ight in Isle of W Isle of W ight Volume 2. Number 35 Beer Pubs Newsletter of the Isle of Wight branch of CAMRA LocAle These pubs regularly stock at least one local draught real ale. The Campaign for Real Ale exists to preserve and promote good beer and pubs. Ale and Oyster, Ventnor Horse and Groom, Ningwood; Anchor Inn, Cowes King Harry’s Bar, Shanklin August Bargeman’s Rest, Newport; Lifeboat, East Cowes; is Local Ale Month Bell Bar (Winter Gardens), Ventnor New Inn, Shalfleet; Boathouse, Seaview; Mill Bay, Ventnor; Broadway, Totland; Prince of Wales, Freshwater Buddle Inn, Niton; Red Lion, Freshwater; Bugle, Brading; Ryde Castle, Caulkheads, Sandown; Seaview Hotel; Chequers Inn, Rookley; Saltys, Yarmouth; See back page for pubs with local ale Chine Inn, Shanklin; Seaview Hotel Crab and Lobster, Bembridge; Simeon Arms, Ryde; Crab and Lobster Tap, Ventnor; Spyglass Inn, Ventnor; Crab Inn, Shanklin; Steamer Inn, Shanklin; Crown Inn, Shorwell; Sun Inn, Calbourne; Dairyman's Daughter, Arreton; Traveller’s Joy, Northwood; Duke of York, Cowes; Vine, St Helens; Fighting Cocks, Arreton; Volunteer, Ventnor; Fishbourne Inn; Waverley, Carisbrooke; Fisherman’s Cottage, Shanklin; Wheatsheaf, Yarmouth; Folly Inn, Whippingham; White Lion, Arreton; Fountain Hotel, Cowes; White Lion, Niton; Griffin, Godshill; Windmill, Bembridge; Hare and Hounds, Arreton; Woodvale, Gurnard. Chris Coleman, Goddards’ Head Brewer High Park Tavern, Ryde; explains some of the finer points of brewing to Isle of Wight High Sheriff, Alan Titchmarsh at the opening of the new Goddards’ brewery building. More details on page five. "Change your hearts or you will lose your inns and you will deserve Look out for this sign! to have lost them. But when you have lost your inns, drown your To keep up to date with LocAle and all other Isle of Wight beer and pub news visit empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England" www.wightwash.org.uk Hiliare Belloc Wightwash Editorial Page Two Wightwash Quiz page Page Nineteen The Lows and Highs of a Wightwash Editor Win a £20 Meal Voucher for the Chequers Inn or a …we visited your website to see if there was an IOW Pub Guide and were pleased to find there was one. Case of Beer from the Ventnor Brewery It was only after we had attempted to visit the Inn at St Just answer these easy questions. The first two correct answers out Lawrence, the Snooty Fox in Brading, The Propeller at Bem- of the hat on 1st August win the prizes. bridge airport (all closed ) and called at a couple of pubs Send answers to - The Editor, Wightwash, Oakdene, Rookley, Ventnor, PO38 3 NH that are now owned by ****** **** pub companies and only or email - [email protected] have mass-produced, bulk, lower quality beers, that we be- came suspicious of the Guide. We looked more closely at the 1/ Which popular tv policeman was created by R.D. Wingfield? small print and found it was published in 2003 - five 2/ Under what treaty was the European Economic Community formed? 3/ Pb the chemical symbol for what? years old, out of date and unreliable! t great star Thank you for wasting so much of our time. Not a 4/ What kind of creature was “Captain Flint”? the day! 5/ Who sang the theme song to “From Russia with Love”? to 6/ What colour are the seats in the House of Commons? However, the very same evening I called in to the Chine Inn to finish a pint that I’d ne- 7/ Where in the body would you find the sternum? glected to finish two days previously (that’s another story) and Bill Downer introduced 8/ Which American political party did Jimmy Carter represent? me to a lovely couple from Salford who had gone specifically to the pub as a result of 9/ and 10/ Name these Mediterra- looking at our website and were discovering the delights of Goddards Inspiration as it nean islands had a LocAle pump crown stuck to it. The next day I received a letter from Join Tony Seymore which so cheered me up that I have printed an edited version of it CAMRA opposite. Today 9 Then - devastating news – Paul Mattick my trustworthy columnist phoned to say Just fill in the form below and send, with a that he will not be able to provide his cheque (payable to CAMRA Ltd) to usual excellent coverage of Isle of Wight Membership Secretary, CAMRA, 230 Hat- pub news and gossip as he is going to be field Road, St. Albans, Herts, AL1 4 LW on North Island learning how to be an Rates are Single £22 Joint £27 10 ambulance driver for the next few Retired £13 (Joint £16) Under 26 £13 (Joint £16) weeks. He did however send me a nice photo of himself in his new NHS dayglo Name…………………….. jacket (see page four). Address…………………. This bit of space allows me to remind Answers to the Spring Quiz: you that not all of the opinions in Wight- …………………………… 1/Napoleon Bonaparte 2/Methane. wash are those of the editor or of 3/Capricorn. 