No. 137 May-July 2006 FREE May is Why not try a pint today? Mild See page 2 for Month more information Great British Beer Festival Aug. 1st-5th See page 13 for details In this issue: 2 May is Mild Month • 4 Steady Pints • 6 Young Members’ Meeting • 8 Round The Houses • 10 Charity Cycle Ride • 13 GBBF • 14 Branch Beer and pub awards • 16 CAMRA snippets • 20 On the trail of Real Ale in California • 23 Gales Brewery closes • 24 Letters • 28 Music and Real Ale • 24 A jug in the snug with a fug • 30 Peter Webb retires • 32 Music and Real Ale • 34 Branch Diary Email:Newsletter [email protected] of the Norwich & Norfolk Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale 1 Try a pint of Mild this May May is Mild Month and the Campaign for Real Ale Norfolk is well served by (CAMRA) is asking licensees and breweries to join our local brewers, who the celebrations by stocking this fantastic beer provide a range of milds, style and encouraging customers to try it. most prominently Woodforde’s Mardlers and Mild is a beer that is less Elgood’s Black Dog, plus hopped and usually of a several from the smaller lower alcohol content than breweries that you may be many other styles. It gets lucky enough to find (but much of its flavour from they might not be labelled malts or roasted barley and “Mild” on the pump clip, so has long been regarded as you may need to ask the a refreshing ale. bar staff if they have a mild Best time available). Tracy Saunders, chair of Promotional pack CAMRA’s Light and Dark A listing of these To order a mild month Supporters Group, which activities will be available promotional pack, which is campaigns specifically for on the CAMRA website. available from CAMRA HQ Britain’s endangered beer Tracy continued: “Last free of charge, call 01727 styles, said: “Some milds year we conducted 867201 or place your are brewed seasonally and research that revealed order online at so the best time to find there are more varieties of www.camra.org.uk/mild them is in May. We are mild being brewed than asking licensees to stock at Each pack contains: ever before. However we leaflets about mild; “empty least one mild during the believe that few breweries month of May and take belly” posters for licensees do enough to promote it. to display which milds to advantage of the free We urge them to get on packs from CAMRA that try; promotional advice board and do all they can sheets; Press Release can be used to promote to put Mild back on the it.” templates; ideas for mild map.” themed events. The focus of Mild Month promotional activities will Over 150 Milds be Saturday 6th May, CAMRA research in 2005 which CAMRA labels found that “National Mild Day”. there are 154 regularly Focus events available This is when local milds and 20 CAMRA branches will seasonal undertake campaigning brews activities at a local level, currently organising events such as available in mild trails, mild tastings the UK. and other mild focused events. 2 Web: www.norwichcamra.org.uk Email: [email protected] 3 Steady Pints Pub news converted into flats. Ex-Servicemen’s Club, on ● Landlord Richard Gibbs Current landlord James Friarscroft Lane, on April and his wife Angie, of the Lunn says it is unviable as a 28th to May 1st. It’s open Three Pigs, at Edgefield, public house and is Fri. 5.30-11 p.m.; Sat. 11 were the subject of an resubmitting revised plans a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. noon- armed raid just after for five flats on the site. 10.30; Mon. noon-3.30 midnight on March 24th, ● Billingford Forge, which p.m. Admission £2.50 incl. when robbers with a has been closed for some refundable festival glass. shotgun and bayonet burst months, will be converted ● The Mattishall Beer in to the bar. They stole a for residential use Festival is on July 30th. necklace before fleeing following approval by See the advertisement in and it is thought they were Breckland District Council page 12. targeting the pub’s cash of a planning application ● The Rosary Tavern, machine, which was for change of use. Norwich, is holding a beer empty. Contact Norfolk ● The Mill Tavern, festival on May 27th to Police on 0845 456 4567 if Norwich, is also likely to be 29th. you have any useful converted into flats, ● The Rose, Queens Road, information. following approval of Norwich, will be holding ● The George & Dragon, change of use by Norwich its Summerfest from July Thurton, has been bought City Council, despite 7th to 16th. by the owners of the protests from Norwich & ● The Deepdale Food & Railway, Wymondham, and Norfolk CAMRA that this Drink Festival is on June will be developed in the would lead to the loss of a 10th and 11th. local amenity. same vain. It will be closed Lifeboat Open Days for a short time for ‘Pub’ beer festivals refurbishment. July 23rd, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. ● The 2006 Wells RNLI Lifeboat. ● The Railway Tavern, at Wymondham Beer Reedham, looks set to be Aug. 6th. Caister Festival is being held at Volunteer Lifeboat. the Wymondham & District CAMRA Beer Festival Diary May 22nd-27th (Mon.