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The Thoughts of Chairman Mick
Mick Lewis,
Chair of the North London Branch
By the time you read this it seems that Punch, now the biggest pub owner
in the country with over 5000 outlets, will have thrown Scottish Courage
products out of its bars. It seems that Scottish Courage will not agree
the same level of discounts that other breweries have and are being dumped.
It's just a pity that the customers don’t seem to notice the cheaper
prices based on these discounts - or would a pint really be £3 without
them?
Staying with Punch, some of their pubs are offering an
all-you-can-eat-for-around-£4.50 deal, aimed at the student end of the
market. So now you can choose between stuffing yourself silly at one of
these outlets or attempting to eat the two meal deal at Wetherspoons's.
Could I suggest all you can drink for £4.50........?
And still with Punch, Budweiser Budvar is now available in all its 5000+
outlets, initially with a two for £3 offer. I see that yet another organic
beer has made an appearance, and this time it's from Brakspear. Calling
itself Ted and Ben's, the name comes from two of their employees,
apparently, and is part of their seasonal beer range for this year.
Perhaps Boddingtons will produce a seasonal beer called Benoit and Andre's
- named after two of their Belgian workers.
Who says that nobody drinks mild anymore? At the Great British Beer festival
last month, Moorhouse Black Cat Mild won the Champion Beer of Britain award.
HogsBack TEA came second, with York Brewery's Yorkshire Terrier Bitter
winning the Bronze.
CAMRA's Cider and Perry of the Year judging also took place, this time at
Stockport Beer Festival, and both the winners are from Herefordshire. First
prize in the cider category went to Westons with their Old Rosie, with the
best perry coming from Dunkertons.
And staying with cider, those of you who have enjoyed the odd glass of
Franklin's cider or perry will be disappointed to learn that Jim is retiring
at the end of the year. So if you see one of his products at a beer festival,
it may be your last chance to drink it.
Over in East London, the local CAMRA Branch has voted the Leyton Orient
Supporters Club their Club of the Year 2000. This enterprising establishment
not only has real ale in its bar, but usually has a couple of beer festivals
each season. Sadly, on my visits there last season, the decent football had
been discontinued.
Bass have sold Jack Straw's Castle in Hampstead to a property developer
(Albany Homes) for £4m. Apparently, the plans are to have a restaurant and
hotel, but keep the local feel to the pub (see Mark Hoile's pub preservation
article on page 4—Ed). The last time I popped my head in the door, the smell
of stale cooking was so overbearing, that I couldn’t go in. Let's hope this
new restaurant has some decent extractors.
Recent research seems to show that the branded pub restaurant market is
reaching saturation point. It seems that customers can no longer distinguish
one from another. Why this doesn't apply to other pub chains such as the
Hogsheads is beyond me.
Wetherspoons have opened their first pub in Northern Ireland - the Spinning
Wheel in Ballymena - with no Guinness on sale!
See ya, Mick
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 6.
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