Darlington Drinker NEWSLETTER of the DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN for REAL ALE
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Darlington Drinker NEWSLETTER OF THE DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE ISSUE 196 | AUTUMN 2015 FREE! Please take a copy DOO DICKETS DO DOTTINGHAM PLEASE IN THIS ISSUE... • COVER STORY - NIGEL WARING & HIS MERRY MEN & WOMEN • ACV’S - PROTECT YOUR PUBS • TRIPS FAR & WIDE • LIVE ALE & REAL MUSIC Plus Much More.... www.darlo.camra.org.uk Darlington Drinker DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE 2 | www.darlo.camra.org.uk ISSUE 196 | AUTUMN 2015 DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE Darlington Drinker FROM THE EDITOR elcome to Issue 196 of the Darlington Drinker. WFirstly may I thank everyone who has taken the trouble to write articles for this magazine together with some great photos. Issue 197 will be due out in November, please keep those articles on hand, so we can consider them for inclusion in the next issue. The Darlington CAMRA Pub, Country Pub and Club of the Year have been chosen and go onto to be considered for the Regional Awards. These pubs were chosen by you as CAMRA members:- The Quakerhouse, The Crown Inn, Manfi eld and Darlington Snooker Club. Regional Judging is assessed on a different criteria i.e. quality of ale, welcoming of staff, atmosphere, Community Focus, visible support for CAMRA and its aims and fi nally , value for money. Volunteers from our Branch visited other branches nominations, whilst at the same time other branch volunteers visited our nominated pubs. It is hoped in August those results will be known. This issue will include reports several members visits, with Real Ale always in mind, to far fl ung CONTACT DARLINGTON CAMRA reaches of the world, a rallying call to support your Website: www.darlo.camra.org.uk local as an A.C.V and also supporting live music. Twitter: @darloCAMRA Facebook: DarloCamra This magazine does get distributed all over Britain, either by swopping and pubs and festivals, OTHER CONTACTS or on organised tours. It gets Darlington CAMRA Campaign for Real Ale Ltd. known. In combination with the GBG it provides 230 Hatfi eld Road, St. Albans, Herts, AL1 4LW tourists with up to date information on where to t: 01727 867 201 • e: [email protected] • www.camra.org.uk enjoy the best that this area can offer. Trading Standards A big thanks to all contributors, sponsors and t: 01325 388799 • e: [email protected] most of all our readers. PUBLISHED BY Cheers! Capital Media Midlands Limited First Floor, Central Buildings, Middlegate, Newark-on-Trent, Garry Hewitt Nottinghamshire, NG24 1AG. Chairman and Guest Editor, t: 01636 302 302 • e: [email protected] Darlington Drinker www.choose.capital Disclaimer: The views expressed in articles are those of individual contributors and are not necessarily the views of the Darlington Branch, The Campaign for Real Ale Ltd. Darlington CAMRA accepts no liability in relation to the accuracy of advertisements; readers must rely on their own enquiries. It should also be noted that acceptance of an advertisement in this publication should not be deemed an endorsement of quality by Darlington CAMRA. © 2015 Capital Media Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted, reproduced, recorded, photocopied or otherwise without the express written permission of the copyright holder. ISSUE 196 | AUTUMN 2015 www.darlo.camra.org.uk | 3 Darlington Drinker DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE COVER STORY - REMEMBER THE ‘TUNES’ ADVERT! by Nigel Waring ur front cover this edition shows one of the pubs, The Canal House, visited by Nige O‘Robin Hood’ Waring and his merry men hand carved niche. The and women on a trip to Nottingham on Saturday beer was excellent too, a 27th June. Disembarking from our trusty carriage Charnwood Vixen 4.2% we scattered in various groups to raid as many and one of my favourites pubs as we could and relieve them of their wares. a Woodford Wherry. A Part of a group that besieged all those premises music venue (upstairs) that lay beside the canal, I partook of a fi ne pint of and the dark wood interior Nottingham E.P.A at The Fellows Morton & Clayton. reminded us of the glory days of the Tap & Spile. It was a hard and arduous journey next door to The The Ned Ludd came next, and mentioned Canal House (featured on cover). This pub has the elsewhere in this issue comes the confl ict of Craft v most wonderful set up, with a docking area of the Real. Although fi ve Real Ales were up and running, canal crossed by an indoor bridge to the bar. there were double that number of Craft Ales. I took It is a pity then that the beer in this