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Sussex Drinker Issue 12
We were going to use this page to give details of the cuts to beer duty in the recent Budget. But the Chancellor put duty up by a penny instead — despite the Treasury's own study showing that a cut would pay for itself in increased sales. We were going to tell you how many pubs and small brewers would have been saved by that lifeline. THANKS FOR NOTHING! (and we'll see how many more go to the wall before the next Budget)
King & Barnes Following speculation about the future of Bass's classic Worthington White Shield, it has been announced that King & Barnes are to brew and market it, with Bass continuing to offer it to its own customers. Bass had announced last December that it was to cease brewing White Shield, but the news that the beer was to be saved only came in late February, after many letters of protest from CAMRA members and other beer drinkers. Superpub Update The Caffyns site at Burgess Hill will not now be a pub, following the rejection of a planning appeal by developers Lanesdawn. The planning inspector believed that a pub that could accommodate up to 300 people would cause a high level of noise at closing time in both Station Road and the public car park near Wolstonbury Court. He also added that noise would be likely to escape from the premises in summer when the windows were open, but was not convinced that the plan would increase crime, nor that it would cause any justifiable increase in the fear of crime. The Caffyns site was believed to be earmarked for Wetherspoons, who have been quite busy in the area lately, with their Horsham pub, the Lynd Cross, due to open on March 24, and their Village Inn at Gatwick Airport (South Terminal) on April 7. Further in the future, the Dolphin and Anchor in Chichester is planned for November 24; obviously, these dates may change. The Astoria site in Brighton, recently the Gala bingo club, will be turned into a superpub and live music venue, following a close vote of the council's planning committee; Councillor Jeanne Lepper, who was chairing the committee, had to use her casting vote. Over forty letters of protest were received by the council, who imposed ten separate conditions on the application, with the aim of minimising nuisance to neighbours. Bass Taverns are also expected to close off the first-floor balcony in order to prevent people from throwing things from above. The Debenhams store in Western Road, which will become empty when the store moves to the new-look Churchill Square later this year, is not to have a four-floor café-bar. The council's planning committee has imposed a condition stating that the basement, ground, and first floors must all be kept as separate units. The application to turn Pinnochio's into a Slug and Lettuce has been resubmitted; we're still waiting to hear about the Fuller's application for Marlborough House, too... Planning Applications Brighton Marina is to get a new restaurant and pub, just south of the petrol station, following the granting of planning permission by Brighton & Hove Council. The latest theme pub craze, now that fake-Irish appears to be dying, is fake-Australian, and Regent Inns are planning one for West Street in Brighton, on the site of two arcades and a snack bar. The pub will be called the Walkabout, and plans to offer cold Australian beers (read: Fosters and XXXX, most likely), real Australian food, and will have 14 rooms for tourists. It remains to be seen whether fake-Australian themes will last any longer than fake Irish, of course... Closures The Pub With No Name, Brighton, has not been having a wonderful time of things lately. As well as our mistakenly claiming they were owned by Webb-Kirby in last issue, they have been closed throughout March after a fire. They hope to be open again in early April. The Six Bells at Lyminster has been reported as being closed temporarily, but we don't know why. Openings The Three Moles at Selham has reopened as a free house, with former landlord John Grezegorzek as co-licensee. Over on Brighton's Lewes Road, a pub that has been closed for a year, the Steam Inn, is now being repainted, presumably with a view to reopening. Allied Domecq's plans for a Big Steak Pub with Wacky Warehouse at Saltdean Lido will come to fruition in mid-May, when the pub/restaurant is expected to open to the public. For those wanting a quiet pint, there will be a separate adults-only bar and dining area, and the Wacky Warehouse itself will be soundproofed. Refits The Tap & Tankard, Worthing, has been refurbished — unfortunately, the separate bars have been replaced with an open-plan layout around a single central bar. There are three handpumps, with standard Scottish Courage beers. On the other side of town, the Warwick (formerly the Hogshead) has reopened after its refit. While the stillage on the back bar has been removed, there is now carpet! The Cranbourne Arms, Brighton, has been taken over by ZEL, who run the Shakespeare's Head in Chatham Place and the Mash Tun. It's being completely refitted as a café-bar, and will be called the Western Front, with an opening date planned for April 1. The current landlord has left after the expiry of his lease, and is plan- ning to have a break from the licensed trade. All Change... The Crabtree in Shoreham has changed landlord; Lee and Lorraine of the White Horse in Bognor are now running both pubs, with Festival Mild and Butser being added to the existing range of Gale's beers (meaning they now stock the full range) and the pub being redecorated. Peter, the previous landlord, was sadly declared bankrupt at the end of February; he will be missed by all the regulars. The Walmer Castle, Brighton, has been taken over by Chris Bloomfield and John Wilson, the people behind the Park Crescent. The pub has been extensively