ERBY FREE
Issue 186 July/August D Cheers 2019
Covering Derby, Ashbourne, Amber Valley, Erewash, Matlock, Burton & South Derbyshire CAMRA Areas Beer Festival City As Derby Pubs Hold Summer Events
The Peacock
Brunswick Inn Alexandra Hotel
Ye O lde Dolphin
Smithfield Alehouse
The Flowerpot Furnace Inn
See Adverts inside for full details plus loads more Derby CAMRA Branch
Beer Festival City There maybe no Derby CAMRA Summer Beer Festival again but local pubs have more than filled the gap with Festivals of their own. The Alexandra, Brunswick, Dolphin, Flowerpot, Furnace, Peacock and Smithfield all have events planned so check out their adverts/articles in this Issue for further details. All in all it promises to be a great summer in Beer Festival City so see you down the pub!! DERBY and AMBER VALLEY CAMRA MILD TRAIL 2019 With 23 Derby and 22 Amber Valley pubs involved in this year’s Trail, competition was always likely to be fierce, and this proved to be so, with several pubs in contention right up to the end of the Trail. The eventual winners in Derby are the Smithfield, with the Flowerpot claiming the runner-up spot, while in Amber Valley this year’s champions are the Angels Micro Pub from Belper, with the Red Lion, Ripley in 2nd place. The winners and runners-up can look forward to receiving CAMRA Certificates to mark their achievement.(see Derby photos) Trevor Spencer - Mild Trail Coordinator
Luke & Catherine at the Flowerpot Emily & Ben at the Smithfield
Website – www.derby.camra.org.uk Derby Everyone is welcome at Derby Facebook – DerbyCAMRA CAMRA Derby CAMRA socials, Twitter – @DerbyCAMRA meetings and trips. Here is a CAMRA Branch Diary list of forthcoming events: Contacts:- Chairman – Greg Maskalick [email protected] Secretary – Ian Forman [email protected] JULY Treasurer – Keith Jones [email protected] Thu 11th - Branch Meeting - Nags Head, Mickleover, Derby - 8pm. Membership – Karen Cooper [email protected] AUG Pubs Officer– Mark Fletcher [email protected] Thu 15th - Branch Meeting - Old Bell Hotel (Tudor Bar), Press & Publicity – Kevin Hepworth [email protected] Derby - 8pm. Derby Drinker – Gareth Stead [email protected] Socials – Richard Gorham [email protected] SEPT LocAle – [email protected] Wed 11th - SGM (Accounts) - Coronation, Alvaston, Derby - 8pm. Pub Preservation – Mark Fletcher [email protected] Social Media – Gillian Hough [email protected] Contact the Social Secretary, by email - [email protected] Young Members Officer - Heather Knibbs [email protected] (check the Facebook page for upcoming events)
2 DerbyDRINKER July/August 2019 Derby CAMRA Branch
FROM THE CHAIR lot of positive activities have been Agoing on since our AGM and we can certainly look forward to more in the coming months. I would like to thank all who did attend the AGM and am humbled to be elected Chair for a second year. I am also very pleased that the Elected Committee has remained the same and Alan Pickersgill is our Campaigns Coordinator and Gareth Stead remains as DD editor. CIDER, CIDER, CIDER Our Cider Coordinator (Gillian Hough) has definitely put cider on the front foot at the beginning of this new CAMRA year. It all started off with The Brunswick being presented with Cider Pub of the Year. We then had a wonderful cider tasting evening at The Brunswick where pub guests were treated to samples of different ciders from around the country. I must say everyone was very pleasantly surprised to receive free samples of cider and I believe we made a few converts to the cider side of things! All hats off to Gillian for making the Cider Tasting Evening such a great ASHBOURNE AGM EREWASH VALLEY CAMRA success. We all very much appreciate your I recently attended the Ashbourne CAMRA I had the privilege to attend the Erewash hard work on behalf of the Branch. Sub-Branch AGM with Deputy Regional Valley CAMRA meeting and once again the BREWERY SUCCESS AT RAIL ALE Director, Gareth Stead and it was a company was superb and the beer FESTIVAL wonderful and very positive meeting with excellent. I must say they are a vibrant much shared fellowship. Ashbourne are branch trying to make a difference in How exciting it was to see three doing very well as a branch and continue Erewash and they also have plans for some Derbyshire breweries gain major prizes at to go from strength to strength. They have good events. It was a real pleasure to give the Barrow Hill Rail Ale Festival this past loads of things planned (or in the planning them a report on what we are doing in May. There is more to this story in a feature stages) for this CAMRA year that are very Derby CAMRA and we are looking at the article of this edition of DD so I will just exciting. Of course their Beer & Cider possibility of doing a joined up project or stop there and congratulate Amber Ales, Festival in September is the big event on two. Watch this space. Thanks to all Draycott Brewing Company and The their calendar. I attended this last year and Erewash Valley CAMRA members for a very Brunswick Brewery for their fantastic it was superb. I would ask all Derby CAMRA pleasant evening. achievements. members to make time to visit and attend THIS SUMMER VISITS TO PUBS this year’s Ashbourne CAMRA Beer & Cider Festival and promise you will not be There are going to be a few socials I have been very busy visiting pubs in our