Epiphany Moment

And now the promised “epiphany moment” referenced in my “Road to Damascus” post. This was when I ended my love affair with “big brand,” keg beers and started to take an interest in local and regional beers, brewed specifically to take account of local tastes and preferences.

Looking back, although there were a series of related “light-bulb” moments which combined to inspire in me a life-long passion in all things beer-related, it was a specific incident which provided that “vital spark."

That so-called “epiphany moment” took place in October 1973 when  as a young student, in my first year at Salford University, I was browsing through the shelves of the university book-shop. I came across a book which caught my attention with its unusual cover design and poignant title. The book was titled "The Death of the English Pub", its author was one Christopher Hutt and its cover price was 75p! To a student existing on around just £7 per week, this represented a considerable outlay, and yet a quick flick through the pages was enough to convince me that I just had to buy this book.

The book was well researched, and written in a lively and informative style which was hard to put down, so within a matter of days I had read the book from cover to cover. "The Death of the English Pub" was an expose on what was happening in the brewing industry and drinks trade. In particular, it highlighted the growth of the large brewers and told how they were killing off much loved local beers in favour of heavily advertised, yet totally characterless, national keg brands. It also described how pubs up and down the country were being tarted up and altered out of all recognition as the big brewers pursued their relentless quest for still greater profits.

The appalling record of the major brewing firms was contrasted with the exemplary behaviour of many of the surviving smaller, independent breweries whom, the book argued, were truly reflecting the real needs of customers rather than some obtuse marketing fantasy created by advertising moguls totally divorced from reality. In short by taking these policies to their logical conclusion, the big brewers would be responsible for "The Death of the English Pub".

The book had been written around the time when two pressure groups were starting to have a small impact on the big brewers, by alerting the drinking public as to what they were up to. These two groups were: The Society for the Preservation of Beers From the Wood (SPBW for short), plus the Campaign for Real Ale (or CAMRA). I was marginally aware of the existence of both these groups, and on my return to Kent, for the Christmas break, took active steps to join the latter organisation.

"The Death of the English Pub" changed my whole outlook on life and made me realise that certain things are important and are worth preserving. More importantly, they are worth fighting for. Although I had enjoyed a pint from the age of 16 or so, I had tended to take beer and pubs for granted, as my main interests at the time were rock music and chasing after the opposite sex.

I was a self-proclaimed expert in the former, but whilst I’d had some success with the latter, the ratio of male to female students at a university which specialised in science and engineering, was never going to work in my favour. In the pursuit of these aims, I had tended to frequent some of the more trendy, tarted-up outlets where the beer was normally cold, weak, gassy and overpriced. I had also been somewhat scathing when it came to some of the more traditional pubs, especially town ones, castigating them as "muck pits", frequented only by old men.

I still, however, retained a soft spot for traditional country pubs, and having been brought up in a small village, I could identify more closely with a traditional village hostelry. What I had read in Christopher Hutt's book, persuaded me that I was wrong to discount traditional town boozers, especially as they represented a fast vanishing part of our national heritage.

Living, as I was, in the Greater Manchester conurbation, surrounded by beers from all manner of local independent brewers, with some of the cheapest prices around, gave me ample opportunity to go out and sample as many local beers as I could. But it was not until the third term of that first year at Salford, that this interest and desire to explore as many unspoilt pubs really took hold. The catalyst this time was my purchase, during the Easter vacation, of CAMRA's first Good Beer Guide (cover price again 75p!).

When I returned to Manchester for the summer term, I eagerly sought out as many independent brewers and their beers as I could. I was helped in this quest by a fellow student, who shared the same lodgings as myself. Howard came from the Lake District, and was a great fan of Hartley's. He also had a van, and with the Good Beer Guide pointing us in the right direction we tracked down beers from Lees, Hyde's, Holt's, Oldham and Marston's, which were in addition to ales such as Boddington's, Robinson's, Tetley’s, Greenall Whitley and Wilson's which I had already sampled.

The rest as they say, is history, and I never really looked back. I still have my copy of "The Death of the English Pub", and refer back to it occasionally. Some of the issues it was fighting for seem rather trivial now, whilst other points have been fought over and won. However, as a pioneering and inspiring campaigning book, it deserves its place in history. It certainly changed my outlook on life and helped steer me towards the appreciation of much that I hold dear today. For that I will be forever grateful.

 

Looking back through the archives, I found a review I’d written, back in 2010, on "The Death of the English Pub.” The review gives a brief synopsis of the book, on a chapter by chapter basis, so if you want to get a proper flavour of what Christopher Hutt’s pioneering publication was all about, just click on the link here.