refurbished, and now has illuminated tanks of tropical fish. Presumably there isn't a pub cat... The Vine at Tarring is now a Badger Inns/Hall & Woodhouse pub, selling Badger Best, IPA and Tanglefoot, Ringwood True Glory, Harveys Best and Old, and guests, although some of the previous guests have been deemed to be too similar to Badger brews, and have been replaced by beers from the Gribble brewery at Oving — which is also owned by Hall & Woodhouse! The Richmond, in Brighton, has spent a month with the upstairs music bar closed after owners Webb-Kirby (yes, I did get it right this time — Ed) changed its managers, stating that they were unhappy with the way it was being run. The downstairs bar was unaffected. The White Horse, Mare Hill (near Pulborough) has changed landlord, though no further details were available as we went to press. Over in Chichester, the St Peter's Church, opposite the cathedral, is now an Eldridge Pope house. Events & Awards Burgess Hill now has a Pubwatch scheme, covering sixteen different pubs in the town; the publicans all have pagers so that they can warn each other of trouble, while the Pubwatch committee will be able to ban troublemakers from all the pubs in the scheme. Committee chairman Ian Clarke, who is also manager of the new Hogshead, said that, while there are currently no problems in Burgess Hill, the scheme would help prevent them from developing. The German-style Holsten Bier Fest, which was allegedly planned for Brighton seafront this summer, is not to go ahead. Scottish Courage claimed that, despite their promoter's detailed correspondence with the council, they had not made an application, but merely discussed the feasibility of the idea, which had then somehow escaped to the press. The spokesman added that their budget would not allow them to hold such a large event in Brighton this summer. (We'd just like to add that all local CAMRA festivals are going ahead as planned, so you could always come to one of ours instead...) The CAMRA/English Heritage Pub Design Awards for 1997 have been awarded, with the Bread & Roses, London winning the Best Pub Refurbishment award, and the Best Conversion to Pub Use award going to Frazer's Bar, Edinburgh. Once again, the judges felt unable to award the Best New Build award. If you have any suggestions as to which pubs locally should be put forward for an award in any of the above categories, or the English Heritage Conservation award, please come along to a branch meeting or write to Sussex Drinker and I'll pass your letter on. Our entries will have to be in by June 19, so please allow plenty of time... The recently-renamed Wig & Pen, Worthing, is holding its first beer festival from April 10-13, with an Easter Bank Holiday Egg Run on April 11, at 11am. They plan to have a hog roast and live music to go with the real ales. The Stanley Arms, Portslade (and not Fishersgate as we printed before) has raised £927 for charity — in just four months! Regulars raised £520 for Children in Need, £277 for the Rocking Horse Appeal, and £130 for Baycroft School, to send a pupil on holiday. Well done, all! The regulars at the Golden Eagle in Haywards Heath are fighting to keep their landlord Ray Gardner, after the district council has decided to oppose the renewal of his licence, on the grounds that he is unfit to run his pub because of noise nuisance. He has had two noise abatement notices served upon him in the past year, though the sound levels were recorded as below 60dB, which is the defined level for background music, in each case. On the first occasion, Ray cancelled all bands he had booked when the notice was served. The pub's plans for fund-raising events have also had to be put on hold due to the uncertainty. Ale Watch The Chicago Bootlegger in Worthing's Montague Place now sells Itchen Valley Godfather on handpump, while the Fletcher Arms at East Preston now carries regular Hop Back guest beers. The Thomas a Becket in Worthing now has the Gale's Beer Club beer each month, and the Dover Castle, Brighton, is selling the new Shepherd Neame seasonals, including Early Bird and the tricentennial ale 1698. Full Pints The Weights and Measures (Beer and Cider) Bill, sponsored by Dennis Turner MP, has completed its Committee Stage in the House of Commons, and is well on its way to becoming law. The law requires a pint of beer to contain a pint of liquid, with the head being excluded. The Evening Star, Brighton, has gone one better, by replacing all the old pint glasses with lined ones. The half- pint glasses are mostly still brim- measure, though. Website The Sussex CAMRA website has been relaunched, and now resides at http://freepages.pavilion.net/users/sussexcamra . As well as the online version of Sussex Drinker, branch diaries and the latest information on Sussex beer festivals, the website contains an up-to-date news section. This only works if we have the news to publish, of course — so if you have any pub/brewery news, please email it to sussexcamra@pavilion.co.uk or post it to the address on the back cover. Suggestions for improvements to the site are also welcomed. (though if you're reading this version, presumably you've already discovered the website :) Oops... First, an apology to the Pub With No Name, which has never been owned by Webb-Kirby. Sorry, chaps! Secondly, following last issue's correction to the attribution of the Café Prague article, it appears we spelled Keith Milborrow's name incorrectly. I wish I could blame the spell-checker for this one, but it's my fault. Sorry, Keith. Finally, thanks to everybody who spent time hand-correcting the misprint in the advert for the Sussex Beer Festival — the advance ticket price for Friday night was £3, not £1! Doubtless the uncorrected issue will now become a valuable collector's item... (I hope so, because I've got half a box left!)
