Magical Mystery Tour - or Pub of the Year

In common with most, if not all, local branches, West Kent CAMRA run a Pub of the Year competition, usually abbreviated to POTY – an acronym I cringe at every time I hear it, even if it does save a bit of typing!  I have written about this yearly award on several previous occasions, and I suspect I shall be writing about it again before the month is out, but it's worth pointing out that I have mixed feelings about the value of Pub of the Year.

I obviously accept the award is good for the winning pub, but the competition can sometimes cause ill-feeling in the licensed trade as a whole; and it's not just a question of sour grapes. The selection process itself can also be fraught with problems, and there is no one size fits all approach when deciding on the winner.

Despite these reservations there has to be some method or other for choosing a winner, so this coming weekend West Kent CAMRA are running a mini-bus tour of the six pubs selected as finalists in this year's competition.

This heralds a return to a selection process last used six years ago, but abandoned for a variety of reasons, not least of which were the organisation involved in hiring a mini-bus and the job of finding a suitable “designated driver” willing to sit there drinking soft drinks all day.

These mini-bus trips invariably took place on a Saturday, because of their lengthy nature. Finding a mutually agreeable date could sometimes pose a problem, but the main concern was that by the time members had reached the last couple of pubs on the tour, their judgement was almost certainly clouded by the amount of beer they had drunk!

On the plus side these trips were highly enjoyable, so I for one am extremely pleased that the branch has decided to reinstate the mini-bus tour as a tried and tested means of selecting Pub of the Year. I am therefore really looking forward to Saturday's trip especially as it gives me the opportunity to visit  pubs I don't often get round to. This is particularly the case with some of the more rural pubs on the list.

Now I don't intend to name any of the six finalists at this stage; just on the off-chance that one or more of the licensees concerned reads this blog, but once the tour is over, I will be writing a short piece on each of the pubs visited. What I will say for now is four of  the contenders are rural, whilst the remaining two are town-centre outlets.

Saturday's forecast isn't looking that brilliant, but no matter we will be getting wet on the inside. It might just mean that some of the photo opportunities won't be as good as they might otherwise have been, if the sun was to be shining.

The other slight downside is that the trip will be quite a hurried affair, with the time at each pub restricted to around 45 minutes. This is to comply with legal requirements concerning driver's hours. I was also talking with a friend and work colleague earlier today, and we were both wondering which pub would be the best for lunch, and would the pub be able to accommodate a dozen hungry drinkers within that time-frame, especially when they turn up unannounced.

That last point is particularly valid, as we don't want publicans knowing in advance that we are coming, especially if they then guess the purpose of our visit. It may just be then that packets of crisps or bags of nuts will have to suffice until later in the evening when we've all been dropped off.

Finally, there are no clues from any of the photos either, all of which are strictly "neutral".

The road goes ever on

Well I'd like to think that after the unexpected, and rather dramatic start to the New Year, life in the Bailey household is slowly getting back to normal. Mrs PBT's  has made a good recovery, considering what she has been through, and is pretty much back to her usual self.

Now that the snow and ice have finally melted she will be able to get out and about on her own again, without having to rely on me. She admits that she needs to get out and do some walking, in order to build up her stamina and get some invigorating fresh air into her lungs.

On the subject of lungs, her illness and subsequent treatment has allowed her to finally quit the habit she has had from the age of 15 (or perhaps even earlier). Eileen is now a non-smoker; five weeks hospitalisation, including a week on a ventilator under sedation, means her body has lost its craving for nicotine; so following the adage that every cloud has a silver lining, some good has come from her incapacitation and near death experience.

The other major change is that we are now officially a two-car household, as son Matthew has finally got himself a set of wheels. No more late night pick-ups for me, and in fact there is now the prospect that he can now drive his old dad to the pub and back!

Returning to the subject of walking for a while, I have decided to complete the North Downs Way, long distance footpath, although this will be a "work in progress" rather than my previous undertakings (South Downs Way and Weald Way), within a set timetable.

Last summer, I joined a small group of friends in walking a couple of stretches of the NDW Canterbury loop, (Wye to Chartham in the hills above the Stour Valley and a more open stretch between Shepherdswell and Dover). There are a couple of gaps in the loop, to fill in, before I can return to Dover and begin the long westward journey towards the finish/start of the trail in the Surrey town of Farnham; so the journey really is only just beginning.

 

My plan for completing the walk is to break it down into a number of stages, each between eight and twelve miles in length. That way I can pick and choose whichever section takes my fancy, and am I tempted to make a start before Easter, as I've got three days annual leave to take before the end of the financial year. Like many company’s my employer works on a "use it or lose it" basis, although we are allowed to carry a certain number of days over.

The NDW is quite different from its southern counterpart because, whilst it follows a similar line which sticks quite closely to the escarpment, it does pass close to some of the most densely populated areas of southern England.

The SDW on the other hand, passes through a much more rural landscape, apart from the section to the north of Brighton. The advantage for me, is that many of the starting and finishing points on the NDW are within easy travelling distance from home; with many readily accessible by public transport.

It was 10 years ago when a  friend and I set off to walk the 100 or so miles from Eastbourne to Winchester. We completed the walk the following year, having divided the trail up into three manageable sections.

