f \ " ': ",,- c ,- (- I'"" 'f I'\"~ ,I f:~:, FREE The Newsletter of the D~al D~ver Sand~ich & District ~,,' EASE TAKE A,C;OPY , branch of the Campaign ,fpr, fi!al Ale Coa~!gBt~!P 'I JMWJ~!JWrd.a>.uk Between the bottom of the hili and the deep bltJe sea In a location reno,J';ed across Kent for its beauty, The Coastguard, Britain's nearest pub to France, Issue 28 lives up to its reputation for excellent food and Summer.. 2006 drink served with a pleasing inforrnalirv, the ideal location to relax and drink in the views out to sea. ' I INSIDE fiRE DESTROYS (;.\ DD'S of Rarnsgate and II()PD.i\El\l():\I feature :~ PUB rcuularlv alonoside other award winninu PROFILE: THE BELL, " , ('1 b ,~~ Cask /\ lcs from further a fidJ, ,..,~ '" The Royal SHEPHERDSWELL 't\ Iicrobrcwcries are our preference t~~) (;,1Nl!"~ Oa k See local News, Page 4 Kc:c.:pmg our reputat lon ill! exccllcru Cask Nonnington ales and .\\\,fI['d "winning fresh [(H)d Page 42 complimcru ing Kcnrish i\loL:S " Blokes, Award winning Cheese boards to compliment beer as well as wine Dover . ,,,, <- .:! I St. Margaret's Bay. -::'- is Branch 01304 853176 - -'> \ Pub of the .' ... "~,,\\T.thecoas tguard.co.ok Year See Page 28 Printed at Adams the Printers, Dover I .,~ I' \ I ~'>' "() L< ~ ( '-' , < a::=3<:) Channel Draught I is the Newsletter of ISSUE 28 r I CONTENTS I the Deal Dover Sandwich & Summer 2006 3 Events diary 36 Beer Festivals Round-up District Branch of ) \ 4 Local News 42 Pub Proflle » The Royal the' Campaign for I Real Ale. 14 Great British Beer Oak, Nonnington .:::< Welcome to Channel Draught for Summer 2006. Festival 2006 44 A good dose of the Editorial Team Beer festivals and changes of landlords feature prominently 15 National News Cheshire Ring, with The Editbr~ in this issue. We know of at least five local pub beer festi- vals over the forthcoming weeks, plus of course also two 20 Kent Small Brewery News Beery Boaters Advenisinq CAMRA events, the Kent Beer Festival and the Great British 23 Cider Matters 50 Beerword M~11inAtkins Beer Festival - see Events Diary opposite; while at least Editorial Assistants half a dozen pubs are enjoying new owners or manage- 27 Summer Ales 51 Smoking ban latest Anne Mcllroy ment. We also have reports on three earlier festivals this 28 Pub of the Year 2006, 52 Last Knockings Trish Wells year, including a much delayed article on February's White Cliffs Festival. Forthcoming branch events include a bat and Blakes, Dover 55 Local Information Design & Format trag evening at the Crown, Finglesham on Tuesday August 30 Channel View _ 57 CAMRA Info Steve Bell 29 and an evening coach trip around several of our more outlying pubs in October > date yet to be set. 32 Memoirs of a Beer 58 Advertisers Index Editorial Address Festival groupie 58 And Finally . Top Local News story is the disastrous fire at the Bell, You can write to the Shepherdswell which left the pub with not much more than , Editor cto just four walls standing, while the rest of our local roundup -2, Eastbrook Place, provides details of what's been happening elsewhere to the I EVENTS DIARY I Dover CT16 1RP area's pubs, and which ales people have been drinking. As Friday 28th & Hare & Hounds, Northbourne - beer, cider, ./ E-Mail it's summertime our roving beer and brewery expert, Roger Saturday 29th July live music, Sat BBQ (01304365429)" _ #[email protected] Marples, writes about summer ale, as well as describing a Saturday 29th & Red Lion, Stodmarsh - beer, live music, sea [email protected] visit to the Royal Oak, Nonington and providing his regularly advertisng@Channeldraught Sunday 30th July shanties (01227721339)" .org.uk quarterly report on the local micros. Nationally the main items of interest are the latest episodes in the current resur- Tuesday 1st to GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL, Earl's Court, Channel Draught gence of mergers and takeovers in the brewing industry - Saturday 4th August London is Published and our two largest regional brewers seemingly intent on gob- Sunday 5th August The Bull, Eastry - 'Bullstock', live music, beer and ©2006 by the bling up as many of their competitors as they can get away BBQ." Deal Dover with, which at the moment appears to be just about anybody Sandwich & District and everybody. Monday 21st August The Berry, Canada Road, Walmer - Branch Meeting Branch of the Saturday 26th & Three Horseshoes, Great Mongeham - selection Also in this edition Jim Green reports on the latest adven- Campaign for Real Sunday 27th August of ales, Sunday live music & side shows" tures of the Beery Boaters in northwest England, and we Ale. start a new feature - for us that is - a crossword, courtesy Friday 25th, Saturday 