shirley Hotel on Shirley HighStreet. The pub has been shut for a numberof months but it may well be open again bythe time Hop Press hits the pubs. Open againin West End is the Two Brothers, which isnow under the banner of the ‘Sizzling PubCompany.’ This is a subsidiary of the largestUK managed pub company, Mitchells andButlers. Older readers willremember the name in aformer guise as the WestMidlands arm of Bass. Thesame company is also re-badging the Ship Inn inLymington as a gastro pub.

Moving back to Southamp-ton, the Crown and Scep-tre in Bassett has changedhands for the second timein a year. The new licenseeis Chris Ellis from CountyDurham. Along the road tothe Gate, we come across anew variation on the themerunning through this edi-tion of pub news. The pubis hosting informal Chris-tian workshops on Thurs-day evenings and Fridaymornings in its coffeelounge. Back to the centreof the City, the HampshireRam is now Jones WineBar.

Down in the old town areawe find new licensees Nor-man and Carole Trainor atthe Duke of Wellington inBugle Street. Just round thecorner at the Town Quaywe finish with a similar sto-ry to that with which westarted this Pub News.

Landlord Stewart Cross took over the Plat-form Tavern nine years ago and then pur-chased both the pub and the cafe next doorthree years ago. The former cafe opened asan extension to the thriving Town Quay pubduring the summer months and is now openfrom 8am for breakfasts. Known as the‘News and Blues Cafe,’ a special fish menuis available in the evenings from Thursday toSaturday.

A great range of quality real alesAlways available

Pride of Romsey, Strongs, Lionheart,Ironside & King Alfred.

Seasonal: Penny Black Porter

Monthly Specials:

January: Grim Reaper & Heaven CanWait

February: Seduction & Maiden RomseyMarch: Laughing Leprechaun &

Hampshire Hare

Contact: Charlotte or Janyne onTel: 01794 830 529

Email: Online@hampshirebrewery.com

Or Visit our Brewery shop in Romsey where alarge range of our bottle conditioned beers

and Polypins are always available

www.hampshirebrewery.com

....Don’t settle for anything less.

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ALL ROADSLEAD TO ......The Hedge End Club — at least in Febru-ary next year we hope they will.

CAMRA is cooperating with the Hedge EndClub to put on their first ever beer festival,next year on the weekend of February16th/17th. At the time of writing details arestill being finalised but put the date in yournew 2007 diary.

This will be a festival of modest size, some25 to 30 beers will be on offer. The Fridaysession will be from 6.00pm to 11.00pm andSaturday’s two sessions will be 11.30am to4.00pm and 6.00pm to 11.00pm. There couldbe an ‘informal’ (no prior ticketing) Sundaylunchtime session if beer supplies permit.Both evening sessions will have entertain-ment, the lunchtime session(s) will be quiet.The festival will be in the club’s large, self-contained function room

The Hedge End Club is a popular, busy cluband it is a member of the CIU (the Club andInstitute Union). It is at 4 Bursledon Road, afew yards South of Hedge End village centre.Hedge End station (Eastleigh-Portsmouthline) is a healthy 1½ mile walk but the villagecentre is served by many bus services: 3, 6and 29 from Southampton, 8 and A fromEastleigh and 26 from Fareham.

Tickets will be available in the New Yearfrom a number of our usual pub outlets and,of course, from the club itself. More detailswill appear, as soon as we have them, on ourweb site: www.shantscamra.org.uk or forinformation try the contact number: 0238064 2246.

And then, in June, it’s the Guildhall.

BAH HUMBUGOK, so we’ve just been reluctantly forced tonotice that this is a December edition andthere is usually some antiquated old festivalat this time of the year. So for those who stillcelebrate the winter solstice...

For many the essential jolly Christmas sceneis Dickensian — the florid, gaitered country-men, fresh from pursuing some unlucky fox,seated around the roaring fire in the ingle-nook of a country inn. Many in that bucolicthrong would be plunging the fire’s pokerinto their pewter flagons to mull their ale. Tomodern tastes the results were probably nottoo wonderful (and the practice would un-doubtedly break some Health and Safetyrules) so here is a much more wholesomeversion to welcome your guests in from thechill winter storms.

Have a good Christmas and New Year – Ed.

MULLED ALE

Ingredients: (for a dozen servings)3 pints dark, malty ale3 measures dark rum1 stick of cinnamon4 clovesPinch of nutmegPinch of gingerHandful of raisins and sultanas1 dessert spoon dark treacle or molassesMethod:Place all the ingredients in a large , attrac-tive, flameproof casserole. Cover andplace over the lowest possible heat andleave to come slowly just to a simmer, donot allow to boil. Turn off the heat andleave to stand for a few moments to coolslightly. Ladle into small, heavy tumblers.

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I wish to join the Campaign for Real Ale,and agree to abide by its rules.

Title ...... Surname .....................................Forename(s) ..............................................Date of Birth (dd/mm/yy) .........................Address ...........................................................................................................................................................................................Postcode ....................................................Telephone .................................................E-mail address ..........................................Total subscription amount £......................(see amounts in right hand column)

Signature ...................................................For joint membership only:Partner’s name .............................................................................................................Date of Birth (dd/mm/yy) ..........................

Methods of payment:By cheque, payable to “CAMRA”Or by Access, Mastercard, Visa, Delta orSwitch card (give details below).Card Type .................................................Number ............ ............. ............ .............Name on card ............................................Expiry date ................................................3 digit security number .............................(issue no., Switch only ............................)Send this form, and cheque if needed, to:

CAMRA Ltd230 Hatfield RoadSt Albans, HertsAL1 4LW

(from Hop Press, CAMRA South HantsNewsletter, December 2006)

To Join CAMRA:By post:Fill in the form on this page (or a photocopy)and post it to the address shown.

Or, join now, by ‘phone:Call 01727 867201

Or, out of hours:Leave your details on the action linerecorded message service,0845 60 30 20 8

Or, join on-line:Visit the CAMRA web site atwww.camra.org.ukClick on the “join us” button.E-mail enquiries can be sent directly to:camra@camra.org.uk

Annual subscriptions:Single Member .... ........£18 (£22 after Jan)Over 60 & retired .......£10 (£13 after Jan)Under 26 .............. ........£10 (£13 after Jan)Joint Member (if sharing the same address),add £5 to member’s subs.

Life membership is available, as are otherconcessionary rates and overseas rates;please enquire for details.

Payment by Direct Debit, after January, at-tracts a discount, write to the address oppo-site or call any of the numbers above fordetails.

JOIN NOW,SUBSCRIPTION RATESRISE ON 1ST JANUARY2007

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FRIDay, Feb 16thSATURDAY, feb 17th

BE THERE!

1sthedge end

clubBEER

FESTIVAL

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The Southern Hampshire Branch of CAMRAWish all Hop Press Readers

The Very Best for Christmas andthe Coming Year