The recent decision of Parliament to outlaw smoking in all workplaces means the weed will be banned in all pubs in England by the summer of next year. This will bring England into line with In Scotland, where a complete ban on smoking in enclosed public places became law on March 26. Northern Ireland will follow suit in March 2007. Wales is expected to fall in line too giving a complete UK ban. In England smokers defying the ban face a £50 fine. Pub landlords face a daunting £2500 fine if they fail to enforce it, so enforce it they will. While some smaller traditional pubs fear an adverse effect on trade from the ban, there is however a great window of opportunity here. After all 75% of adults do not smoke and many non smoking drinkers avoid pubs purely due to cigarette smoke and its effect on their lungs and clothes. “More Beer” believes that now is the time to lure these “lost” drinkers back into pubs that will now be smoke free. Our biggest local brewer JW Lees agrees. Managing Director, William Lees-Jones, said “We hope that we will be able to attract non-smokers back into pubs once the ban is imposed in 2007. Sales of food in our pubs continue to grow and many eating areas are already smoke free” So come on publicans. Quality cask ale and a smoke free environment are a winning combination, so let s get the pubs shining, bright and ready to welcome back the non smokers. And let s give them a decent choice of cask conditioned ale too!
P. Alexander
According to CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), Mild Beer is not fading away as doom merchants may say. Admittedly, there are parts of the country in which it is increasingly difficult to find cask mild available, but here in the North West cask milds are still popular with many breweries, especially micros, including a mild-style beer in their portfolios. The recent National Winter Ales Festival, held in January at the New Century Hall, Manchester, had over two floors stacked high with a huge selection of mild, porter, stout and old ales there were 22 in the Champion Winter Beer contest alone. CAMRA has risen to the challenge of promoting these styles of beers with the Light And Dark Supporters Group (LADS). This committee, formed in 2000, aims to support all beers that are light in strength and all beers that are dark in colour.
Consider some statistics: a check of the 2006 Good Beer Guide shows that out of the 2000 beers listed in the rear pages there are 171 cask conditioned milds in regular production, plus another 24 that are produced seasonally, plus 28 light bitters, 122 old ales and 216 cask conditioned stouts and porters. This all adds up to over 560 beers in the LADS category, 28% of the 2000 beers listed.
In the Rochdale, Oldham & Bury branch, out of the 9 breweries that fall within our branch area, 6 still produce a cask conditioned mild beer either regularly or seasonally. The breweries are: -
JW Lees – GB mild
Leyden - Black Pudding mild
McGuinness - Feather Pluckers mild
Phoenix - Monkey Town mild
Pictish - Black Diamond (seasonal)
Ramsbottom - Old Ground mild.
Owl Brewery owner Gordon Potts has said that it is his intention to brew a mild-style beer once his relocation to new premises has taken place.
So, you might ask, what is being done to promote this style of beer? Well, every year CAMRA ask drinkers to support mild by declaring May as Mild Month, with this year 6th of May being Mild Action Day. This is supported by activities organised by CAMRA branches throughout the country, including tasting and trails around pubs selling cask mild. Many breweries and pub chains also lend support. It is hoped that locally our larger breweries, for example JW Lees may do something to support the excellent Cask Conditioned GB Mild. The other styles of ales in the LADS remit are supported at different times of the year with the Light Bitters in the summer months, Old Ales during the autumn months and Stout and Porter during the winter months.
A. Whitehead
MORE BEER is produced by the Rochdale,
Oldham & Bury branch of The Campaign for
Real Ale Limited. The editor, the Branch
committee or CAMRA does not necessarily
endorse any opinions expressed in this
newsletter. The editor would be pleased to
receive contributions on relevant topics – by
post or E-mail. Publication cannot be guaranteed, of course, as space is a premium in any
free publication, contributions may be edited
and certain grammatical errors corrected – if
spotted in time.
Copyright © 2005. The Campaign for Real Ale
Ltd., Rochdale, Oldham & Bury Branch.
SHORT MEASURE PINTS
Complain to you local Trading Standards office.
Oldham. 0161-911-4471
Rochdale. 01706-864-186
Bury. 0161-253-5566
Or Email www. Either To Bury, Oldham
Or Rochdale.gov.uk
POST CONTRIBUTIONS TO:
The Editor, More Beer C/O 6. Roundthorn
Road, Glodwick, Oldham OL4 1YS
CAMRA HQ.
230 Hatfield Road St. Albans.Herts, AL1 4LW
01727 867201
Web: www.camra.org.uk Email:
camra@camra.org.uk
OR POST TO:
CAMRA R.O.B.