26th, Crown Inn, Finglesham - beer, cider, pig roast, Please note that of Trish Wells. Finally, congratulations to Blakes for being Sunday 27th & Monday 28th live music, etc (01304 612555)" views expressed chosen as Pub of the Year, a second win for Peter and August herein are not Katheryn following their success two years ago at the Yew necessarily those of Monday 19th September Coastguard, St. Margaret's Bay - Branch Meeting. Tree, Barfrestone. We wish them well for the future. this branch or Branch Meetings start at 7.30pm CAMRA Ltd. atJ1dm The branch normally meets on the third Monday of each month. Please drink Ma!tlin [Eduo«) If you are interested in joining CAMRA please come along to one of our meetings! sensibly! Events marked" are not organised by CAMRA ) Page 2 Page 3 HEATHER & CHARLlE The Local News welcome you to Contributors - Martin Atkins, Anne Mcilroy, Roger Marples, John Pitcher, TonyWells, etc. and Jays. The latter has retained its Lbe EAST KENT PUBS keg only policy, while the real ale situa- DAMAGED BY FIRE tion at the Kingfisher is unknown. Two local pubs have been seriously Park Inn, Park Place: For the present, damaged by fire in recent weeks. The the pub is sticking with just three real NeaJ 250-year-old Bell Inn, on The Green at ales - Greene King IPA, Courage Best Shepherdswell, was severely damaged and Shepherd Neame Spitfire. Your st late Wednesday evening June 21 . correspondent cannot speak for the The fire broke out at around 10.00 pm first two but the Spitfire (sorry Roger) is and rapidly engulfed the whole build- always excellent, and one Saturday LRee ing. Fortunately no one was injured, evening back in May, enjoyed a superb but by next morning there was not steak accompanied by a deliciously much more than just the walls remain- soft Chilean red wine. Bau+~eSLOr.le ing. We understand, however, that White Horse, St James Street: Timo- Four Real Ales plus Mild these are fairly sound and there is thy Taylor's Landlord and Ringwood much optimism that the pub will be Fortyniner are more or less regular 3 from local microbrewers rebuilt: local opinion has it being open features. Recent interesting guests again in nine or ten months. Mean- have included Hop Back Odyssey, and 2 from microbrewers from other areas while Shepherdswell has just one pub Dark Star Original and Sunburst, and remaining, Shepherd Neame's Brick- Breconshire Ramblers Ruin. A very 3 Real Ciders makers Arms at the junction of Coxhill popular quiz, normally set by the pub . Good home-cooked pub food and Westcourt Lane. The other fire regulars themselves, takes place on Fresh Fish always available was at the Red Lion, Bridge, in May. the first Sunday evening of every Having been closed for refurbishment month. Good Vegetarian selection for several months, it suffered substan- tial fire damage, as it was about to re- Castle, Russell Street: At the time of Food from 12pm to 3pm & 7pm to 9pm open as a pub and restaurant. It's cur- writing the pub is closed, we believe Wednesday to Saturday rently still closed with scaffolding awaiting a new landlord. However the around it. resurrection of real ale late last year Sunday Lunch only £5.50. Cooked fresh the same day. has proved short lived. The pumps Booking advised DOVER were removed and presumably all beer LIVE FOLK MUSIC EVERYTHURSDAY NIGHT Surprising news, perhaps, at this time is keg only. No doubt demand was of pub closures - the town has just limited and certainly whenever this join the Afternoon Club and get up to SOp off your pint- gained two new pubs: the Kingfisher correspondent looked through the door and the Funky Monkey. However, there appeared to be nothing on. Monday to Friday Jpm to 7pm they are new in name only, and are Eagle, London Road: By contrast, the OPEN 12.00 - 11.00 MON. TO SAT. respectively the former Cherry Tree, Eagle is staying with real ale. In late following purchase by Punch Taverns May the choice was Greene King IPA, 12.00 - 10.30 SUNDAY and several months of refurbishment, Fuller's Discovery and St George's Telephone 01304831619 www.barfrestone.com Page 4 Page 5 Imperial Bitter. Regular live music. declared by one of the branch's stern- est critics of real ale to be about the Blake's, Castle Street: Voted branch VVHITE best he had ever tasted. As usual Pub of the Year 2006, the presentation plenty of music at the pub with some of the award took place on June HORSE zs" special treats late July and August - and was well attended by real ale en- see advert. thusiasts from all over east Kent (see DOVER separate report). Particularly notable DEAL EST. 1365 recently have been excellent barrels of Titanic Captain Smith's, Skinner's Three Horseshoes, Gt.