{"id":3218,"date":"2022-11-30T12:27:10","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=3218"},"modified":"2022-11-30T12:27:49","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T12:27:49","slug":"fifty-years-of-the-good-beer-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2022\/11\/30\/fifty-years-of-the-good-beer-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifty years of the Good Beer Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 27 October, CAMRA\u2019s Greater London Region officially launched the Good Beer Guide for 2023, its 50th edition, at the Star Tavern in Belgravia. The Star, a Fuller\u2019s house, is one of only five pubs to have been included in all fifty editions. The event was hosted by CAMRA\u2019s Regional Director for Greater London, Geoff Strawbridge, and the guests included Paul Nunny, director of Cask Marque, Simon Emeny, the chief executive of Fuller\u2019s (pubs), and CAMRA\u2019s chief executive, Tom Stainer. Cask Marque have sponsored the 2023 edition and Mr Nunny commented, \u201cCask Marque has sponsored the Good Beer Guide for a number of years because it is important that we recognise great pubs with a CAMRA endorsement. Fifty years of actively supporting our industry is a great achievement and coincides with Cask Marque championing beer quality for 25 years!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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(L to R): Dafyyd Thomas, Simon Emeny, Paul Nunny, Tom Stainer and Geoff Strawbridge<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The 2023 edition lists 292 pubs in London, as against 115 in the somewhat smaller 1974 edition. Of the latter, 77% are still open and selling real ale and 11 appear in the 2023 edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Nunny also commented on the current situation as regards sales of cask beer, \u201ca lot of pubs are destocking, which is not a bad thing, because if they\u2019re not serious about it, the quality deteriorates and the consumer\u2019s going to be disappointed<\/em>.\u201d Tom Stainer, added, \u201cEvery pub should be offering really well-made cask beer. That\u2019s what CAMRA wants to see, and so it should be the carrot, not the stick. Get the quality of cask ale right, serve it well and people will love it. We should support pubs to do that<\/em>.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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Paul Nunny<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He added that, rather than simply call for cask to be sold at a higher price, as some brewers have, pubs should approach it as they do the wine list, with ascending price points. \u201cCask ale doesn\u2019t always have to be the cheapest beer on the bar but it should have accessible pricing, and really well-made, special beers should be priced in the same way as specialist lagers or wines<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geoff Strawbridge commented, \u201cIt\u2019s a hard time for pubs at the moment. Like many businesses, they are being hit by high fuel bills, staff shortages and business rates. Now some, such as the Compton Arms in Islington, have had the added burden of being taken to a licence review by local residents, simply for having customers who like to talk! Our nighttime economy is under threat<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the Star\u2019s constant presence in the GBG, Simon Emeny noted that the current manager, Daffyd Thomas, is only the pub\u2019s sixth manager in 25 years. Mr Emeny also commented on beer quality, \u201cPeople choose where to go and, if the cask beer is not good, they will give that pub a wide berth. We are committed to quality; we want cask beer to turn over within 2.5 days or taken off. And we continue to invest in cellar training and cellar audits. Asahi have been outstanding partners and they care about cask<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an appropriate moment to take a look back, with the aid of some analysis put together by Christine Cryne. The story of London\u2019s beer and pubs over these fifty years is a mix of celebration and sorrow. London had eight breweries listed in the 1974 edition. Only Fuller\u2019s still exist and they have undergone a major change. Those lost are:

\u2022 Charrington (Mile End); closed 1975
\u2022 Courage (Southwark); closed 1986
\u2022 Trumans (Brick Lane); closed 1989
\u2022 Watneys (Mortlake); closed 2015
\u2022 Whitbread (Islington); closed 1976
\u2022 Young\u2019s (Wandsworth); closed 2006
\u2022 Guinness (Park Royal); closed 2005<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geoff continued, \u201cLondon was late to the party but, like most of the country, we have seen a huge increase in the number of breweries over the last few years. Although we have lost eleven this last year, we have had five new breweries opening, bringing the total to 127.\u201d
Of the pubs that were in the 1974 edition but have since been lost, six were turned into accommodation (usually after being demolished), five converted to restaurants and five are now retail outlets. Of the 92 survivors from the 1974 Guide, 20% have changed their name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well as the Star, these are the pubs in London that appear in both the 1974 and 2023 editions:
\u2022 Anglesea Arms, South Kensington
\u2022 Buckingham Arms, Westminster (also in all 50 GBGs)
\u2022 Dog and Bull, Croydon
\u2022 Express Tavern, Brentford
\u2022 Golden Eagle, Marylebone
\u2022 Hand in Hand, Wimbledon Common
\u2022 Mitre, Richmond
\u2022 Oporto (now Craft Beer Co) Covent Garden
\u2022 Queens Head, Cranford
\u2022 Royal Standard, Croydon <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full address of the Star is 6 Belgrave Mews West<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To order a copy of the new Good Beer Guide, visit https:\/\/shop1.camra.org.uk\/product\/the-good-beer-guide-2023. There is also a Good Beer Guide \u2018app\u2019 available on iOs and as a web-based app<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 27 October, CAMRA\u2019s Greater London Region officially launched the Good Beer Guide for 2023, its 50th edition, at the Star Tavern in Belgravia. The Star, a Fuller\u2019s house, is… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camra-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3221,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3218\/revisions\/3221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}