P.O.Box 108, Oldham OL2-5RE
THE NEXT ISSUE OF MORE BEER WILL BE
OUT MID - JULY
WE MUST HAVE ANY CONTRIBUTIONS BY
THE 15TH JUNE AT THE LATEST
Design & Layout by:
Tel: 01733 751286
info@tamoko design.co.uk
Advertisement Sales by:
Tel: 01536 358670
N.Richards@btinternet.com
Welcome to this our third edition of“More Beer” the newsletter from
Rochdale, Oldham & Bury CAMRA
Branch (Campaign for Real Ale).
Our cover story concerns the Smoking Ban and the financial penalties for ignoring such legislation. There is, as the title suggests, an opportunity to attract “lost” custom back to pubs and improve the drinking and eating environment for all. Many breweries big and small are already anticipating a surge in demand for their beers when these “missing” customer’s return. Cask ale and smoke free? It really could be a winning combination!
Our second, but no less important editorial article on page 17, is about a milestone for CAMRA - our 35th Birthday. Happy Birthday to us! And what could be a nicer present than to announce that membership now stands at over 80,000? From humble beginnings indeed and made up of people like you and I. People who care about the beer we drink and the pubs we drink in. If it’s not you, then why not join us and show your support? You’ll be very welcome!
Rochdale, Oldham & Bury
Contacts/Committee 2005-2006
Chairman: Peter Alexander
Email – peter@peteralexander.plus.com
Secretary: Pam Ellis
Email – pam@pamellis.fsnet.co.uk
Membership: Mike Robinson
Email - jmikerobby@aol.com
Social Sec: Ken Holt
Email – kenjan.holt@btopenworld.com
Treasurer: Clive Taylor
Email – ctaylor@rapidial.co.uk
Pubs officer: Bernie Jackson
Email – acksionman@ntlworld.com
Campaigns: Alan Ainsworth
Email- alan.ainsworth99@ntlworld.com
More Beer Editor: Allan Whitehead
Email – ed-morebeer@tiscali.co.uk
The Grey Horse Oldham Rd Failsworth / Hollinwood Boundary is now a Deaf - Friendly pub, as new licensee Karen Hughes, was previously a Sign language interpreter for Oldham Social Services. Food is now back on and locals will remember Karen from her time behind the bar in the next-door Woodman Inn. Children are now made especially welcome on Sunday afternoons.
The Old Mowbray Conservative Club Oldham Rd in Failsworth has been fully refurbished and is now called Last Orders - but has no real ale.
The Willow Tavern on Ashton Road East, Failsworth has replaced the John Smiths cask with Webster’s cask and is much improved.
The Bowling Green Hollinwood recently refurbished by Lees is effectively one long room but still feels like three separate rooms. It was in much need of a re-furb and now attracts a younger clientele although the Saturday night open mike sing along with their excellent organist is still well attended by the older customers. Many years ago apparently the pub used to be a Whit Friday Brass Band Contest venue- could this now be revived?
Over in Oldham The Ashton Arms Clegg St deserves a special mention in this round up of pub news. Jo Potter and her team of staff really made a excellent effort in the recent Pubs Week with organised events in the pub on virtually ever day over a seven day period, events ranging from Quizzes to Guess the Mystery Beer, Meet the Brewer and even Maggot Racing with monies raised going to Mannchester Dogs Home.
As part of the continual modernisation programme at the brewery two 100 barrel fermenting vessels are being currently commissioned. These are replacing two of the original wooden vessels installed by John Willie Lees himmself in 1876.One (of the original ten) will be retained for historical reasons. Their current seasonal is Green Gate Pale Ale. Scorcher will be out June- August. Lees have just recently bottled one of it’s seasonals Dragons Fire, exclusively for Sainsburys.
Current refurbishments - White Hart, Long St Middleton, Junction Inn at Denshaw and the Gardeners Arms at Grimshaw Lane Middleton.
New Licensee at the Old Boars Head Middleton is Jed Malby who has moved from the Charlestown.
New Pub – Sheldon Arms opens at Ashton Moss on 6th April 06.
Over the past few months the Royal Oak (Th’heights) between Delph and Denshaw has been sympathetically renovated and redecorated with a new stone porch and solid oak doors to keep out the elements. The ceiling in the side room has been lowered to give it a cosy feel more in keeping with the rest of the pub and new stone tables outside provide a great vantage point for views over the Tame Valley. As well as the regular ales from Moorhouse’s, Blacksheep and Millstone this genuine free house offers two guest beers and recently brews from Copper Dragon, Orkney, Phoenix and Wye Valley have been available. Regular changing home cooked food continues in the evenings at weekends.
