Re-capturing a moment from the past

Back in the early 1970s when the Campaign for Real Ale was  founded, there were just four pubs remaining in the country that brewed their own beer. This might seem strange to today's drinkers, as pubs with a brewery attached are not uncommon, although perhaps they are less common than they might have been 10 to 20 years ago. On the other hand, it would have seemed strange to drinkers from earlier in the 20^th Century, and certainly before the First World War, that the number of pubs brewing their own beer could have declined, to the extent that they have, since those times.

The copyright on this image is owned by Chris Gunns and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Building on research, previously carried out by pioneering beer enthusiast Frank Baillie, CAMRA were able to list details of the four remaining brew-pubs. Three of the four majority were in the Midlands, an area where there was something of a tradition where the pub licensee brewed his or her own ale. That tradition seemed much slower to die out in that region, than it did in the rest of the country - much to the beer delight of the beer connoisseur. 

For those not old enough to remember those early days of CAMRA, the four brew pubs were, the All Nations Inn, at Madeley Shropshire, The Old Swan Brewery at Netherton, at Dudley known locally, as "Ma Pardoes," the Three Tuns Inn, at Bishops Castle, Shropshire and finally the Blue Anchor at Helston, Cornwall. I've only been to two of these established, both around the same time, and both in the company of the same friend from university.

The first of these brewpubs was the legendary Blue Anchor, which we visited, whilst holidaying in Cornwall. The other was the Three Tuns, and it's the latter pub, or rather the beer brewed there, that I want to write about. It's more than 40 years since that visit to the Three Tuns, but the pub, and the location were such special places, that they stuck in my mind. Unfortunately, Bishop’s Castle is in a rather tucked out of the way location, in the south west of Shropshire, and not far from the Welsh border.

The town of Bishops Castle is a sleepy little place, but the drive that my friend Chris undertook from his parent’s home in Rugeley, Staffs, is something of legend. There were three of us crammed into the car that afternoon, and whilst I can't remember how long the journey took it was quite tedious. This was before the M54 motorway was completed, so much of the journey was on slow-moving A5 trunk-road. Looking at the map, we would have turned off the latter at Shrewsbury, and headed south-west on the A488. It doesn’t look the most direct of roads, as it has to skirt around various areas of high ground, including the famous Stiperstones Ridge.

We eventually arrived in Bishops Castle shortly before opening time, and found our way to the Three Tuns Inn. From memory.  the pubs seemed quite basic, but that only added to its appeal. The home-brewed beer was something else, with the XXX Bitter a real stand out pint. There was also a mild available, which I tried, but it wasn’t a patch on the bitter. We had a good look around the pub with its various rooms, and also went outside for a look at the exterior of the impressive brewery. This is a traditional tower brewery, but almost in miniature, although it still extend upwards for three floors. It was a memorable evening, and it's always been in the back of my mind as a pub I'd like to return to. Fortune and fate conspired against me, although if I'd been dedicated enough, I’m sure I could have made a return visit, it would have taken some organising.

That was my first, and also last experience of XXX Bitter until 40 years later, when I saw it on sale at the 2019 CAMRA Great British Beer Festival. Then, just three month’s a later, whilst attending my first “Proper Day Out,” with members of the Beer and Pubs Forum, I came across XXX again, in the unlikely location of Shifnal. This was a town I'd never heard of, but had been chosen by the forum, due to its selection of different pubs, offering a wide variety of interesting beers. In the last pub of the day, when it was almost time to catch the train home, we notices, standing proud on the bar, a hand-pump offering Three Tuns XXX. Despite the surfeit of ale, I’d already consumed, I had to have a pint, and I’m glad that I did, because as with pint at GBBF, the Shifnal pint was equally good and brought back pleasant memories of that trip to Bishop’s Castle.

Fast forward to the beginning of last week, when looking through the beer list for the forthcoming Tonbridge Juddians Rugby Club Beer Festival I noticed it included three beers all from the Three Tuns – XXX, Solstice and Cleric’s Cure. This seemed too good an opportunity to miss, and any reservations about attending beer festivals went out the window. I subsequently made plans to attend the Friday evening session and arrived at the clubhouse shortly after 7:00 pm. I was pleasantly surprised to find the place relatively uncrowded, unlike previous years when the event had been standing room only. This time around, there were several free tables, and numerous spare chairs.

Despite the lack of punters, there was a good turnout of friends, many of whom are CAMRA members, with representation from both West Kent and Maidstone branches. There were also several neighbours from our street. I stopped to exchange at few pleasantries before heading to the bar, and then I was straight in on the Three Tuns XXX and a pint of it too, for good measure! The beer was pale in colour, very well-conditioned, and with an attractive natural head.  I raised it to my lips took a mouthful and it was pure nectar. It's no exaggeration to say it's one of the best beers I've drunk for a long time but finding such a good beer at the start of the festival, meant the bar been set very high and anything else was going to struggle to come near it.

The 3.9% Solstice made a valiant attempt, as did the 5.0% Cleric’s Cure and I must say the latter beer tasted like a stronger version of the XXX.  I don’t believe that either of these two beers were brewed, back in 1976, so they must be more recent additions to the range, but whatever their history, acquiring these two beers was quite a scoop for the festival organisers. Chatting to one of them later on, it transpired that Three Tuns beers are available from one of the agencies which the club uses, so knowing their pedigree, they were a natural choice for the festival.

Despite my reservations about festivals, I enjoyed this one, and not just because of the choice of ales. It was a chance to catch up with people, some of whom I hadn't seen for a long time, and with attendance being lower than in previous years, there was less overall noise in the clubhouse, as well. Several of us, who are a certain age, commented on this, as with its barn-like interior, and lots of hard surfaces, sound tends to reverberate around the building, making it difficult to pick up on what was being said and conversations in general.

The reason for the decline in numbers may have been due to the strike, called by train drivers that Friday, although having said that, it didn’t deter CAMRA members travelling over by bus, from both Tunbridge Wells and Maidstone. The other thing that was quite noticeable, and commented on by several people, was the festival attendees were almost exclusively male, and aged 50 or over. I did find this surprising, as normally there's a fair number of ladies there as well. Who knows what the reasons were, but the organisers were expecting a bit much larger turn out Saturday, when several of the games from the Six Nations Rugby Championship were due to be shown in the clubhouse.

Renewing my acquaintance with the Three Tuns beers has made me even more determined to pay a return visit to the pub where they are brewed. Any visit would involve an overnight stay, either in the town of Bishops Castle, or somewhere within easy travelling distance of the settlement, but that only adds to the attraction. It would almost certainly involve driving, as whilst it may be possible to visit Bishops Castle by public transport, it would take some doing. Until such time, I shall continue to look out for Three Tuns beers on my travels around the UK.