disappointed. There are regular service planned during the Summer months. I will Branch area and have started a new busses from Derby to Ashbourne running also be touring our great pubs and like last column called ‘Tale Of Two Pubs’. All the till about 11PM. Please check timetables… CAMRA year I will be posting my visits on pubs in our Branch area are very special I hope to see you there! social media. I will also give a heads up on and I do hope to visit them all this Derby social media and Comms as to where I’ll be CAMRA year. I also hope you enjoy reading Ashbourne Beer & Cider Festival Dates: going and when. It would be great to the new column and hope you pay them a Thursday 5th September 5pm-11pm share a pint or two with you so I hope you visit as well. If you do visit the pubs can come along as and when. featured please let them know you read Friday 6th September 12noon-11:00pm Have a great Summer and stay safe. about them in DD. It’s important that pubs Saturday 7th September 12noon-11pm know we do support them. Greg Maskalick Chair / Derby CAMRA 3
www.derby.camra.org.uk 4 DerbyDRINKER July/August 2019 Derby CAMRA Branch
discourage licensees to use the right of Does this mean as our lives and priorities CAMPAIGNS UPDATE Free of Tie or Market Rent only options change, so have our drinking s Campaigns Coordinator for Derby & made available in the Pubs Code. establishments? Do we record information AAmber Valley CAMRA Branches I The letter The Brunswick Brewing Company in the figures for pub closures, like new would like to update you on our progress received is shown here. No response has micro pubs, or are we just talking about traditional pubs? with the campaigns set out in the last been received as yet from the Pub Co edition of Derby Drinker. involved. I will endeavour to find out about this information from CAMRA for the next issue. Business Rates £13.50 per cask or per line per month is just Pleased as we are with Amber Valley the thin end of the wedge. Next year it Society as a whole uses pubs less than it used to and lots of reasons are given for this. Council, as reported last time, over the could be £30 per cask or line! proactive handling and processing of the Is this the slippery slope to charging so The decline in manufacturing and heavy Pubs and Retail Business Rates Relief. I am much for a free of tie cask ale, thus making industry has taken its toll. People going to the gym and living "healthier lives" has also pleased to report Derby City Council the licensee have no benefit in buying added its weight to this too. Tax and the have equally processed this discount to our anything other than pubco listed beer? disproportionate tax burden on our pubs. Credit where credit is due. Again if Bad news for the consumer and the pub alike. anyone has a pub with rateable value of traditional pubs will lead to the inevitable. £50k or less please claim your rates relief. A typical price of a tied house cask can be One thing people forget about our pubs is £30 more than free of tie. On average this they are sociable meeting places, and the While this is welcome as an interim measure will add an extra 50p to a pint at the pump. health and well-being factor in going to we still need Business Rates reform to fairly the pub can be enormous. and correctly calculate all our pubs’ tax You may have read the article on the front levels. Did you know that a supermarket on page of What's Brewing calling for the Pub Take Fred who used to drink two pints a the outskirts of our city typically pays just Code to be reformed to strengthen its day in a pub I ran. His wife passed away 10% of the rates, per square foot, a pub in meaning, we are putting our shoulder to and he came to the pub and had his two beers at 11am every morning. He sat at the our challenged city centres pay? This cannot the wheel and I will come back to you next bar and chatted to other regulars and the be right. Together with the drinker paying issue with what our MPs think. bar staff. Drank his two pints and went over a third of the price of a pint in direct Pub Closures home. His health and well-being were duty-based tax, this makes it doubly unfair. We all are aware of our pub closure enhanced I am certain, as a result of this. No wonder it’s a challenging time for our statistics and dependent who you listen to Because if the pub was not there who pub scene and wider retail centres of our the rate has slowed to about 16 per week. would look out for him, talk to him or even city. Fair Tax For All. Did you know though we have some pop to the shop for him? The post office Pubs Code positive news in our area? Amber Valley had closed and village hall closed due to Chair, Chris Rogers, reported to me " a net council cutbacks. But his local was there for This issue now is gathering pace. You may him every day. recall we were concerned with some gain of drinking outlets" in his area over The moral of all this is our lives are reports of small brewers going to be the last two years. This is indeed good news and we have seen lots of new micro adapting, our drinking establishments are charged to use lines in tied estate pubs. changing, but the pub is one of the most This is and remains a concern to us as it will pubs opening, or planned opening, in the Derby CAMRA area. important places to us all.