The Navigation at Dobcross now has seven hand pumps and currently offers Taylors Golden Best, Wells Bombardier, Moorhouse’s Pride of
Pendle and Pendle Witches Brew on four of them. Following Enterprise inns policy of offering SIBA beers to their tenants, the Navvy is
planning to sell local Millstone’s Grain Storm together with two changing guest beers. Their
proper homemade food cooked by landlord Mark remains popular.
Up the road in Dobcross village, the food at The Swan (Top House) is also in demand and on a recent visit the pub had no spare tables for dining. Using locally sourced meat, fish and veg, chefs Keith Dickinson and Kate Holborn make innovative dishes from around the world and offer a variety of special dishes. This Jennings pub has a full range of their beers and recent guests included Everards Tiger and Wychwood’s Wychcraft.
It’s all change in Diggle where Gerry and Catriona at the Hanging Gate (S&N) and Pauline and Danny at the GBG listed Diggle
Hotel are expected to leave in the next few weeks. It is believed that a local couple will take over the Diggle Hotel some time in May.
The Waggon in Uppermill village now offers a changing beer from the Robinson’s portfolio in addition to the popular Unicorn Bitter. Recently
Double Hop was available and Wards Bitter is expected soon. A “celebrity” visitor was due to
stay in one of the excellent en-suite rooms as the magazine went to press - none other than the Mayoress of Saddleworth (in South
Australia). Nearby the Granby Arms has a new landlord (the pet hamster or other small mammal was seen arriving) but at the time of
writing its policy on real ale was uncertain.
Up the hill the GBG listed Cross Keys continues to sell the full range of JW Lees cask beers including the excellent Moonraker strong ale throughout the year. The latest seasonal is Greengate Pale Ale at 3.4%, which will be on until the end of May. Close by the Church Inn is taking more beer from Thwaites these days and on a recent visit only two of it’s home brewed beers were on the bar.
Over in Greenfield live music and entertainment feature strongly at the Railway with regular sessions of R&B, Cajun, Pop etc on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. The function room also features top class artists – recently the guitarist Gordon Giltrap Performed there and award winners Martin Simpson (Folk) and Karine Polwart (singer/songwriter) are scheduled for April and July respectively. This Enterprise Inn now has access to beers from SIBA brewers and landlady Paula is considering ntroducing one of these as a guest beer, local breweries Greenfield and Millstone are obvious choices.
At the King William IV (King Bill) the bar layout has been changed and the six hand pumps are now more prominent, with the keg pumps elbowed off to the sides of the bar. During a recent visit the regular beers Deuchars IPA, JW Lees Bitter and Tetley Bitter were complemented by a good choice of guest beers – Everards Tiger, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Jennings Sneck Lifter. Homemade food is currently on at lunchtime but could be extended to 12.00 – 7.00 in the next few weeks. For those of you with a thirst for more pub and brewery news the newly launched Manchester A real ale pub guide. Is one to purchase priced at only £4.95 it’s 74 pages packed with information about drinking in the city, listing pubs that sell real ales but also
Curry Cafes, Heritage Pubs, Cider Crawls and sections covering Milds, Local CAMRA Festivals and a complete listing of all Independent breweries, and of course not forgetting invaluable information on using public transport it’s the one to buy!
For details email :-
Two pub reopenings have been the talk of the town recently, but for completely different reasons. One demonstrates what can be done to
a pub to improve it and one demonstrates exactly what not to do. Firstly, after a lengthy wait, local Manchester
brewer, Joseph Holt, has reopened the Woodthorpe Hotel after a £1.25 million refurbishment. The pub, located on Bury Old Road
in Prestwich, has undergone an eight-month project to renovate and refurbish the 145 year-old building. This includes the substantial dining area,
banqueting facilities and the three hotel bedrooms that the Woodthorpe offers. The banqueting facility Can now cater for a sit-down
meal of up to 100 people. Of course the Woodthorpe plays an incredibly significant part in joseph Holt’s 150-year history.
Built in 1861, it was purchased by Sir Edward Holt in 1888 where he lived until his death in 1928.
The Holt family continued to reside there until 1935, and it was eventually converted into a pub in 1955. Always an impressive venue, the
sympathetic additions have brought it up to date whilst still retaining its character. And, of course,
you can still get a decent pint of real ale. Which takes us nicely onto the second reopening. Once upon a time, the Showboat was
a nice Thwaites pub called the Flying Shuttle. Conveniently situated near the shopping precinct and the multi storey car park, it did well by
offering lunchtime food alongside real ale. However, Thwaites don’t seem interested in having successful pubs, at least not in Bury, and a
steady decline began. Now in private hands, the Showboat has done the impossible and become even Worse.
