Awards

Of course the pandemic and its effects played havoc with the CAMRA awards system, with many either being cancelled or having to wait a long time for presentation. Just over a year ago (27th September 2020), the Goat at Frognall received a well-deserved Gold Award and a Real Ale Heroes certificate. The pub was proposed for the awards by regular Terry Alexander and presented by Mark Smith, who are pictured with landlord Richard Barrett.

Charters, by Peterborough’s Town Bridge, was the deserving 2020 Cider Pub of the Year and our photo shows Warren Allett receiving the award from Kirsten England on 17th September 2020.

More recently, the Ploughman in Werrington was honoured with a Gold Award for appearing in the Good Beer Guide for ten (count ‘em) consecutive years, a notable achievement in challenging times for the industry – and don’t forget that the Ploughman has had its own obstacles to overcome. Andy Simmonds is pictured receiving the award from Mike Lane.

In September, there was another double presentation at the Wonky Donkey in Fletton High Street. The micro won LocAle Pub of the Year for 2021 and was also accorded a Gold Award for “creating a new, charitysupporting community pub with excellent real ales and ciders”. Say no more! It was also Pirate Night; Dave and Andy Williams are seen receiving the awards from Matt Mace, whose words were almost drowned out by shouts of “Aaaaarrrrrrr!” and “Ye scurvy dogs!” from various villainous-looking buccaneers (including regular Jim Atkinson, who proposed the pub for the Gold), while the risk of decapitation by Dickie Bird’s outsize tricorn hat was a constant worry………..

Al

Wonky Donkey in Fletton High Street

Ploughman in Werrington

Charters, by Peterborough’s Town Bridge

Goat at Frognall

QUARTS AND THOUGHTS

This Q’s and T’s will, of necessity I’m afraid, be a bit of a mishmash! I’ve lost track of when exactly I went to some of the pubs that follow, but hope that they are all still with us and that my experiences in them still hold good………

Just outside our Branch area, in Empingham, I attended the Cricket Club’s rugby-related Beer Festival. The ales offered by Russ Hibbitt and his staff never fail to include half a dozen that I have never heard of – and this was no exception! My pints – for once I wasn’t driving – were Grey Trees Caradog (3.9%) from Aberdare, Neepsend Haliphron (4.5%) from Sheffield and Old Sawley Plummeth The Hour (4.5%) from Long Eaton. I was also treated to a number of tasters before I committed the heinous crime of sitting in the chair (nearest the bar) reserved for Chairman John Hibbitt! And - worse – he was about to occupy it prior to a crib match. Not so many years ago I’d have been justifiably marched to the village stocks…..

In BAE 212 – it seems, and indeed is, a long time ago – I mentioned a visit to Ilkeston, where I was unable to visit either the Burnt Pig or the Dewdrop. I was able to spend time in both in the ensuing weeks and in the former (the Bont Pig if you’re a local) I enjoyed Dark Star Pale Ale, Dorking Black Noise, C.O.B. Ordinary Bitter and Neepsend Demeter (6.0%). The enthusiastic landlord (who was familiar with Peterborough, Stamford and Oakham pubs) insisted that I sample a house speciality – battered chips! The pub also sells Belgian and German “strongies” plus pork pies, pasties, sausage rolls, cheeses and the like.

You had to feel sorry for the licensees in the Dewdrop. They only took the pub on about six weeks before the first lockdown and had just begun to build up trade when – well, you know the rest. However, on my visit in August, ales from Oakham (including Green Devil, which has been on every time I have been in), Horbury, Dancing Duck, Acorn and Blue Monkey were on offer in a house where the Erewash Valley Branch of CAMRA was formed in 1996.

In Redcar, Cleveland, I was horrified by the lack of masks/ social distancing/sanitiser in the Plimsoll Line. The town, following the closure a few years ago of the steelworks, is, these days, as grim as a factory wall – if you’ll pardon the analogy – but I discovered a beacon of light in Rita’s Pantry, a micropub in a former amusement arcade. Two ales on – Swoon from the Revolutions Brewing Co. and Durham Brewery Two Wise Monkeys. Amusement followed a few days later when a work colleague misheard my reminiscences and thought I’d been “in Rita’s panties” in Redcar…..

Spent a weekend in Hayfield, Derbyshire (birthplace of Arthur Lowe!), in August as restrictions were all-too-briefly lifted. Our hotel (the George) was a Marston’s establishment – so expectations were limited – but we were to discover the value of having a seriously good cellarman. Pedigree, Forty Niner, Hobgoblin Gold and even Banks’s Bitter were a tribute to him!

Also in the village was the Pack Horse, where pints of Taylor’s Boltmaker were sunk before we headed to the nearby Royal, where we dined on the second evening. Available ales here included Wincle Brewery’s Lord Lucan, an ale that’s “bound to disappear” apparently. And disappear it did – from my list of “Ales To Drink Again”.

Whilst in the area, we called in at Redwillow Buxton, an outlet for the Redwillow Brewery of Macclesfield and situated in a former bank. Our pints and halves of Breakfast Stout were mouthwateringly moreish.

Spent an evening in Thirsk recently and will probably visit again, bearing in mind the fact that almost every other building seems to be either a drinking or eating establishment. A highlight was my excellent pint of Brew York’s Jarsa at the Little 3 Real Ale Bar and Kitchen.

At the end of the first lockdown I ventured into one of my regular Manchester haunts, the Old Cross in Radcliffe. Sadly the news about masks and sanitiser didn’t seem to have got through; I ordered a pint of Holt’s Bitter and fled into the garden – where evidence of occupation by a large dog with very loose bowels saw me make an even sharper exit…..