Alan Pickersgill Campaigns Coordinator Derby & Amber Valley CAMRA [email protected]
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www.derby.camra.org.uk 6 DerbyDRINKER July/August 2019 Real Ale Capital – Derby Takes The Title Again
Brunswick Smithfield Five Lamps Alexandra Hotel Old Bell Furnace Inn Babington Arms Standing Order
A recent edition of the Lonely Planet Guide Marstons Pedigree is still the most dominant a whopping £4.20 at the Flowerpot for described Derby as the “Best place to drink brand in the City available in 25 pubs (up Pentrich War Paint. However this was an 8.2% Real Ale in the World” and who are we to three on last year) with Bass available in 14 abv beer. The honours for the cheapest pint disagree as the results of the City’s Annual pubs (down two on last year) and Sharp’s went to the Babington Arms for Derby Super Beer Census undertaken by members of The Doom Bar in 11 pubs (down 2 on last year). Frank IPA at £1.69 a pint (a whole £2.51 less Derby Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale But local ales are well represented with beers than the dearest pint !!). One pleasing aspect have confirmed Derby’s status as Real Ale from 11 of the City’s breweries widely was the wide availability of CAMRA discount Capital of Britain per population head for available - Brunswick, Dancing Duck, Derby, on pints and halves bringing the average price yet another year. Derventio, Falstaff, Furnace, Hartshorns, down to a more affordable level. Littleover, Mr Grundy’s, Rowditch and Titan. The census took place earlier this year and Beers from other breweries around the area So there you have it, a few stats to bear in involved eight different pub crawls around were also well represented – Amber Ales, mind while crawling around Beer City once the City which saw a record number of Real Ashover, Black Hole, Black Iris, Blue Monkey, again proving that per population head Ales available on any one given night. 339 Burton Bridge, Castle Rock, Leatherbritches, Derby has more Real Ales available than any were counted (up two on last year) with 235 Milestone, Muirhouse, Peak Ales, Peakstones other City. different ones available (up three on last year) Rock, Pentrich, Thornbridge, Totally Brewed Derby CAMRA Beer Census Coordinator, and these came from just 69 pubs averaging and Whim to name a few. Gareth Stead said “For Real Ale enthusiasts just under five Real Ales per pub. For the first The average price of a pint was found to be Derby is probably the best place to drink in time ever all 69 pubs visited had real ale on £3.30 (9p up on last year). However in reality a Britain, if not the World as the Lonely Planet with the Flowerpot (19) leading the way from lot of pubs were way above the £3.40 a pint Guide states. People come from far and wide the Standing Order (18), Babington Arms (17) mark with some now regularly topping £3.50. to sample the City’s delights as its pubs truly and the Brunswick Inn (16). The dearest pint of the night was found to be provide a Beer Festival every day of the year”. Derbyshire South Pub of the Year 2019
The Smithfield Alehouse in Derbyhas achievement and congratulations must go of East Midlands CAMRA Pub of the Year. been crowned the Derbyshire South to Emily & Ben for the wonderful job they The result of the East Midlands round will CAMRA Pub of the Year 2019 a year after have done at the 'Smithy' since taking over. be known by the middle of August and narrowly missing out. It beat fellow It now also goes forward to be judged Derby Drinker will be there to report on the finalists: Smith’s Tavern in Ashbourne, Burnt against other County winners for the title winner. Pig in Ilkeston, Colvile Arms in Lullington and Talbot Taphouse in Ripley to the title.