Wherever the money went on this refurb, it certainly wasn’t on the décor. Gloomy and uninviting seems to be the Theme. Now split into
two, one half (the former Pool Room) is now called Liberty Avenue, where “boys meet boys and girls meet girls.” But no one meets real ale,
apparently. With its own entrance, the other half remains the Showboat. A strange dichotomy and one that doesn’t appear to be working very well.
On a Saturday afternoon, with loud music blasting out, there wasn’t a soul in the place. Now who says Bury folk don’t have good taste?
Contact me with any Bury Pub News At :-
(Tuesday Meetings all 8.30pm Unless
Otherwise Stated)
CAN’T ALWAYS GET TO OUR BRANCH MEETINGS BUT WANT TO KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THE ACTION !
Make sure we have your up-to-date E-mail Address on our Secretary’s data-base.
Information and Social Events can be Emailed out to you.
Please Note: These Are Proposed Venues
Which May Change – Consult The Web Site or
What s Brewing to Check
MAY
Tues 2nd Branch Meeting- Cross Keys,
Running Hillgate, Uppermill
Sat /Sun27/28th Weekend Away Coach
Social “Tynemill Revisited” Inc. Visit to
Castle Rock Brewery
JUNE
Tues 6th Branch AGM – Eagle & Child, Higher
Lane, Whitefield
Please attend this important meeting and
help shape Branch policy
Sat 24th Coach Social - Visit Rural Cheshire
Pubs
JULY
Sat 1st Coach campaigning- Independents
Day Campaiging Event
Tues 4th Branch meeting – Wishing well, York
Street Heywood
Advance notice Whitworth pub crawl by Public
Transport - please see website for further
details
AUGUST
Tues-Sat 1st - 5th Great British Beer Festival,
Earls Court London
Tues 8th Branch Meeting, Horton Arms,
Streetbridge, Royton
Further Details on social events are available
from the Branch Contact or Social Secretary –
Changes to the diary and other events may be
announced at branch meetings
Following on from our own Rochdale, Oldham & Bury CAMRA festival (Bury Beer Festival) last November, the East Lancashire Railway (ELR) held their very first beer festival, christened “Febfest”. The combination of real ale, steam trains and a genuine railway setting seemed to be an obvious formula for a potential runaway success but needed help from beer festival veterans like ROB. The Bury division of ROB immediately pitched in enthusiastically, followed by one or two more responsibly minded Rochdale and Oldham members.
Unlike the extreme physical effort required to
put together the Bury Beer Festival the Febfest
was relatively easy, in fact just five of us put
the whole thing together in less than a day (OK
somebody else put up the tent, toilet blocks
and fencing – but we did all the beery bits!).
The modular lightweight racking system proved
simplicity itself to assemble and carry into
position and after some gymnastic manoeuvring to get it out, the barrel lifting frame borrowed from the Trackside was worth its weight
in porter for racking up the high level firkins.
There were 66 beers available in the tent and two firkins on each of the first steam trains running for Saturday and Sunday. The crisp February weather meant that beer temperature was a near perfect 12-13ºC for the whole festival, although this also meant that the customers were kept at or around the same temperature however, there were on the whole very few complaints about the cold.
On the Friday evening, Adnams Brewery, Southwold, Suffolk gave a “meet the brewer” talk and tasting, featuring the very first appearance in Bury of their new beer “Explorer”, a very pale refreshing session beer.
Saturday afternoon saw a performance by the Horwich Prize Medal Men Morris dancers, otherwise known as “the cloggers”. No singing acts were allowed because of the new (and totally bobbins) licensing laws.
As to be expected of a first event, there were lots of organisational teething troubles, but suffice to say next year they will put all the mistakes right or the “festival beer team” won’t be offering their services. From the beer side of things I couldn’t pick any faults, only one beer didn’t clear and one was bad in the barrel (apparently so was the whole batch as we found out later).
Individuals comments about the festival were mixed, some said the beer was very mainstream and not adventurous enough, others complemented the wide range of locally produced beers. Lack of handpumps was commented on by a few customers. Although I’d seen the festival advertised almost everywhere I looked (in beer related press) a lot of people felt it hadn’t been well advertised locally.
A supreme effort was put in by CAMRA members to try and make sure that the beer side of the event was well run and would only generate good publicity for CAMRA and the support of real ale. I think we achieved our aims in this respect.
From the ELR’s point of view it must have been an eye opener because they were already asking about doing another one next year before this years had finished. I’ll keep you informed as and when more information is available.
