Old News Items

LONDON PUBS WEEK 2009

London Pubs Week 2009 ran from Saturday 7 November - Sunday 15 November and helped promote London LocAle Pubs.
An ale trail Passport was available featuring the 36 pubs that participate in the CAMRA London Branches’ ‘LocAle’ scheme. Passport holders who drank a local cask ale in each of these pubs during the nine day period and had their Passport signed/stamped and dated by one of the bar staff were eligible for a prize.
For more details see our London Pubs Week 2009 page.

SAMBROOK’S - NEW BEER LAUNCHED

SAMBROOK’S has launched a second beer, Junction Ale to go alongside its established Wandle.

This new 4.5% ABV bitter was introduced to coincide with London Pubs Week 2009 and it is initially available in 16 selected London pubs [List].

The beer is described on the brewery website as follows:

“Named after our local railway station, Junction Ale is a strong 4.5% ABV premium ale. Brewed with Challenger, Bramling X and Goldings hops, the beer has a deep amber colour with a spicy hop character.”

For more information, including a list of pubs where Sambrook’s beer is available, see our Sambrook’s Brewery page. The brewery website can be found at www.sambrooksbrewery.co.uk.

GREATER LONDON PUB OF THE YEAR PRESENTATION

The presentation of the award for the CAMRA Greater London Regional Pub of the Year 2009 took place at the Bricklayer’s Arms in Waterman Street, Putney, SW15 1DD on Monday 5 October. It was a double celebration as it was also the landlady’s birthday.
For more details see our Greater London Pub of the Year 2009 page or www.bricklayers-arms.co.uk. See some more photos on Flickr.com

CAMPAIGNING TO LOOSEN PUBCO TIES

Three London Labour MPs - including a serving minister and an ex-minister - have had a workshop with local licensees about how pubcos affect them.
Transport Minister Sadiq Khan (Tooting), former Sports Minister Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), and Battersea MP Martin Linton were involved.
The meeting took place at the Eagle Ale House, run by Fair Pint [www.fairpint.org.uk] members Simon Clarke and Dave Law, on Wednesday 23 September between 3.30-5.30pm. (This pub was the runner-up in our Pub of the Year 2008 vote).
This MP’s Workshop was mainly aimed at licensees but anyone else was welcome to attend if they were interested in hearing what was said.
If the workshop idea is proven to be a success, similar schemes could be rolled out across the country.
See this Morning Advertiser article for a report on the meeting. [www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news.ma/article/84491].

THE URWINS’ FAREWELL TO THE PRINCESS OF WALES

In July 2009 Terry and Debbie Urwin left the Princess of Wales Morden Rd, Merton after 23½ years in charge. You can see some photos and a video of Debbie’s leaving speech on this website’s End of an Era page. In 2008 they were awarded the first SWL CAMRA award for consistent good service.

BANK HOLIDAY CRAWL OF FULHAM & PUTNEY

On Monday 28 December 2009 we had a joint crawl of Fulham & Putney with West London CAMRA branch.
15.30 Golden Lion, 57 Fulham High Street, SW6 3JJ;
16.15 Temperance, 90 Fulham High Street, SW6 3LF;
17.00 Duke’s Head, 8 Lower Richmond Rd, SW15 1JN;
18.00 Half Moon, *Closure averted* 93 Lower Richmond Rd, SW15 1EU;
19.00 Bricklayer’s Arms, 32 Waterman Street, SW15 1DD;
20.30 Green Man, Wildcroft Road, Putney Heath, SW15 3NG;
22.00 Railway, 202 Upper Richmond Road, SW15 6TD (opposite Putney station).
See our Diary Pages for other branch events.

LONDON PUBS GROUP CRAWL OF BOW & DOCKLANDS

On Saturday 24 October 2009 there was a London Pubs Group daytime crawl of Bow and Docklands. This started at:
12.00 Coborn Arms, 8 Coborn Road, Bow, E3 2DA; then to include
12.30 Morgan Arms, 43 Morgan Street, Bow, E3;
14.00 Palm Tree, 129 Grove Road, Bow, E3;
15.15 Little Driver, 125 Bow Road, Bow, E3;
16.15 Widow's Son, 75 Devons Road, Bow, E3;
17.30 George, Glengall Grove, Isle of Dogs, E14;
18.30 Star of the East, 805a Commercial Road, Limehouse, E14;
19.15 Grapes, 76 Narrow Street, Limehouse, E14.
[www.camranorthlondon.org.uk/londonpubsgroup/events.html].