-Sat.). 33rd Cambridge Beer Festival. Jesus Green, Cambridge. Open Mon. 5-10.30 p.m., Tue.-Fri. 11 a.m.-3 p.m., 5-10.30 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.- 11.30 p.m. www.cambridgebeerfestival.com. May 23rd-27th (Tue.-Sat.). 21st Colchester Real Ale & Cider Festival. Colchester Arts Centre, Colchester. Open Tue. 6-11 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. noon-11 p.m. www.colchestercamra.org.uk. June 29th-July 2nd (Thu.-Sun.). 10th Festival of Beer & Brewing. Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket. Open Thu. 6-11 p.m.; Fri. noon-11 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sun. noon-3 p.m. Tel. 01449 612229 for more info. Aug. 1st-5th (Tue.-Sat.). Great British Beer Festival. Earls Court, London. Open Tue. 5-10.30 p.m.; Wed.-Fri. noon-10.30 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. See page 13 for more information. www.gbbf.org.uk. 4 Web: www.norwichcamra.org.uk Email: [email protected] 5 Young Members’ Meeting On Saturday April 1st there was no fooling around shopping trolleys, some of when the National Young Members’ Group came to the group managed to Norwich for a meeting and pub crawl, and were break away and head away joined by local young members and some who from the pub, but unlike were younger minded but not so young bodied. shopping trolleys they didn’t end up in the river, We started with a CAMRA branch’s Pub of but made it to the Shed meeting at the Rosary the Year. and the Duke of Tavern, and over several This pub caused Wellington. beers we talked about the problems for some of the The Shed was a important role of young visiting members – there’s compulsory pub to visit, members, and how to too many beers to choose being the Fat Cat’s sister make CAMRA more from, especially if you pub and home of accessible for people come from an area where Norwich’s newest micro- under 30 (ish). a good real ale pub is one brewery. We moved on to the with more than two beers! Its wide selection of Coach & Horses for a bit to Large choice quality ales makes it eat, and to give young worthy of the Fat cat name members from across the The large choice of local and it’s unique interior is country the chance to visit brews meant that several another reason to make it Norwich’s oldest brew- had to be sampled to worth the walk, as is its pub. make an informed choice, which led on to an brilliant pub sign. Then up the hill (“what interesting challenge: see The Duke of Wellington hill??!!” said those who had if the locals can guess the caused another quandary crossed the Pennines to beer just from having a sip. with its large selection of get here) to the Ketts beer. However certain Tavern, where a few Tom, you are qualified to male members of our people had a go at beer grow a beard and expand group were debating the tasting, using Norfolk’s the beer belly! qualities of the female bar tasting cards. Shopping trolleys are staff long after the beer Others decided this was built with a mechanism to was finished. far too technical, and stop the wheels from simply enjoyed the beer turning if a customer tries Wanderers returned to take the trolley out of and conversation. Finally Jon and Roland’s the car park. Sunshine on the patio supermarket shoes kicked Jon and Roland, of the in and the wanderers The next stop was the King’s Head, seem to have returned to the King’s Wig & Pen, where we been installing these Head, where Norwich enjoyed a bit of sunshine devices on to their young members were on the patio, tried more customers’ shoes. Once found enjoying a free pint beers, and reminisced the you get in there, it can be kindly provided by the good times we’d had at very hard to leave. branch. beer festivals. In most big towns and Thanks to the Rosary for “So many pubs, so little cities you will find some providing a meeting room time” is a good phrase to shopping trolleys have and to all the pubs we use when visiting Norwich, dysfunctional anti-theft visited during the day for so we pressed on to the devices, and they will their hospitality.