occasion, the task on of asking why so many? - and get the Runneymede 800 and Castle Rock’s Skylark didn’t reply ‘we make more money’. Quickly quaffi ng quite come up to the splendour of the surroundings. two very good Navigation Beers, New Dawn and Things didn’t improve much next door at The Cask Mayfl ower, we left pondering whether this would be Room of the Via Fossa who unfortunately for ale the new battleground. drinkers had their Cider festival that week-end, Another pub entering the ageist theme was turning virtually all their fonts to cider, the only beer The Bell (or Ye Olde Bell depending whether you available was a reasonable pint of Shepstone Bitter. can remember Olde English). A slightly lighter Leaving the canal side, a shortish walk brought us panelled wood interior (Tudor feel) and very popular to The Navigation, though a Marston’s owned pub provided a Greene King Bell Inn Ale 3.9% and a it still had a variety of good ales to choose from – I Robin Hood Bitter 3.9% of very good quality and chose their own named Navigation Ale 3.8% and a taste. very good Revisionist Juniper 4.0%. Around the corner brought us to The Roebuck By then our band of merry men and women where I perhaps had my best beer of the day had truly split up, and so it was with little hope John – the Kingston Topaz 4.2%, ably backed up by Reed, Gordon Pentland set off in search of our next Milestone’s New World. port of call – Ye Olde Salutation. Soon it was time to go and rally at our fi nishing Whilst arguments continue about which pub is watering hole, The Vat & Fiddle. Sat outside in the the oldest in Nottingham, below the pub is a series summer sun, beer in hand, accompanied by happy of caves and apart souls, your thoughts from discussing naturally looked the reason for forward to the next them existing, you venture. seriously get a sense of history from every Our intrepid leader, Nigel Waring with Howard ‘Tuck it away’ Jones and Ken ‘the Sheriff’ Allen at The Canal House. 4 | www.darlo.camra.org.uk ISSUE 196 | AUTUMN 2015 DARLINGTOND CAMPAIGNARLING FOR REAL ALE TODarlingtonN Drinker SNOOKER CLUB SNOOKER EXHIBITION with current World Champion STUART BINGHAM Thursday 5th November Tickets £20 FOR THE BEST VAL UE GAMEE OFO F SNOOKERS N OOKER IN DARLINGARLING TOT ONN NOVEMBER BEER FESTIVAL SUPER Fri 6th to Sun 8th - up to 20 Real Ales REGIONAL FINALIST 10 FULL SIZE TABLES OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK NE CLUB OF • Mon to Thurs: 12 noon - Midnight • Fri: 12 noon - THE YEAR Late • Sat: 11am - Late • Sun: 11am - 11pm 2011-2015 FOUR QUALITY CASK ALES Further Accolades: There’s always something to suit your taste! • CAMRA North East Club of the Year 2004-2008 • Comfortable TV Lounge • Good Beer Guide 2005-2015 • Parties Catered For • FIRST Snooker Club to be voted Buffets can be supplied to fit every budget CAMRA Club of the Year • Junior Classes Sunday 9-11am. • FIRST Snooker Club to appear in No Junior classes on Saturdays. the CAMRA Good Beer Guide • School Groups Welcome • FIRST Snooker Club to have its own major beer festival Professional coach available CAMRA MEMBERS FREE ENTRY ON PRODUCTION OF MEMBERSHIP CARD 1ISSUE CORPORATION 196 | AUTUMN ROAD 2015 , DARLINGTON, DL3 6AE • t: 01325 241388 • e:www.darlo.camra.org.uk [email protected] | 5 Darlington Drinker DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE the QUAY5 tubwellS row LIVE MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT ld beers , fine wines, wor real ales delicious home cooked food ays a wee om/thequayspubdarlo 7 d k c equayspub en facebook. .com/th op twitter yspub.com thequa 6 | www.darlo.camra.org.uk ISSUE 196 | AUTUMN 2015 DARLINGTON CAMPAIGN FOR REAL ALE Darlington Drinker RAILS & ALES by Mike & Vron Burningham ach year some friends in Keighley and Craven CAMRA organise a camping trip. This year Ewas to the 11th Welsh Highland Railway Rail Ale Festival at Dinas on the steam railway. We love north Wales so it was easy to make the decision to join them. Taking the motorhome to Caernarvon, the fi rst night we walked into town. Tafarn Y Porth, the Wetherspoons, was enjoying not just a visit from us but also from Tim Martin, who circulated and chatted with the customers. We had an old favourite, was also a hot Oakham JHB and a new to us Purple Moose, which contender. we think was called Foundry Ale. An extremely The Black Boy, built in 1552, is reputed to popular festival, be the oldest pub in the country. As a tourist some of the beers destination the beer was eye-wateringly expensive ran out on Friday for us coming from the north east, at £4 a pint. night and on Saturday they were going off We tried two Welsh beers, Brenin Enlli at 4% and at a steady rate.