OCTOBER GUIDED ALE TRAIL - PEAK DISTRICT

The author of CAMRA’s Peak District Pub Walks, Bob Steel, organised a aletrails.com Autumn Break based at Hartington in the Peak District.
This was from Monday 5 - Thursday 8 October 2009 with three nights’ Half Board at the Charles Cotton Hotel.

CAMRA CELEBRATES 100,000 MEMBERS

CAMRA has announced for the first time in their 38 year history that they have 100,000 members signed up to the organisation.
Mike Benner, CAMRA Chief Executive, said:
‘We are overjoyed at reaching 100,000 members, brought together by our passion for great British beer and community pubs. But while we may relax and raise a glass or two to celebrate at the opening of the Great British Beer Festival today, we are not complacent and tomorrow the hard work campaigning for drinkers’ rights will continue.’
See the main CAMRA website for full details [www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=306084].

RUDGATE RUBY MILD IS CHAMPION BEER OF BRITAIN

The Champion Beer of Britain 2009 is Rudgate’s Ruby Mild (4.4% ABV) from the Rudgate Brewery in Tockwith, near York.
Chairman of the judging panel, Roger Protz, made the announcement on Tuesday 4 August 2009 at the Great British Beer Festival.
This photo shows Rudgate’s brewery director Craig Lee (right) and Head Brewer James Allen (left) with the trophy. An elated Craig Lee said:
‘It’s an excellent achievement, we’ve come close in previous years, and we are really proud to have won the Champion Beer of Britain. It’s unbelievable, and we hope our beer helps popularise the cause of real ale.’
Overall second place went to the 2009 Winter Beer Champion, Oakham’s 7.5% ABV Attila (Peterborough, Cambridgeshire) and in third place was West Berkshire’s 5.0% ABV Dr Hexter’s Healer (Thatcham, Berkshire).
See the main CAMRA website for the full results [www.camra.org.uk/article.aspx?o=306417].

AXE THE BEER TAX - SAVE THE PUB

November 2008 saw the launch of a campaign to Save the Pub and oppose plans to further increase beer tax. Unfortunately the Chancellor increased beer duty yet again in the budget of 22 April 2009 having already increased it by 9% in March 2008 and by a further 8% on 24 November 2008. With tax already taking up a third of the price of a pint of beer, further hikes can only accelerate the decline of the pub.
This campaign aims to give a voice to ordinary British pub-goers and consumers, and send a strong message to Whitehall and Westminster that we’ve had enough.
See the main CAMRA website for more details, then please sign up as a supporter of the campaign at www.axethebeertax.com. Over 60,000 have already joined the Facebook group.

THREE OF OUR LOCAL PUB GUIDES ARE NOW ONLINE

The Third of our local pub guides, Down the River - a guide to the pubs of Wandsworth and Battersea which was originally published in 2008, is now available on-line on this website. It joins the first two guides, Through the Gateway to the South, which was originally published in 2006, and Across the Commons, which was published in 2007.

This new addition means we now have UPDATED on-line pub lists available for SW11(in 2 parts), SW12, SW13, SW15, SW17, SW18(in 2 parts), SW19(in 2 parts), SW20 and SM4.

See the Local Pub Guides Page for full details or simply use the Pubs drop down menu at the top of any page for direct links to the on-line pubs lists.

NEW LOCAL PUB GUIDE - THE CLAPHAM OMNIBUS

The fourth of our proposed five local pub guides, THE CLAPHAM OMNIBUS - a guide to the pubs in and around Clapham and South Lambeth, was launched at the Battersea Beer Festival. It is available, priced at a very reasonable £2.00, from the CAMRA shop. See our Local Pub Guides page for full details.

LONDON PUBS GROUP CRAWL

There was a London Pubs Group daytime crawl of Wood Green, Hornsey, Crouch End, Finsbury Park and Harringay on Saturday 20 June 2009. [Details].

50 MOST INFLUENTIAL PUB PEOPLE

Pub industry daily The Morning Advertiser has published its annual list of the 50 most influential people in the drinks business.
Tim Martin of Wetherspoon’s is top of the list for 2009. CAMRA’s chief executive, Mike Benner - pictured left, is listed as 29th most influential. See the [Full list] Full list on the Morning Advertiser website.

EBCU MANIFESTO 2009-2014

Prior to the European Parliamentary Elections on 4 June 2009, the European Beer Consumers Union (EBCU) published a manifesto setting out what the beer drinker should want from the EU.
All candidates and parties contesting the elections were sent copies of the manifesto as were the usual media outlets. Read more on the EBCU website.