It would seem that Bury is becoming the beer festival centre of the Universe these days. Bury Beer Festival in November, ELR Febfest & Forever Bury in February, another muted to be happening in September (but not yet confirmed), and of course slightly further out, Radcliffe Cricket Club who held their first festival last year which was also a roaring success. Life just doesn’t get much better than this!
Alan Ainsworth
Yes, that’s a date for your diary - Saturday
1st July. Why, you may ask? And what’s
this ‘Independents’ Day’?
Every year, CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale)
have July as their Independents’ Month, with
the nearest Saturday to US Independence Day
being Independents’ Action Day when branches
throughout the country will hold day-long
events to celebrate Britain’s Independent
Breweries and show their continuing support to
those breweries who keep up their traditional
values and do not sell out to the big boys
(InBev & Scottish Courage to name just two) of
the brewing world.
A look in the Good Beer Guide 2006 has 147
pages listing all the independent breweries big
and small, from breweries that measure their
output in thousands of hectolitres to ones who
measure their output in hundreds of pints.
Many of these breweries belong to societies
or organisations. The main three are the
Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB),
the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA) and
the East Anglian Brewers Co-operative (EAB).
Each of these organisations has contributed to
cask ale promotion, some staging events such
as the annual ‘Cask Beer Week’, others getting
large pub-owning companies to take in beers
from small breweries. Other noticeable successes are persuading the government to introduce
Progressive Beer Duty and getting beers into
Specialist Beer Shops as well as Farmers’
Markets.
Locally, the Rochdale, Oldham & Bury CAMRA
branch have held various events to mark
Independents Day with, in the past, a free
coach visiting selected Free Houses around the
branch area and local breweries. For up to date
details on this year’s organised event please
visit our branch web site at
www.robcamra.org.uk
A Whitehead
This crawl of 6 pubs through the beautiful Saddleworth scenery took place last year during the annual Saddleworth ‘Yanks’ Weekend, but is a great day out any time of the year - Uppermill can be reached by First Bus service 184 from Oldham, or by train alighting at Greenfield station, exit the station, turn left walking up to the main road then down into Uppermill.
15-20 walkers met at Uppermill’s Waggon Inn. Robinson’s Unicorn & Old Stockport on offer. Both beers were rather fine. The pub was something of a time capsule being full of people in 2nd World War uniforms and clothes for the ‘Yanks’ Weekend. (The film, starring Richard Gere, was made in this area).
It was then that the mistake was realised. To get to the next pub there was a walk alongside the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The canal is so named because it’s narrow & goes to Huddersfield. The walk should have been scenic& gentle. The problem was that it was raining, heavily. Fortunately everyone had come prepared & the canal towpath has been improved in recent years.
“To get to the next pub there was a walk alongside the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The canal is so named because
it’s narrow & goes to
Huddersfield. The walk should have been scenic & gentle.”
A rather soggy crowd arrived at the Navigation at Dobcross where all available surfaces were soon covered in wet raincoats, everyone stripping off, the stone floors coming in handy to catch drips. The beers available were Theakston’s Best, Black Sheep Bitter, Tim Taylor’s Golden Best, Wells Bombardier, plus guest ales. The stay was somewhat protracted due to the good value food also being sampled.
Fortunately the rain had relented before we climbed a set of steep steps at the side of the pub. This led us to the road to the Swan Inn (Top House) at Dobcross, a Jennings tied house with the full range of beers. By now the sun was out so some actually sat outside.
We retraced our steps to regain the canal towpath across from the Navigation. Our destination was to be the Diggle Hotel. Of course the rain returned soon after we hit the canal. Again it was lucky that the towpath has been much improved in recent years, but it’s a bit sad to see the canal tunnel locked up after all the money that’s been spent to re-open the route. The Diggle greeted us with a further opportunity to sample Taylor’s Golden Best, Black Sheep Bitter, Jennings Cumberland Ale and Wells Bombardier.
On leaving the Diggle, in the dry, the group had the longest walk of the day. The road & party snaked mainly up and with some downs to the Church Inn, well above Uppermill. The Yanks crowd had obviously made the trek up the hill as the pub was packed. Saddleworth Brewery & Thwaites beers were on offer with the Saddleworth More excellent value at £1.10 a pint. As the inside now resembled a Turkish bath most of us took our drinks outside. Fortunately there are large umbrellas, as the monsoon had returned.
Our last move was up the steep & slippery steps to the Cross Keys for Lees Mild, Bitter, and Moonraker. The sun made an appearance for the walk down the steep hill back into Uppermill for transport home.
