ALE of two Cities The FOOTBALL in Swinton back on top of its game the local beer drinkers’ Magazine SMITHFIELD comes back to the market CAMRA in Salford and North Manchester Seven Brothers are back in town and this time they mean BEER Some of the stories behind Bus-to-the-Pub 2014 Pubco reform = cheaper beer? Three more breweries inside Your FREE magazine to read at home or in the pub. Take it with you or leave for others edition 4 August 2014 Food served daily 12 noon to 10 pm Quiz night Monday Wednesday is CURRY NIGHT LIVE MUSIC WEEKENDS CRESCE live tv football the NT Grade II listed Salford building 13 handpumps serving real ales and on main bus routes ciders - local micros a speciality only 10 minutes from Manchester City Centre 0161 736 5600 by Salford University THE BARTON ARMS Stablefold, off Barton Road, Worsley M28 2ED proud of our dedication to cask ale - CAMRA members’ discount scheme nine cask Marque accredited ales from brewers local and national regular events include a Monday Cask Club - all real ales £2.49 a pint for future cask events call us on 0161 728 6157 part of the Ember2 Inns family of real ale houses Ed writes beer, served at the right temperature Reminders in this issue that CAMRA is more (and definitely NOT warm) is all round than just a big social club; we remain you, all year long. To emphasise this, committed to campaigning in several areas several pubs are holding cask beer festivals in the coming weeks. In the of interest to pubgoers. So it’s great to case of the Lower Turk’s Head, they’re report that one of our longest-running even bringing half of Cornwall to campaigns has borne fruit - twice. We carry Shudehill [see p 16]. And of course a report from Punch Taverns, one of our August is the the month of the big largest pub-owners, of significant changes one: the Great British Beer Festival at in their dealings with their lessees and London's Olympia. There’s still time to tenants. We now look to other pubcos to book tickets and make a day of it. Last follow their lead. And, above all, the train back is 2100, last coach 0100. government has announced the introduction of a Bill to enforce pubco reform. Much of this is the direct result of Dark ales, a favourite of mine, are also CAMRA’s efforts over several years, both in readily available throughout the criticising unnacceptable pubco tactics, and summer. But we must admit they are by political lobbying. Patience and of limited appeal at this time of year. commitment have paid off. Another Holt’s pub has just dropped cask mild. In recent weeks I have The recession may be over, but the sampled several pints of otherwise excellent dark cask beers in less than staycation remains. The advent of perfect condition. Breweries and pubs, summer does not need to mean a blind despite laudable intent, need to bear rush to cold lager taps. Proper cask this seasonal reality in mind. How to get in touch with CAMRA locally news & views for publication in ALE of two cities Robin Bence email [email protected] North Manchester Branch (including the whole of Salford) web: northmanchestercamra.org.uk Email Phil Booton: [email protected] Trafford & Hulme Branch web: thcamra.org.uk Email:John O’Donnell: enquiries@ thcamra.org.uk Stockport & South Manchester Branch web: ssmcamra.co.uk Email Mark McConnachie: [email protected] South East Lancashire Branch web: https://sites.google.com/site/southeastlancs Email Steven Prescott: [email protected] The views and comments expressed in this magazine do not necessarily represent CAMRA policy, either nationally or locally. The copyright of all content is the property of the Campaign for Real Ale Ltd, unless otherwise stated. 3 PUB NEWS be lost as the letting rooms upstairs could trade under the name of ‘Smithfield Hotel Another Salford pub has gone back to real at Swan Street Tavern’. Whichever name ale, and another to follow shortly. The is chosen the nine handpumps remain, and Football in Swinton, just behind the will mostly offer beers from local micros. shopping precinct, has re-opened after a The former adjacent shop unit has been short period of closure for refurbishment. incorporated into the bar area, though still It is still owned by Punch Taverns, and now partially separated by a load-bearing wall.. sells Tetley Cask Bitter (3.6%) and house- The cellar of this unit will also be opened badged bitter Football (3.6%). The beer as a drinking area. The new ownership is brewed by Marston’s at Wolverhampton. team comprise Wayne Nuttall from the Licensee Warren Stanganini plans to sell Waldorf and Paul Downes from The Village food at lunchtimes shortly. The pub