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North London Campaigning News
A round up of current goings-on in North London CAMRA
London Drinker Beer Festival 2003.
The year 2002 may have gone fast but the good news is that the 2003 London Drinker Beer Festival is only a few months away. As well as nearly 50 different real ales, there will be some excellent real cider and perry plus a range of imported beers (both bottled and draft) to suit most tastes from the fruit beers of Belgium to the smoked beers of Germany.
And of course the Festival will have the best range of food at any beer festival, all produced by local CAMRA members with real sausages, dishes of the day (that always include a vegetarian option) and the famous onion bhajis!
Wednesday evening will see the breweriana auction and there will be a live band on Friday night. Otherwise the Festival is quiet except of course for the calls of "Every Ones a Winner" from the Tombola Stand.
In the evenings, the balcony area is opened up so the Festival can guarantee a seat for any one who wants it. The main hall is also wheelchair friendly.
This year the Festival will be celebrating 100 years of flight; 2003 is the anniversary of the first flight of the Wright Brothers. So for a drop of the "Wright Stuff" why not join us? The dates are 19th – 21st March at the Camden Centre, Bidborough Street near St Pancras Station. See the branch web site for further details: http://www.camranorthlondon.org.uk/
But if you can't wait until March for a good beer festival, don't forget CAMRA's Pig's Ear Festival takes place 3rd-7th December at Stratford Town Hall, celebrating some of the best British winter beers as well as cider and imported beers.
Good Beer Guide 2003.
The 2003 edition celebrates the 30th edition of this famous book that has been called "the Real Ale Bible". The guide represents excellent value for money at £12.99 for 5000 pubs. Unlike so many guides, the Good Beer Guide is complied totally by volunteers from all over the country, whose love is real ale and good pubs. They take pride in the pubs they put forward and there are many gems in some unexpected quarters. The Guide makes an excellent Christmas present for those who like British pubs.
But the Good Beer Guide also lists all known real breweries at the time that it goes to print. That represents not hundred but thousands of different beers, most with a guide to what they taste like. Surely a must when confronted by a range of handpumps all displaying names of weird and wonderful beers.
CAMRA welcomes suggestions for the Guide. For those in the North London area contact: www.camranorthlondon.org.uk.
The Good Beer Guide is available from most large bookshops or directly from CAMRA: www.camra.org.uk; 01727 867201. There is a discount for CAMRA members.
A guide to toilets?
Most certainly not but the local branch of CAMRA are currently surveying WC1 for the first pub guide it has produced for many years.
The guide will list all known real ale outlets in the WC1 postal district, which is bounded by Euston Road in the North to High Holborn in the South. There are some wonderful hostelries: including the Lamb in Lamb's Conduit Street with its snob screens and the Princess Louise with its famous interior.
The guide is being sponsored by Young's Brewery and will be launched in March 2003. It will be available at the London Drinker Beer Festival and by post. Keep an eye out in the next Full Pint for more details.
CAMRA'S Pub Campaign.
In the last Full Pint we mentioned the CAMRA All London Campaign to highlight the plight of the continuing closure of London's community pubs. In case you missed it, the coverage showed that at least the media was interested. Mick Lewis, North London's chairman was interviewed on various London radio stations plus a full page in the Evening Standard. If you have a problem with a threat to your local let us and the media know. You don't have to sit back and accept it!
Christine Cryne
Reproduced from the Full Pint, Issue 18.
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