June has seen the appointment of a Chief Executive for CAMRA, Mike Benner, the well known previous Head of Campaigns and Communications.
Mr
Benner said “The role of Chief Executive has been created in response to
CAMRA’s growth and success. With over 72,000 members, a range of different
beer and pub-related campaigns, and a hugely diverse team of volunteers, we need
to create a more cohesive and responsive professional support team. We will
continue to speak out for Britain’s 15 million drinkers on matters such as
consumer rights, choice, competition and value for money.” An Economics
graduate, Mike, 37, is married to Helen and has three children, Victoria, aged 6
and twins, Elliot and Christian, aged 5. He lives in Bedfordshire, but is
originally from Nottinghamshire.
After brewing beer on the site for over 100 years, in April S&N announced the closure of the Tyne Brewery.
John
Holland, CAMRA’s Brewing Industry Director said “ The loss of the brewery is
a blow and represents another nail in the coffin for the British brewing
industry. S&N is now very much a global company, but its roots lie in
Newcastle and they would do well to remember that.”
S&N
had already announced the closure of Fountainbridge Brewery in Edinburgh in
February.
Mr
Holland added “It will be interesting to see if S&N change their name as
“Not Scottish & near Newcastle”
would now be more accurate, or maybe just “&”!
The famous Newcastle Brown Ale is brewed at the Tyne Brewery and has protected
geographical status from the European Commission, so it cannot be brewed outside
of Newcastle. If the beer is to be brewed at Federation in Dunston, Gateshead,
it does somewhat undermine the brand and local consumers will care about
that.”
On
2nd August CAMRA will launch its new pilot accreditation scheme
called ‘Real Ale in a Bottle’ at the Great British beer festival.
CAMRA’s
Georgie Howarth said “The scheme has been devised in response to an increased
number of enquiries from both CAMRA members and the general public about what
constitutes a bottle-conditioned beer, how they can be identified, and most
importantly where they can be bought. The aim of the scheme is to recognise
bottle-conditioned beers as a separate category to other bottled beers, and to
encourage buyers to stock and promote them in their retail outlets.” The
accredited bottled will state how to dispense the beer and will have a hallmark
stating “ CAMRA says this is real ale”.
CAMRA has launched a guide “Pub Interiors of Special Historic Interest in London”. The aim is to bring recognition and protection to London’s most priceless historic pubs. It highlights alarmingly that there are only 134 of London’s 5,700 pubs that have interiors of special historic interest. Precious few pubs have interiors with much heritage value. This is the result of recent decades of modernising, theming, opening out and conversion to trendy cafes or gastropubs. Robin Forshaw-Wilson, CAMRA Regional Director for London says, “It’s frightening how much we have lost. This new guide is a wake-up call to bring attention to the problem and help people seek out those pubs which do still have significant, genuinely old work inside.”
Gwynt Y Ddraig of Llantwit Major, Glamorgan was awarded CAMRA’s National Gold Champion Cider title, and Gwatin of Abbey Dore, Herefordshire won the National Gold Champion Perry title for Blakeney Red Perry at the Reading Beer Festival in May. Gillian Williams, CAMRA’s Director of Cider and Perry Campaigning said “This is a wonderful result and the first time a Welsh Cider has been crowned National Gold Champiom. These are both dedicated producers who are passionate about their product and take time and care to ensure their cider and perry are of the highest quality”.
Sebastopol Social Club, Sebastopol, Cwmbran, has been named Britain’s Best Real Ale Club in the prestigious CAMRA ‘Club of the Year’ competition.
Great Britain has approximately 30,000 licensed and registered clubs that are all eligible to enter this competition. Clubs were judged on a wide range of aspects including, of course, the choice, variety and quality of real ale available to members. Sebastopol Social Club has had 750 different real ales on the bar since guest beers were introduced in 2001.