north east raise a glass to pubs, people and news from your local FREE ISSUE 10 www.cheersnortheast.co.uk // May 2011 pub is the hub cheersit’s all at r thE co-op soCial media givE youR FRiEnds a twEEt • elvis scores on the rebound • Juggling rats and Crowns • someone else’s omelette • the view from norway nEw pub dElivERs... broad smile inn-sidE pUbS !// nEwS // IdEaS // opInIon // nEw pUbS // old pUbS // bEEr for lUnch // bEEr for tEa // bEEr for dInnEr // pUbS! A DRINKER’S DELIGHT Over 200 varieties of bottled conditioned real ales in stock from local, national and worldwide brewers Range includes High House Farm, Delavals, Mordue, Thornbridge, Wensleydale, Coniston, Rogue, Stone, Odell plus many many more!! We stock Brew Dog ales - including Bismark & Penguin New stock arriving daily We have over 100 varieties of continental lagers and ciders from around the world - come and see for yourself! Having a party? We can cater for all your needs, telephone for further details Free local delivery Can’t fi nd the beer you’re looking for? Ask and we will do our best to get it for you!! Call in and see for yourself Coppers 17 Princess Road, Brunton Park, Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE3 5TT Tel: 0191 2170043 N O R T HE A S T Raise a glass to pubs, people and news from your local I S S U E 0 9 FREE www. cheersnortheast .co.uk // April 2011 THE TV TIMES cL IV h E A N De e r s K IC K IN G r WINNER DINNERS VILLA 1 S A U S A G E T O O editorial • Czech the view from Zatec • Elvis lives – or does he? • Coffee break suppers 0191 231 6080 • All sheep shape in Masham the faint-hearted.” delicious – not for bloody abv and pretty 8.5% do. It’s thing to be a nice would – some in bottle exclusive it really keep want to “We alastair Gilmour [email protected] Chancellor of the BEER SHOPS Exchequer George Osborne, L O T T A advertising how we hate you. You could BOTTLE have done something to INN-SIDE P U B S / / B R E W I N G 0191 231 6080 / / Q U I Z / / O P IN IO N / / N E W P U B S / / O L D P U B S / / B E E R F O R LU N C H / / B E E R F O R T E A / / B E E R F O R D I N N E R Gillian corney help the beleaguered pub / / P U B S ! [email protected] and brewing industry in Cover: last month’s Budget, but tony rehill. see p16 website: you didn’t – you stuck the “beer duty escaltor” knife www.cheersnortheast.co.uk in which effectively puts ten pence on a pint of beer insidE at the bar. designed & published by: Ten pence, I ask you. The most taxed beer in the EU has crossed the neWs £3 threshold, even in the most ordinary of pubs. You left the fat-cat 4 wedding fever bankers alone but you hit the “sin taxes”, the things that most folks hits beer – and me – enjoy. Like beer, cigarettes have risen 2% above inflation Media Exchange one 9 hadrian border (now over £7 a packet. Seven quid for tabs, I ask you); you raised bubbles up coquet Street wine by about 15p and spirits by 54p a bottle. But, you took a penny newcastle upon tyne off the price of petrol. Two days later my local filling station put it FEATURES nE1 2Qb up by a penny – please tell me how that works. 8 pumphreys You’ve put The Great British Pub at risk, you’ve put its jobs at risk, coffee duo show you’ve put pressure on people’s social lives, and the effects of your they have a taste photography: for beer Kevin Gibson actions are already being felt by this publication. We, like the pub, www.kgphotography.co.uk are a small business. You’re supposed to be helping small businesses. 10 black Sheep is on the march You’ve also left the supermarkets to flog cut-price booze to all and nicky rogerson with new blood www.nrphotography.co.uk sundry with dire consequences on the health of the nation. I can buy ten, 440ml cans of Stella Artois (5.0% abv) for £9 at my local Co- 12 live and kicking op. That’s 7.7 pints I can sup in the park for the same price as three – the conundrum in the secure, regulated, well-run, community-minded pub. of televised whilst every effort has been Mr Osborne, how does that work? football made to ensure accuracy, the publisher cannot accept Cheers. LUNCh DATE responsibility for omissions 15 pot meals at the and errors. all material in this Alastair Gilmour, editor publication is strictly copyright berkeley tavern and all rights reserved. tellY troubles pub WATCh A football rebellion has 24 the black bull, 12 kicked off – pubs are up Etal against the law for Fun stuFF showing live televised 31 the Quiz, the matches. We examine J pickled Egg and O the pros and cons of Th Guess the chair filling bars on a eakston Saturday and Sunday Win afternoon. 