4/Hops CAMRA either locally or nationally. …………… 5/My Fair Lady 6/Mongoose 7/Diving (10mtrs). 8/George Os- And to ask you to send me (or Paul) all Post code…… borne. 9/South Africa. 10/Nepal your news and gossip for the next issue I wish to join the Campaign for Real Ale, and I agree to by 30th August. abide by the Memorandum and Articles of Association. Pauline Handel of Freshwater wins Tel: 721557 or a £20 Meal Voucher for the Che- quers Inn and Mrs A Holbrooke of Email: [email protected] Signed…………..Date……. Sandown wins a case of Ventnor Tim Marshall (overworked editor) Beer. Wightwash Island Landmarks Page Eighteen Wightwash A nice letter Page Three The Crab Inn, Shanklin Dear Wightwash, Since the time when Shanklin was a village of about one hundred inhabitants there has Firstly, may I congratulate you on your been an Inn on this site. Most who lived there then were either fishermen or farm work- splendid publication. I’ve been fortunate ers and their liquid refreshment was taken care of by two local hostelries, the Crab Inn enough to visit the island twice in the last and the Chine Inn. Even in those early days a few visitors came to the village and in year and found your newletter both times common with other spa locations Shanklin boasted of a chalybeate spring which was and it has been invaluable. Not only is it a supposed to have special medicinal qualities. It tastes revolting. very interesting read but, to someone not A spring of water issues from the ground outside of the Crab Inn and when the poet local, it is a goldmine of information. Longfellow visited the district in the early eighteen hundreds he wrote some lines in its I particularly liked the years listing of pubs praise. The a copy of the poem is still displayed in the little shrine outside of the build- serving beers from Isle of Wight breweries. ing. Your list led me He wrote:- to the Wheatsheaf in Yarmouth, the Griffin at Godshill, The Oh traveller stay thy weary feet Crab at Shanklin (where, incidentally, I found the least expen- Drink of this fountain ,pure and sweet sive pint - Goddards Special Bitter at £2.20) and the Broad- So you may deduce that he walked some way to get there and that it is not chalybeate way at Totland . I found Yates’ Wight Winter at the Solent water! Inn, Ryde and Goddards Ale of In common with most coastal pubs the Crab was kept under constant watch by the local Wight and Ventnor St Georges Ale excise squad and although legends abound there is no record of proven smuggling activ- at the Sun Inn, Calbourne. ity. The Fat Cat always seems to have a In the early part of the nineteenth cen- varied choice of ales and this year I had Hop Back GFB, tury Shanklin mushroomed into a size- Farmers Ales Hotel Porter and Hampshire Pride of able town and the coming of the rail- Romsey, which were all super. way brought even more rapid growth. My favourite two pubs were the Volunteer at Ventnor where I Standing as it does at the head of tried Ventnor Golden Bitter (my favourite light beer of the Shankin Chine the Crab Inn has pros- tour), and the Prince of Wales in Freshwater. The Prince of pered with passing trade and its pictur- Wales is blessed with a wonderful landlord and landlady, and a esque setting figures in the photographs wonderful choice of ales. I tried the of thousands of holiday makers. Yates’ Undercliff Experience which was very nice and Hamp- Rob Marshall shire Penny Black Porter which I liked very much. (Drawing by Don Vincent) I also found your article on the voting for Pub of the Year and Beer of the Year very interesting. As someone from “off Island” my votes would have gone to the Prince of Wales and as a dark ale fan, Yates Wight Winter. Finally, congratulations on being nominated to represent the Wes- sex region in the Newsletter of the Year competition. I look forward to finding “Wightwash” again on my next visit. Yours sincerely, Tony Seymour - Solihull (Tony has been added to our guest mailing list, needless to say) Wightwash News and Gossip Page Four Wightwash Pete’s Progress Page Seventeen From Tim Marshall Well, as I mentioned in my editorial, Paul Mattick is currently undergoing intensive training to become an ambulance driver on the mainland and unable to bring you News and Gossip for this issue.