It had been a good, if damp outing. Thanks must be given to Ken Holt, Social Secretary for the Rochdale, Oldham & Bury CAMRA branch for his usual good planning.
I. Mitchell
(An occasional feature exploring the lesser-sung mini-day trips on our area doorstep)
Abright day in early January saw our intrepid duo make for the cosmopolitan, some might say trendy, Chorlton cum Hardy (so named to distinguish it from its not too distant namesake Chorlton on Medlock). Setting off from Manchester we had the choice of the 84,85, or 86 buses from Piccadilly Gardens using a £3.20 any bus daysaver. Ours dropped us off almost outside The Bar, which is a smart but comfortable establishment offering the welcome sight of 2 Phoenix beers as well as 2-3 from the Marble brewery. This is where we decided to get the food bit out of the way, and good food it was too.
From there we walked up to the junction of Wilbraham Road and Manchester Road and turned right into Manchester Road. This meant we missed the Belgian Beer Belly, which, we have found since our visit, has acquired an on-licence (and does food) so next time will be an unmissable part of the circuit. On our way to the next port of call, the Sedge Lynn, we passed a number of delis, as you tend to find in these cosmopolitan areas. Even though we had just eaten, these feasts for the eyes were very tempting! Once inside the Sedge Lynn, a Wetherspoons, it was a surprising change from Tim’s usual outlets in being rather a cosy place, and, dare we say, a little bit classy. Formerly a cinema, and nicely done in an Art Deco/Charles Rennie Mackintosh style (well known for inventing indigestion tablets and raincoats). Nice choice of beers as well.
Next stop, past a few more delectable looking delis, was the Marble Beer House. Now a well established bar in these parts, having formerly been a very good off licence selling beer from the cask, and British & Foreign bottled beers. This is a very relaxed place to while away part of an afternoon, so we did linger a little here, and it was good to see Warren, the manager and formerly of the Knott, carrying out his devotion to duty, stripping down and thoroughly cleaning his beer taps – daily task for him. Beers on sale were Marble and Phoenix.
Turning left out of here we walked on and turned right into Upper Chorlton Road where we came across the Hillary Step. Beware! As it nestles in a small parade of shops on the right hand side of the road and is not readily recognisable as a bar, but definitely the trendiest bar we visited. Here we had yet another chance to sample some pints of Phoenix before wandering across the road to catch the No 86 back to the metropolis.
There are one or two other pubs in the Chorlton area that could be added to the crawl, but we opted to finish the day in the familiarity of the Northern Quarter having enjoyed an interesting and relaxed day.
CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has
signed up over 80,000 members and is
now well on the way to achieving their
target of 100,000 members by 2007.‘It takes all sorts to campaign for real ale’
CAMRA’s membership campaign to sign up
100,000 members promotes the message ‘It
takes all sorts to campaign for real ale’. This
campaign highlights that the CAMRA membership represents all pub goers, not just the
stereotypical ‘beards and bellies’ membership
image so often portrayed.
CAMRA members are not all males, single and
middle aged. Another myth.
CAMRA has a strong female representation
with women making up over one in four of the
total membership.
CAMRA has 15,000 couples enjoying membership (which comes at a discounted price com-
pared to two individual memberships).
Around one in four of CAMRA’s total membership is under the age of 35.
Locally CAMRA has over 650 members in Rochdale, Oldham and Bury.
So why not join and become our next
member?
Fill in the membership form or join on line at :-
Greenfield Real Ale Brewery is located in the countryside of Saddleworth, nestling in the Pennines, and the village of
Greenfield sits in an area known as Chew Valley. This was a textile manufacturing area for many years until the decline in that trade; it is now very popular with hikers and tourists these days and has attracted many people with its beautiful moorland landscape.
The village of Greenfield was where Peter Percival and two friends, in September 2002 decided to start up the brewery. Peter had been brewer at Saddleworth Brewery for three years and produced twelve real ales while he was there, four of these his own recipes, in July 2002 he was made redundant and so decided to start up his own brewery.
David Porter of Porter Brewing Company was asked to install a 5 Barrel show brewery, in Tanners Mill Greenfield, this site was chosen because it had its own supply of Pennine Spring water. It was decided that the beers produced would take their names from the area of Saddleworth and local events that took place there.