The recent Sussex Beer and Cider Festival was again a great success, with much of the beer having sold out by closing time on Saturday. Your cloakroom donations and unused tokens enabled us to give £425 to the festival charity, Hove Crossroads — Caring for the Carers. Beer of the Festival was the 4.3% Rooster's Scorcher, with Ballard's latest falling-over-water Blizzard (a mere 9.8%) taking second. Oakham's White Dwarf, another 4.3% beer, was third, while the winner of the Cider/Perry award was Appledram Medium. We're currently analysing your survey forms in preparation for next year, so don't forget to keep a space free in your diary!
The fifth Brighton & South Downs Ale Trail will soon be upon us — from the launch night on May 29, in fact, right up until September 30. As in previous years, forty pubs are taking part, with prizes for complet- ing twenty and thirty, as well as all forty; if you do complete all the pubs, though, you will be entered into a free prize draw, where you could win additional prizes! The five trail ales are being brewed by Arundel, Cuckmere Haven, Dark Star, Kemp Town and Rectory Ales; the trail itself is being run in association with Beards of Sussex, with Harveys sponsoring the passport, Gale's the cartoon map and the Independent Imbiber the quiz. This year's theme is "Southdown Ale Trail", with bus-related imagery abounding; this also ties in nicely with the vintage bus trips we have arranged! A bus to the launch night will leave the Evening Star, Brighton at 7:30pm on May 29, and will leave Lewes on the return journey (covering most of the Brighton & Hove area) at 11:30pm, for a ticket price of around two pounds. There is also a tour of outlying pubs on July 18, leaving the Evening Star at 11:30am and covering five pubs at a leisurely pace. A buffet and a souvenir menu, and possibly a free pint, will be included in the ticket price of around £7.50. Please note that the buses will leave on time (a rarity!) but that these dates and times have yet to be confirmed. Further details will be mailed to local members and previous ale trailers in May; otherwise, just pick up a passport at the launch night or in a participating pub from May 30 onwards, or phone Andy Rivett on (01273) 559880.
5th Southdowns Ale Trail: May 30 - Sep 30
A new scheme called Cask Marque has been launched, with the aim of improving beer quality in the UK. Cask Marque is not run by CAMRA, but is funded by the participating breweries and publicans. Each applicant is inspected twice in three months, and their beer is assessed on condition, appearance, taste, temperature and character. If they pass, they are awarded a Cask Marque plaque. The plaque is awarded to the publican and not the pub, so it will move when they do, though they will be retested once in the new pub. Retests also take place shortly after the award and twice a year thereafter, with the plaque being repos- sessed if beer quality is inadequate. Customers will be able to complain to Cask Marque if they feel that the pub does not deserve a certificate. The publican pays £140 for the first year and £100 for each subsequent year, with the intention being that the brewery will pay half. As the scheme is only at the pilot stage, a limited number of breweries and pub groups are participating, including JD Wetherspoon, Whitbread and Carlsberg/Tetley. CAMRA welcomes Cask Marque as a way of further promoting good quality real ale.
Loz Aslett gives us a guided tour of Southwick's historic pubs in the first part of this series Introduction Southwick (population 11,096 — 9 CAMRA members) is situated on the coast just west of the East/West Sussex county boundary. Access to the beach, canal and locks of the Port of Shoreham is from Southwick via slip roads from Albion Street (the A259 coast road). In the past, most of the pubs were located along Albion Street and in the adjoining side roads, and many had names reflecting Southwick's association with shipbuilding and seafaring. At one time, Southwick had 16 pubs, 2 maltings and a brewery; all that remains today is just 6 pubs. In the late 1950s it was decided to widen the A259 to a dual carriageway, and in 1958 a compulsory purchase order was obtained to demolish the whole of the north side and most of the south side of Albion Street, together with some of the side streets. In 1961, construction of the new Southwick Square shopping precinct began, and many businesses transferred to the Square when it was completed in 1963. This was followed by the wholesale demolition of Albion Street, and all but one of the pubs were lost. The A259 was never widened; the A27 (now A270) was widened instead. Only one pub was built to replace those that were demolished; this was to serve the blocks of flats built where the side streets had existed.