in Trafford Park. already boasts two darts teams and Warren hopes next to start - what else - a football team. Holt’s Duke of Wellington, Higher Blackley, no longer sells cask mild. Its sale in recent years had been limited to Mondays only, for darts night. Less than a mile away, the Royal Oak on the top road at Pendlebury has been And finally, a little nostalgia. The bought from Punch by Darren, father of Edinburgh Castle in Ancoats has re- Warren. Now free of tie, it is planned to opened after a significant period on the introduce a range of cask ales here in the dark side. The Whitbread years have been very near future. swept away to reveal the Chester’s signage from half a century ago. No fighting Mild In Manchester, the Smithfield Hotel is set here though, but there have been stage to reopen as we go to press. Wanting to fights inside as ‘Angel Meadow’ was slough off its recent past, one plan being performed throughout June, portraying discussed is a name change to the Swan the days of the scuttler gangs which ruled Street Tavern. However, the name link Ancoats when Chester’s was scarcely a with the the old market district would not hundred years old. LOST PUBS FOUND A CAMRA pub crawl with no beer? Be serious. Yet in mid-September that’s just what we’re doing. And not once, but six times! As part of the ever-growing Heritage Open Days weekend we are inviting anyone - especially non-CAMRA members - with UNION TAVERN an interest in local history, industrial 105 Liverpool Street, Salford architecture, pubs, or, well, just anything SALFORD M5 4LG to join us on the walks. Two tours will cover inner Salford and Ancoats. Each will HOLT’S BITTER last about ninety minutes and cover some 2013 holder of Camra’s two miles. We will visit the sites of missing Neil Richardson Trophy pubs, point out many still standing, both vacant and re-used, and try to tell their “An unspoilt traditional stories within their proper social context. street-corner local” That means that breweries, chapels, mills open daily from 12 noon and , above all, housing will be described frequent buses 8 minutes walk and discussed en route. bus 79 stops outside The pair of tours will Eccles RFC run on Friday September 12 and the following two days. The Salford walk will The former Cross Keys, still begin at standing in Jersey Street 1500 and Gorton Street, the Ancoats one at 1830. Further details are available Eccles M30 7LZ on the websites of the CAMRA North Club and Camra members Manchester Branch and Heritage Open Days. are welcome to try our And the pub crawls with no beer? Well, ever-changing range not exactly. We’ll be kicking off from two of cask ales great old pubs, the New Oxford in Salford and the Crown & Kettle in Ancoats, and ecclesrfc.org.uk we’ll have an equally tasty finish. 5 PUNCH TAVERNS - THE PUBGOERS’ NEW FRIEND? by Robin Bence Punch Taverns are one of the biggest pub recent government announcement owners in the country. They acquired the (described on page 14) of the impending bulk when the former big brewers were introduction of a pubs adjudicator, saying required to divest themselves of their tied that for the greater part his company was houses in the late 1990s. Most Punch pubs now acting fully within the spirit of the came from Bass and Allied (Tetley, etc). At proposed legislation. their peak, Punch owned some 7500 pubs. So what are they doing so differently now? Like other similar pubcos, Punch acquired To achieve financial stability they have a dreadful reputation for their business agreed a restructuring of company debts. behaviour towards their licensees. All Imminent collapse may no longer be a Punch pubs are tenanted or leased, and threat. They have been carefully reducing they no longer employ managers directly. their pub estate when a market price could Numerous stories appeared of their be achieved, avoiding panic selling. For unsupportive style of management, of the second time they demerged Spirit Inns long-serving licensees losing their and their 1352 managed pubs. Above all, businesses, and often their homes, they seemed to have vowed to treat their following failure to agree tenants and lessees with due terms. And then there was respect and far greater Punch’s dire financial position. support. Consequently they Having borrowed enormous have felt able to set sums to buy into a collapsing themselves the target of being property market their debt the country’s most highly burden had become respected pub operator. unsupportable. The company Today their estate stands at had been teetering on the some 4000 pubs, all subject to a full tie, edge of collapse for some time.