BEER SALES DOWN 8.2%

UK beer sales dropped by 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same quarter in 2008, according to the latest UK Quarterly Beer Barometer, published by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). This is by far the highest first quarter fall since 1997, and comes just after the Chancellor announced yet another increase in Beer Tax in the Budget.
See more on the main CAMRA website.

BATTERSEA BEER FESTIVAL - RECORD ATTENDANCE

A record 5,014 attended the 19th BATTERSEA BEER FESTIVAL at the Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill from Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 February 2009 which was an unprecedented success. [Full details].
To see some photos of the Festival on Flickr.com, or to upload your own photos to the group if you have any that are suitable, please go to www.flickr.com/groups/batterseabeerfestival.

CONSISTENT GOOD SERVICE AWARD

Terry and Debbie Urwin at the The Princess of Wales Morden Rd, South Wimbledon have recently been awarded the first SWL CAMRA award for consistent good service. They were presented with their certificate on 22 October 2008 by branch chairman, Martin Butler, who lives nearby and is a regular at the pub. See photo to the right or click for more details and pictures.

ASCOT ALES “MEET THE BREWER” EVENING

The Brewery Tap in Wimbledon Village hosted another of their “Meet the Brewer” evenings on Tuesday 14 October 2008. The featured brewer this time was Ascot Ales from Camberley. See photo to the right or click for more details and pictures.

LONDON REGIONAL PUB OF THE YEAR PRESENTATION

The Greater London Pub of the Year 2008 Presentation to the Trafalgar in Merton/South Wimbledon, our branch’s Pub of the Year 2007, took place on Thursday 2 October - see photo to the right. CAMRA’s Regional Director for London, Steve Williams - click to read his blog, was on hand along with the local dignitaries. The Pub featured on the cover of the October/November 2008 edition of the London Drinker Magazine.

FERGAL O’HANLON LEAVES THE TRINITY ARMS

Fergal O’Hanlon was presented with a certificate of honour on Wednesday 24 September 2008, the evening before his return to Ireland after twelve years in charge at the Trinity Arms in Brixton. The Trinity Arms was our branch Pub of the Year for 2004. You can see the certificate in the column to the right.

BREWERIES AND BREWERS

Besides July 2008’s visit to the Marble Brewery in Manchester to present the Beer of the Festival Award from Battersea (Click to see photos), we plan to advertise arranged visits over the coming months to Hook Norton, Wells & Young’s and Bateman’s breweries. Check the Branch Diary for details.
Some of our local pubs are now often featuring several beers from the same small brewery over a short period. Earlier this year we met the managing director of Westerham Brewery in Kent at the Moon under Water, Norbury. In June, the Bricklayer’s Arms in Putney hosted a presentation with free samples from the Purity Brewery in Warwickshire.
On Tuesday 19 August we enjoyed an evening with the Downton head brewer, Martin Strawbridge, at the Brewery Tap in Wimbledon Village. He was very erudite about his brewing and the fairly large number of people who attended were impressed by his easy-going manner and his straightforward answering in the Q & A session. Three Downton beers were available on draught, along with two in bottled form.

GREAT BRITISH BEER FESTIVAL 2008

The Great British Beer Festival 2008 took place from Tuesday 5 to Saturday 9 August at Earl’s Court. As with all CAMRA festivals, it relied on volunteers - lots of them! With some 59,000 admissions over the five days, around 1,000 volunteers helped to fill glasses and satisfy customers. This year SWL CAMRA’s own Bobbie Scully managed the North East Bar and welcomed many of our members at ‘Bar P7’ for a Branch Social on the evening of Wednesday 6 August. See the Branch Diary for details.
The Champion Beer of Britain was Alton’s Pride fom the Triple fff brewery in Hampshire - see presentation photo in the column to the right..

LONDON REGIONAL PUB OF THE YEAR 2008

The Trafalgar in Merton/South Wimbledon, our branch’s current Pub of the Year, has been named as CAMRA’s Pub of the Year for the whole Greater London Region.

SW LONDON PUB OF THE YEAR 2007

The SW London Branch Pub of the Year for 2007 was announced at the Battersea Beer Festival on Thursday 7th February 2008. The winning pub was the Trafalgar in Merton. (Full Result)

COMMUNITY PUBS WEEK

CAMRA has recently launched an Adopt a Pub scheme for Community Pubs Week and is also asking for a CAMRA Volunteer Pub Ambassador to maintain contact with one or more pubs. If you do decide to sign up for one of these schemes please inform Martin Butler so we can co-ordinate our efforts.