PAST PUBS White Lion Inn 21 Southwick Street, 50 yards north of existing Ship pub. This was built in the late 17th century and was last used as a pub in 1889. In 1970, it was converted into offices for Adur District Council, the previous building being incorporated inside the cement cobbled fronted structure. Victory Inn 80 Albion Street. This was on the south side of the road, opposite Grange Road. It was built in the early 19th century to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. There was a large relief of the Victory on the north side, facing the road, which cracked in half when the building became unsafe after a sewer was laid close to its east side. The pub, a Tamplins house, was subsequently demolished circa 1960, and a sewage pumping station now occupies the site. The Railway Tavern 77 Albion Street. This was on the north side, adjacent to a garage, between Grange Road and Lock Road. It was built in 1840, the same year as Southwick station was opened. In 1940, the owners Abbey & Sons sold it to a local firm of surveyors, who converted it into offices. These were demolished in the early 1960s. The Commercial Inn 80 Albion Street. This pub was located on the west corner, at the junction of Albion street and Lock Road. It was built circa 1860. A Tamplins house, it was part demolished between 1962 and 1964, the shell of the building remaining until 1970. Sir Robert Napier 2 Lock Road. Located at the south end, on the east side. It was built in 1868 and named after a general famous for a successful campaign in Abyssinia that year. A Watney's house, it was demolished in 1962. This pub was a beer house only and was not licensed to sell wines and spirits, the licence holder being referred to as a "beer retailer" rather than a "licensee". The Shipwrights 107 Albion Street. This pub was on the north side, on the west corner at the junction of Rock Road and Albion Street, opposite the Town Hall. It was built in the 1860s and demolished circa 1962. At one time it was owned by the Kemptown brewery. Sawyers Arms 20 Albion Street. Located on the south side in a parade of shops, three shops east of the lock approach road and next to a paper shop, roughly opposite the Sea House. Built circa 1890 and owned by the Rock brewery of Brighton, it had one narrow single bar and was a beer house only. Behind the pub was a sawpit in a shipbuilder's yard, which probably accounted for the name. It closed as a pub in 1922 and in 1925 it became the receiving office for the Star Model Laundry. Later, it became offices for the Sussex Industrial Chemical Company before being demolished in the early 1960s. Station Hotel Station Road (previously called Southwick Street South). This was opposite the station, at the junction of Rock Road and Whiterock Place. Built circa 1870, it was probably called the Joiners Arms prior to 1903. A Tamplins house, it was demolished in the early 1960s. Mariners Arms Inn 1 Adur Terrace. On the north side of Albion Street, next to the Seaman's Mission, between Grange Road and Kingston Lane. Built circa 1860, it was owned by Tamplins when it was demolished in 1962. Sea House 97 Albion Street. The Sea House was on the north side of Albion Street, between Lock Road and Station Road. It was built prior to 1855 and was called the Seahorse until 1870. A Brickwoods house, it was demolished in the early 1960s. The last landlord was Waldo Humphries, who later had pubs in Portslade. © 1998 Loz Aslett. All rights reserved. The second part of this article, covering the present pubs of Southwick, will appear next issue.
Volunteering to work at CAMRA festivals, and standing for office, is good for you. CAMRA is a growing organisation, and needs more people to get involved at national and festival level. With 180 local branches, more than 100 beer festivals, and some 30 national committees, there's plenty to be done, but many people are reluctant to take on voluntary duties because they think they work hard enough already. For those who need persuading, here's the good news: research suggests that voluntary work can actually help you in your career. Studies show that it can increase self-confidence, improve team working, increase initiative, enhance negotiating skills and improve time management. It also is thought to improve leadership and adaptability. And it's not just academic research that shows volunteering helps you at work: CAMRA's activists have proved it. They say volunteering has had a direct impact on their personal effectiveness, particularly in collaboration, communication and influencing skills. Many employers also like to see their staff busily engaged in voluntary work: in interviews, employers agreed that voluntary work enabled employees to develop practical skills such as planning and project management. It was also seen to improve decision-making, initiative, creativity and confidence. Now you know that taking a more active role in CAMRA can improve your career by improving your skills, you'll want to know what jobs can be done, and the answer is: plenty. Some will take up just a few hours each year. Some call for a weekly commitment. You can decide your level of involvement. Some of the jobs you can volunteer for are:
The simplest way to get involved is to get in touch with your local branch. You'll find details on the CAMRA Meetings pages in What's Brewing, and Sussex information can be found on the inside front and back covers of this very publication. You don't have to join the branch where you live: you can choose the branch that is most convenient for you. If you are unsure, contact the Regional Director, who will be delighted to help. Getting involved with CAMRA is fun. It widens your circle of friends (and pubs!) as well as improving your skills. What have you got to lose? Christine Cryne, National Campaigns Director |
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