On the 16th of November 2002 the first brew was produced, Bill’s ‘O’ Jack’s @ 4.1% a light golden hoppy, full flavoured bitter, and Greenfield Ale @ 4.0 % followed shortly after, a dark ruby red ale with a hint of chocolate. These two brews proved to be popular and demand is still very good. Over the next two years brews were added to the range and the brewery improved, new outlets were found and it is now known for over 24 different beers, these being from the traditional English amber bitters to the now popular light pale straw coloured hoppy bitters. All are brewed at certain times of the year, some to celebrate the many events, which take place in the area, others to fit in with the seasons. Christmas time sees Rudolph’s Tipple appear, this is a dark bitter blended with honey and is the strongest beer produced at 5% in the range (watch out for the red nose after drinking this one) Two main distributors help supply the beers around the country while some thirty plus outlets are supplied directly by the brewery itself.
A new face arrived to the brewery in February 2004, Tony Harratt. He like Peter had a keen interest in beer and how it was produced, so they decided to make the brewery a limited company and with Tony’s help move the brewery forward and open up more new outlets. In March 2006 they applied for membership of SIBA and hope to join the direct delivery scheme later on in the year, thus allowing the brewery (hopefully) to supply the local tied outlets, many local pubs have approached them asking for their beer. The brewery will be starting tours in April 2006 and it is hoped to have some merchandise for sale. Greenfield will also be offering beer for special occasions, named to suit, i.e. Weddings, Birthdays and so on, some have already been undertaken with special Pump Clips being made.
Anyone wishing to try the beers or book tours should contact Peter or Tony at the brewery on 01457 879789 or visit the brewery at :-
GREEFIELD REAL ALE BREWERY LTD
Unit 8 Waterside Mills Greenfield,
Saddleworth. OL3 7NF
Tel /Fax 01457 879789
CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) and the Mayor of Oldham Charity Appeal Committee held another successful beer festival in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham at
the end of March. The event raised over £4500 for the local charities supported by Cllr Kay Knox, the Mayor of Oldham.
Almost 1500 people attended the event over the two days to sample the 75 real ales on offer together with 10 traditional ciders and
perries, fruit wines and bottled beers from Germany and Belgium. The festival, now in its 20th year has been held in the Queen Elizabeth Hall for the last 8
years following the move in 1999 from Werneth Park Music Rooms, fondly remembered for its uniqueness with its conservatory,
oriental plants and distinctive architecture. Local breweries Millstone and Owl scooped two of the awards in the Beer of the Festival
contest, with Millstone Tiger Rut winning first prize and Owl Night Owl winning third prize. Second place went to Hanby Nutcracker from Shropshire. Gareth Wain from Mossley was the
winner of the competition for the gallon of beer sponsored by the Ashton Arms, Clegg Street, Oldham after his form was chosen at random from those that voted for Tiger Rut as
their favourite beer at the festival. A number of local companies also helped to make the event a success by sponsoring some
of the beers with Oldham Motor Company being the main sponsor with sponsorship of four of the beers. Friday night was, as usual, the busiest session
at the festival with almost 600 people in attendance, drinking the beers and being entertained by local group The Right Stuff, with their
blues, soul and rock n’ roll music. Here’s to the 2007 Festival
Mike Robinson OBF organiser 2006
Yes, it’s me again! The man with no name, and a wife who likes a pint of cask ale, at the National Winter Ales Festival. Well,
what a splendid festival! And only on the doorstep compared to the Great British beer bash, at a great venue (the New Century Hall),
with this year plenty of space to relax and enjoy a pint or three with a fantastic range of my favourite styles of beer: mild, stout and
porter. On entering the venue we were met by the over-friendly persons in orange - no mistaking it, this is a Nationally-organised event. Having
flashed our members’ cards, parted with some coinage and handed in our thick winter coats we then ascended the stairs to the main hall. At
the top we were directed to the glasses counter by more folk in orange. For some reason, some of them were holding a teddy bear. (How
strange!) Collecting our glasses from the counter near to the food area (a place we would return to soon), we entered the hall and were
greeted by ales on both sides of the room. Also in here we found the CAMRA Membership stall and Products stand, Beer Inn Print, the Foreign
Beer Bar and the Craft Brewery Association stall whilst at the far end was the Francis House & Rainbow Family Trust charity stand, selling teddies! One of which now sits proudly in our spare room.
It was very pleasing to see a very good range of foreign bottled beers, some foreign beers available in draught form, and beers from
across the water in Ireland. Two Irish beers I thought were exceptional; the Molly Chocolate Stout and the Maguire’s Plain Stout. Other English ales I tried were the Dark Star Expresso Stout, Copper Dragon Black Gold, Bank Top Dark
Mild, and Marble Port Stout. My wife was very happy to remain within the confines of the foreign beer area consuming all manner of offerings from the attentive bar persons. Food to
soak up the beer was next on our agenda, with the choice and value very good indeed. The chilli and chips appealed to me, with my better
half having a pizza slice with a few chips.