The pub has been the Derby CAMRA Pub of the Year winner for the last two years and was up against other CAMRA Pub of the Year winners from Amber Valley, Ashbourne, Burton & South Derbyshire and Erewash and after a month long judging round it edged out its rivals. CAMRA judges visited each pub several times and not only judged the quality of the beer & cider but also several other aspects as well such as style, décor, furnishings, cleanliness, service, welcome, offering, community focus & atmosphere, alignment with CAMRA principles, overall impression, etc. So to come out on top is quite an 7
www.derby.camra.org.uk 8 DerbyDRINKER July/August 2019 AmberValley CAMRABranch
Contact Nora Harper [email protected] AMBER VALLEY NEWS Mild Trail The Branch's Mild in May Trail was won by Angels Micro in Belper with The Red Lion, Ripley (Wetherspoon) as runner-up. Award presentations will take place in due course on a Friday evening - and thanks to Trev Spencer for the hard work of trail organising. Pub News Everards took full control from May 21st of The Poet & Castle, Codnor after Lincoln Green brewery pulled out. The pub now serves three rotating Everards ales plus one guest rising to five at weekends & hopes to offer food at lunchtimes and evenings from August. Social Trip On Sat May 25th a social to Chesterfield was joined by 14 members, meeting up in The Pig and Pump (the former White Swan) where a fantastic selection of ales were lined up, many Social Trip to Chesterfield from Welsh breweries such as Tiny Rebel and Purple Moose. Catching a Stagecoach bus north to Whittington Moor, the group walked back into town visiting seven more pubs and micros along the route including The Red Lion, Jacey's (truly a nano-bar, open barely two months), The Beer Parlour, The Glassworks, The Neptune (where photo alongside was taken), Chesterfield Arms and finally Chesterfield Alehouse - from where the author had to run to catch the hourly Comet! A grand day's outing. Belper Goes Green At Belper Goes Green eco festival 1-2 June, Amber Valley CAMRA again ran the real ale marquee - see 2nd photo - selling out by Saturday night of all 60 beers, making it necessary to restock with 10 more beers on Sunday morning. The first to sell out was Brass Castle Bad Kitty. Thanks to Belper Rugby Belper Goes Green inside marquee Club for taking such good care of us and to our volunteers, especially those working the queues for pints in the heat of Saturday afternoon, and for beer ordering and staffing DIARY DATES Branch meetings 8pm - we appreciate each and every one of you. check What's Brewing for confirmed venues Amber Valley Beer Festival A date for the diaries: 26-28th Sept is the 10th Amber Valley Beer Festival - the venue Beer Fest meetings (Tues) is Strutt Community Centre on Derby Road, July 2nd - The Coach & Horses, Horsley; August 6th and Sept 3rd Belper, and daily opening hours noon-11pm. Branch Meetings (Thurs) The real ales, ciders & perries will be housed July 25th - Spotted Cow, Holbrook; August 29th in the courtyard marquee and the schedule starts Thursday evening with the popular quiz Sat 27th July - Nottingham Cider Saunter followed by music in the main hall on Friday - Luke Bettison, regional cider coordinator, will lead a trail of Nottingham's city centre evening and an acoustic selection of artists pubs involved in the Saunter, meeting at noon at the railway station foyer. upstairs on Saturday. 9
www.derby.camra.org.uk 10 DerbyDRINKER July/August 2019 EREWASH VALLEY Contact Chris Freer CAMRA BRANCH [email protected] EREWASH VALLEY CAMRA REPORT
SOCIAL REPORT LOCALE OUTLETS IN ELSECAR BEER FESTIVAL & LOCAL PUBS EREWASH VALLEY AREA The main recent event in the Social Diary was a Angry Bee, 2 Godfrey St, Heanor visit to Elsecar in Yorkshire on Saturday May 4th, Bulls Head, 1 Wilsthorpe Rd, Breaston organised by Social Secretaries Carole & Michael Burnt Pig, 53, Market St, Ilkeston Golds. The day coincided with Barnsley CAMRA Carpenters Arms, Dale Rd, Dale Abbey Branch's Elsecar Heritage Railway Beer Festival. Chequers Inn, 10, Main St, Breaston Coach & Horse, Draycott Here’s their verdict! Crown Inn, 6 Church St, Heanor "Carole and I had surveyed this trip several Dew Drop Inn, Ilkeston months ago with two 'dry runs', and we finally got General Havelock, Ilkeston round to going on Saturday May 4th. The party Great Northern, Langley Mill met up at Sheffield station for the ‘stopping' train Draycott Tap House, 29, Victoria St, Draycott Hole in The Wall, Regent St, Long Eaton to Elsecar, with several members forming an Ilson Tap, Bottom of Bath St Ilkeston advance party on an earlier service. Inn in The Middle, Langley Mill "On leaving the station at Elsecar our first port of Little Acorn, Ilkeston call was The Fitzwilliam Arms. The front door Lockkeepers Rest, Sawley opened as we approached and we caught the Marlpool Ale House, Marlpool Prince of Wales, 69, South St, Ilkeston staff by surprise - two beers were on, White Rat Punchbowl, 43 The Village, West Hallam and and Abbeydale. Off then down the hill to the Queens Head, Marpool Crown, with beer at £2.50 per pint and a good Redemption Ale House, Ray St, Heanor selection of beers and nice home-cooked chips - Red Lion, 2, Derby Rd, Heanor very friendly and welcoming, and this pub gets Sawley Junction, 176 Tamworth Road, Sawley full marks from us. On to the recently refurbished Spanish Bar, 76, South St, Ilkeston Milton Arms, for a good selection of beers and a Stanhope Arms, Stanton by Dale nice unspoilt snug, then down to the Market Hotel next to the Heritage