As much as we will have been glad to see pubs reopening, one of the problems that they may have faced and may still be facing, is to obtain a good choice of beers and cider from local, independent and small breweries and cider producers. This particularly would have affected those publicans who are tenants and are restricted in what they can sell by the ‘tied house’ system. This means that they are prohibited from selling some products which they know their customers want to drink and that if they were able to stock them, it would attract customers at this difficult time. It would also help small and independent breweries and cider producers to rebuild their businesses.
Consequently, CAMRA launched its Cheers to Choice campaign which included a petition aimed at pub company bosses, asking them to stock local and independent brews in their pubs. This will continue to be important for some time to come yet.
We, the undersigned, a collection of pub goers, beer and cider drinkers from across Great Britain:
• Stand ready to support our pubs when they can reopen
• Are concerned for the survival of hundreds of our small and independent brewers and cider makers
• Want to see local and independent brands when we can get back to the bar
• Urge all pub companies to give tenants the option to stock local and independent beers and ciders to help these producers, and make sure that pub offerings are as attractive to punters as possible.
CAMRA PODCASTS
CAMRA’s podcasts ‘Pubs. Pints. People.’ are continuing. There is a new one every Tuesday, covering a specific topic from the world of beer, cider and pubs. Each episode includes a visit to the archives of CAMRA’s monthly newspaper, What’s Brewing, covering the 50 years of CAMRA’s history, along with a beer and food recipe, courtesy of food editor Sue Nowak. Previous episodes have covered such topics as ecobrewing and home brewing and all are still available. You can find the podcasts at https://camra.org.uk/podcast or your usual podcast provider.
THE EALING BEER FESTIVAL THAT WASN’T
Wednesday 8 July would, in happier times, have been the opening day of Ealing Beer Festival. A number of those involved decided to mark the occasion by gathering under the big tree in Walpole Park. The bring-your-own beer supply was augmented by 18 pints of Market Porter, kindly donated by Rob Jenkins of Portobello Brewing.
Llyr also produced some mead. Spare a thought for Llyr and Tracey; they were meant to step up to deputy manager roles this year and had secured bar manager training at the Great British Beer Festival, which, of course, has also been cancelled.
BEER FESTIVAL UPDATES
As we finalise this edition, all CAMRA meetings and events are cancelled until 18 September. Consequently, the following beer festivals will not take place:
- Twickenham (end of October)
- St Albans (23 to 26 September))
- Woking (13 to 14 November)
No final decision has yet been taken on Pig’s Ear (1 to 5 December).
NATIONAL VOLUNTEERS’ WEEK
Volunteers’ Week is recognised by voluntary and not-for-profit organisations across the UK. This year it started on 1 June and Abigail Newton, CAMRA’s National Vice-chairman, issued this message, “I want to say a huge thank you to every CAMRA volunteer who’s contributed to our successful campaigns, festivals, events and more since Volunteers’ Week last year. These last four months have been particularly hard for everyone, but the help you continue to give to the Campaign really means so much. We know that many people have been isolating, missing social interactions with family, friends and fellow CAMRA members. But thanks to our amazing volunteers we’ve kept in touch online and continue to work hard to support our pubs and breweries. You’ve helped keep the CAMRAderie alive in these difficult times.”
Tony Hedger