FREE The Award WinningSwan Supping Issue 79 Aug/Sep 2010 COVER STORY Chiltern Brewery celebrates thirty years! Page 16 Newsletter of the Aylesbury Vale & Wycombe Branch of CAMRA www.swansupping.org.uk Circulation 6000 Swan Supping NEWS FROM THE EDITOR Welcome to the largest edition of Swan Chicago Rock Café (which I doubt will be missed by very many discerning Supping so far. A whopping 32 pages has drinkers!). These two pubs have the potential for changing the drinking taken a bit of filling and we don’t expect scene in Aylesbury dramatically, but it is hoped that this will be for the to do that on a regular basic, especially as better as they make the town an even more of a drinkers’ destination and the poor souls who deliver the magazine bring more people in, to the benefit of all the pubs in the area. The town got to the pubs will probably be needing a another boost as we went to press, as the Queens Head, which has again long rest while their backs recover from closed, is to receive a major refurbishment by Punch Taverns. carrying all the extra weight! The bad news is that despite the local branch having been largely spared A lot of things are happening in the pub the number of pub closures that the rest of the country has seen (CAMRA and brewery trade in the area. One of reports 39 closing every single week, a third of which are demolished the good things is the 30th anniversary without local communities given a chance to save them), things appear to of Chiltern Brewery which we have be catching up. Estate pubs are being really badly hit! We learned as we celebrated with a feature in the centre of went to print last issue that the Duck in Bedgrove had not only closed, but the magazine, plus a magnificent cover had been demolished. The Southcourt estate is now publess with the closure photograph, ably taken by Alex Wright. of the Huntsman and the sad sight of the Steeplechase, closed last year Chiltern are one of the longest surviving micro-breweries in the country, and now a constant target for vandals. which is testament to their dedication to the art and their sheer love of Even country pubs and local breweries are nor exempt from the financial brewing. We have already enjoyed one of the special beers they have climate as the Partridge Arms in Aston Clinton is under threat and produced to celebrate, Chiltern Pearl, which we featured last issue, and Vale have had to close the Royal Oak in Oakley and have been reduced their next one, Golden Ale, is due in the Kings Head, Aylesbury, as we go to applying for change of use as they are unable to find a buyer. This is to press. Richard and Lesley Jenkinson really started something good in particularly galling for Vale as it is the closest of their pubs to the brewery. 1980, and now that the baton has been passed on to sons George and Tom, lets hope the brewery can continue for at least another 30 years! Problems are likely to increase along with the VAT increase next year. Even if the government can find a way to stop supermarkets treating alcohol as Other local breweries in the news include Tring, who have moved to larger a loss leader, the large disparity between the price of drinking at home as premises after outgrowing their original site, and Vale Brewery who have opposed to drinking socially in one of our pubs will continue to put a strain had to increase their brewing capacity due to the demand for their beers. on the industry. Every pub in the country employs a lot of people, so the This shows that the demand for real ale is increasing, especially when it is government should be doing all in its power to help the industry, perhaps produced locally. with a differential rate of tax between on and off sales of alcohol, and not Aylesbury was one of the largest places in Britain without a JD Wetherspoons be part of the problem. pub until this summer and now we have two! The refurbished Bell finally David W. Roe opened in June and the White Hart opening in July on the site of the old Swan Supping Editor and CAMRA AV & W Branch Chairman NATIONAL CAMRA NEWS CAMRA hails Big Society Support for that the Government would revisit the Codes of beer market, and underlines the impact of an Community Owned Pubs Practice of the Large Pub Companies if the Pub expanding sub culture of beer drinkers with a Companies were not found to be acting properly. strong interest in quality and choice. Recently the Prime Minister gave a speech on the Mr Cable confirmed that the new Government Big Society, endorsing pubs as local assets and will continue that policy. More widely, the study believes the beer promising Government support for communities industry’s rebirth in the wake of CAMRA’s wishing to save threatened pubs through The Business Secretary also said that he is founding in 1971 has implications for much of community ownership. actively monitoring the beer tie situation, the UK economy. including among licensees in his local area. Community ownership for pubs would not only Professor Peter Swann, the author of the study, be invaluable in saving pubs threatened with He said: ‘They tell me that they’re very frustrated and a Professor of Industrial Economics, said: closure but there is clearly an appetite for it. with the tie arrangements and they do want reform ‘The fact is that the business world can learn CAMRA’s recent polling research shows that but as you know because of your committee’s an enormous amount from our beer buffs. The 63% of regular pub goers would be willing to recommendations they’re on probation at the range of products and the number of centres join efforts to save their favourite local pub if it moment.’ of production in brewing in England declined was under threat. dramatically between 1900 and 1970.’ ‘I think the commitment is to give them until CAMRA has therefore welcomed this June 2011 and if they haven’t delivered a more ‘As is widely accepted, that process began to announcement, and has written to the satisfactory arrangement then there will have to reverse with the formation of CAMRA and its Government seeking assurances that the Big be legislative action.’ fight against bland, mass-produced beers. Society will be backed up with adequate resources to provide business, legal and financial Real ale can help This has led us to the position we’re in now, with advice to communities wishing to save their pub hundreds of small breweries spread all over the by running it as a mutual, co-operative or social beat recession! country and making thousands of different beers. enterprise. CAMRA was delighted to read of a report In technical terms, this represents horizontal revealing how Britain’s beer drinkers can serve product differentiation and a reduction in the Pubcos are on as role models for the nation as it struggles to importance of the economies of scale.‘ Probation emerge from recession. ‘That’s basically a clever way of saying variety In July the Secretary of State for Business, The academic study, released by experts at the is the spice of life and that more discerning tastes Innovation and Skills Vince Cable gave his Nottingham University Business School, came can be good for the economy.’ first appearance before the Select Committee up with the findings after examining the history In conclusion of the study, Swann said: ‘CAMRA monitoring his Department. of brewing in England. and the microbreweries should serve as an During the meeting Brian Binley MP The study praises CAMRA for its work in economic inspiration - and I say that as a man (Northampton South) asked Mr Cable to confirm campaigning for quality and choice in the UK who doesn’t even like beer.’ Please contact the editor if you would like to help distribute Swan Supping 3 Swan Supping Swan Supping TASTED ON MY TRAVELS The holiday continues The next morning saw us heading to Towyn to enjoy the delights of the Tal-y-llyn. The ride on the train done we were repairing to the café on the station where we met some friends. In the café we found newly installed hand pumps so as we were honour bound to test what they were dispensing we had some Purple Moose Madoc’s Ale and very good it was too! The start of the brewery That evening now we knew where to find the pub we went to meet the owners. Pam told us that there had been an article by Sharon Chilcott in ‘Life in the Marches’ Magazine. The article went on to say that when she was training she did not know what was involved. ‘I did my first brew and brought it back to the Lion Hotel at Caerhowell and it was nerve wracking. Four men came in whom I didn’t know. One took a big sip and I closed my eyes and the room went The occasional jottings of an ardent The new pub really quiet. But it was OK. He liked it. real drinker The evening before our meeting we were passing What I didn’t know was that they were CAMRA At the end of June, beginning July, I went to Newtown so we called in to the Sportsman members tasting beers.