8 barista training in coffee ouR , Bl sponsoRs the Jury’s in pub crawls the specialists ack Golden business Coffee anyone? A-Z pub guide Beer shopping Sh Black Sheep profile EEP positive Czech Culture effects accent B club 06 18 REWER 21 When a Gosforth Our Central Was it really Elvis pub held a beer European who Jeff Price Wylam Brewery and sausage observer takes a y was talking to in festival, the whole trip to Zatec, the a Newcastle pub? community felt town in the Czech Was it really the the benefit, from Republic famed King he heard takeaway to taxis for hops, beer and warbling from the to neighbouring an experimental gents? A narrative pubs. brewery. poem tells all. nEws it’s hello from… north tyneside-based mordue could have well have given me a fully-qualified chef and brewery has taken on brewer that famous line from the from Victoria (from Ponteland) rob millichamp who was the film Scum: ‘There’s no dolly runs front-of-house, but previously at daleside brewery mixtures in here, poofter, I’m the apparently also prepares in harrogate, north Yorkshire. Daddy and don’t you ever forget it!’ the home-made desserts. rob lives in alnwick (local, the But he was a nice Previously, they operated John bull) and gained a degree enough bloke not to.” a cafe/bistro in Keswick. in brewing at edinburgh’s high house Farm brewery’s They are also keen to herriot-Watt university. he Nettle Beer has made its annual develop events at the pub is a keen beer blogger – visit with beer thE sting: high house farm brewer Michael robsbeerquest.blogspot.com – festivals, harker collecting the raw ingredients as well as organising his own weddings beer and cheese tasting nights. and parties of Wellington in newcastle, here’s a taster of his blog: earmarked following the pub’s acquisition “So, all said and done I arrived for the large by leopard leisure. the at Mordue Brewery at the rather function room. company also runs the hotspur, relaxed time of 8:55am on Monday. nicky robinson rosie’s bar and the empress No more forcing oneself out of and Chris shorter in newcastle; the Queen bed at four or five o’clock for are pleased with Victoria, Gosforth, and the high me. Inside things become more the way the Robin clear. The atmosphere is youthful hood Inn, East and laid back. The floors are Wallhouses, super smooth and easy to clean Northumberland, below a nice tightly packed set of has shaped up square fermenters. I meet Matt bloggER: rob since they took Millichamp, Mordue and Garry Fawson, am welcomed over last August. in to the company, and then it’s Manager Nicky time to get down to some work. appearance, but apparently the previously worked at the “I find it interesting how first cask batch has sold out. The hobson and the Burton house different and yet somewhat bottled version will be available in Burnopfield, County Durham. similar things are here compared from May 23. The brewery visitor Assistant manager Chris started to my old workplace at Daleside centre children’s play area is working at the pub two-and-a- Brewery. Things seem a bit more complete and swinging merrily. half years ago and both report relaxed with less emphasis on the blenkinsopp Castle inn, an increase in the food side spreadsheets, timings and various Greenhead, Northumberland, of the business with Sunday other calculations. “But don’t has been taken over by Chris lunches particularly popular. dukE: Gareth frazer, get me wrong, there’s plenty to Vickers and Victoria Matthewson. n Gareth Frazer has been duke of wellington do here, it’s no easy ride. Matt Chris, originally from hexham, is appointed manager of the duke 4 cheers may 2011 havE and au revoir to… time for a yoUr Say n multi-millionaire raj log on to Chatha – trading as Whittall’s little one cheersnortheast.co.uk Wine Merchants – is buying 37 Oddbins wine shops from the administrators who were called in to run the troubled retailer after it collapsed last month. In the deal, 20 shops are in london, 10 in Scotland and the remainder in liverpool, Manchester, Oxford and the south of England.