Suitably refreshed, we headed for the downstairs bars in the Lancaster Suite and were surprised to see another glasses stall. “That’s a good idea,” I thought, “two glass stands thus minimising the queues!” Plus yet more orange folk with teddies. Teddy bears were much in evidence at this festival, with some of the folk in orange seeming to have some sort of relationship with their bear (one of these teddies, I overheard, is now a fully paid up CAMRA member!) Now I’ve nothing against teddies - I’m not teddy-phobic; life is simple: ‘Eat-Sleep-Drink Real Ale-Cuddle Teddy’ works for me!
Beers were stillaged at each side of this room with the Winter Ales contenders on the right. Pleased to see Bazens’ Brewery of Salford picking up top accolade for their excellent Knoll Street Porter in the Stouts and Porter section and Gale’s (a brewery which is now under threat!) Festival Mild winning the Gold award in the Strong Milds category.
Wandering around the tables and chairs to the other bar in this room, we found the Cider and Perry bar; not to my taste, but she who must be obeyed did try a taste or two, namely the Gwynt y Ddraig and Yarlington Mill, neither of which made any lasting impression (must have been all the foreign beer inside) she told me later! Putting that aside, the stand was doing a rip-roaring trade with, from what I heard later, re-orders going in! Further along the bar many other cask beers were on offer with Belhaven 60/- Ale, Conway Telford Porter and two offerings from Wye Valley (Dorothy Goodbody’s Wholesome Stout and Winter Tipple) sampled, and to finish off, the delicious Orkney Dragonhead Stout. A quick look around the T-shirts stand in the food/glasses area upstairs, with a few purchases done, then cash in our glasses, collect our coats, and out into the fresh January night air to catch our transport home -with thoughts of ‘Tomorrow is another day - to revisit the festival!’
Old Ales & Strong Milds
Stouts & Porters
Gold – Gale’s Festival Mild
Gold – Bazens’ Knoll Street Porter
Silver – Goff’s Black Knight
Silver – Fuller’s Porter
Bronze – Orkney Dark Island
Bronze – Bath Ales Festivity
Barley Wines Overall Result
Gold – Hog’s Back AOT
Gold - Hog’s Back AOT
Silver – Skye Cuillin Beast
Silver – Skye Cuillin Beast
Bronze – Robinson’s Old Tom
Bronze – Goff’s Black Knight
Now, with the better weather with us, and thoughts turning to venturing out on sunny spring days/evenings, here is a crawl of some JW Lees pubs around parts of the Middleton & Chadderton areas, suggested by Peter Boden. The starting point of the crawl can be reached by using the First Bus service 58/59 either from Oldham or Middleton - every 15 mins daytime, 30 mins evenings.
Hunt Lane Tavern, Middleton Road
A popular pub serving a wide clientele of regulars and visitors who generally partake in sampling the substantial meals. External façade has a crawling ivy covering most of the front elevation and looks very impressive during the summer months. Crawl time to next pub 20 mins. Leave pub and turn right, continue to walk down Middleton Road, cross road after 75 yards and walk down Ferny Field Road. At the end of road walk down the path formed on the old railway. This eventually comes out on the canal path. Turn left along canal tow path to Foxdenton Lane. Turn right, next pub is on the right.
Railway & Linnet, Joshua Lane
An old pub with regular local friendly clientele. Very nice beer garden at the back, well worth a visit on a hot summer’s evening. Crawl time to next pub 5 mins Leave pub and turn right, walk under the railway bridge, (note how narrow and low this bridge is, bearing many scars of vehicles that have misjudged their height), down to the traffic lights, now turn right, next pub is 50 yards on the right.
The Junction, Joshua Lane
A relatively new Lees pub which used to be a Conservative club. Still kept the snooker room and has a small back room lounge. Look out
for the impressive staircase and stained glass windows. Crawl time to next pub 1 min. Leave the pub and turn right, continue down Joshua Lane, next pub is just before the bridge.
The Minders, Joshua Lane
A real locals’ pub, recently opened up inside. It's name was inspired by the former Baytree and Laurel mills next to the pub. Crawling time to next pub 15 mins Leave pub and turn left under the bridge and follow road round to the left. Cross over and take access road to the canal, turn left and follow canal tow path to the Rose.
Rose of Lancaster, Haigh Lane
Another very popular pub for both regulars and visitors. Tap room is a busy room for those liking cards and darts etc., main room is generally frequented by eaters as the Rose is one of Lees’ eateries. To get back to the bus stop for either direction leave the pub via the front door, turn right and head for the traffic lights. From the lights can be seen the stops for each direction, just before the railway bridge.