We stayed over night at B & B establishments along the way; some of which were pubs, and in the evenings especially, there was normally plenty of beer consumed to rejuvenate a tired and aching body. I cannot overstate the enjoyment of walking through some of the most attractive landscapes in southern England, the camaraderie and the people we met along the way.

The sense of achievement we felt at finishing, celebrated by our arrival of the Hospital of St Cross, just outside Winchester, where we asked for, and received the "Wayfarer's Dole" of bread and ale, is something I still remember to this day.

Sadly, I'm not sure now whether  my friend and walking companion will be able to accompany me for much of the NDW.  He is 10 years older than me, and has recently been diagnosed with an ailment peculiar to men; particularly those of advancing years. He may, of course, be able to join me on some of the stages, and I will do my best to include him wherever possible.

Sometimes it's nice to walk alone, especially when you fancy a bit of solitude, but the enjoyment which comes from shared experiences on the trail, such as appreciating a spectacular view, laughing at a particularly funny joke or sinking that first pint of the evening, is something which cannot be under-estimated.

It’s still early days, but it’s nice to set a challenge, plan it out and then set off to accomplish it. The fact the challenge is a physical one makes it even better, and walking the length of the county and then heading into neighbouring Surrey will take me to places I’ve not been to before, even though they’re at most a few hours drive or train ride away.

In the meantime, you can read about my experiences of walking the South Downs Way, by clicking on the following links.

 https://baileysbeerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/south-downs-way-days-two-three.html

 https://baileysbeerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/05/south-downs-way-final-day.html

 https://baileysbeerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/south-downs-way-final-leg.html

It's snow Jim, but not as we know it!

It’s been rather a strange week, and I’m glad that it’s nearly over; work-wise at least. The over-hyped “Beast from the East” caused some disruption in this neck of the woods but like the model employee I am, I managed to make it in to work everyday; even if the drive in was as times, “interesting”.

We of course, don’t really do snow in the UK, and people tend to panic at the sight of the first snowflake. I accept it has been cold, and on my drive into work on Wednesday morning I was surprised to see the car temperature gauge showing an outside temperature of minus 11º C. This has to be the coldest I’ve experienced here in the UK.

I was left with little choice but to drive in, as although the village where I work has its own railway station, there were no trains running. This wouldn’t have happened back in the days of British Rail, I hear you say, and this is probably correct, but the simple truth is that here in the south, the antiquated “third-rail” system, originally installed by the Southern Railway back in the 1930’s, is extremely vulnerable to icing up, and associated loss of power. The trains cannot run without “juice”; end of!

Being of a certain age I am old enough to remember the winter of 1962/63; the “Big Freeze”as it later became known. It started snowing on Boxing Day (I can still recall looking out our front room window and seeing it coming down), and a few days later, the country was covered by a blanket of snow, with drifts several feet deep in places. Temperatures remained below freezing throughout January, and the following month there was more heavy snow. The thaw didn’t set in until early March.

Now I don’t wish to sound like the Four Yorkshiremen from the famous Monty Python sketch, but my sister and I went to school every day. There were no sissy “snow days” for us, where we couldn’t be driven into school; instead we walked in, through the snow and ice, me still wearing short trousers and my sister a school skirt.

The school playground was a sheet of ice, which meant we could make some fantastic slides. From memory, there were no broken bones, just the odd bruised bottom! Every so often the school caretaker would sprinkle a shovel full of ashes, from the coal-fired boiler, onto the ice, just to create a few less slippery walkways (probably for the benefit of the staff), and oh, before I forget the toilets were all outside; girls as well as boys!

Perhaps because we didn’t know any better, but I don’t recall being cold, miserable or in any way deprived during that memorable winter; instead we just got on with it. When the thaw did finally start to set in, us boys were given a shovel or a broom each and set to work helping the caretaker break up the ice on the playground and move it down into a great pile in the bottom right hand corner.

There have been other cold winters, of course, the last really significant one being in 1987, when parts of Kent were literally cut off for days on end, and the army had to use helicopters to bring in supplies to some remote villages.

So I look back on the past four days with a mixture of bewilderment and amusement. The media have had a field day, and we have seen reporter after reporter standing out either in a snowy landscape or next to a road littered with abandoned vehicles, carrying on as though the world had come to an end.

In a weeks or so’s time I fully expect everything to be back to normal, but before I treat you to some snow pictures, I want to end by reporting there has been one casualty of the snow and that is tomorrow’s (Saturday's) visit by West Kent CAMRA to Old Dairy Brewery down in Tenterden.

I wasn’t booked to go, as I went last year, but it is a shame for those looking forward to sampling some excellent Old Dairy beers at source, and also to our social secretary who put in the work to organise the trip. 

So scattered throughout this post are the snow photos, most of which were taken several years ago during previous snowy winters. Enjoy!

The Cock Inn - Boughton Monchelsea

If like me, you're an avid follower of Retired Martin, as he chronicles his trips up and down the country in pursuit of yet another Good Beer Guide "tick", you'll know what a prolific blogger he is.

Several posts ago, but probably less than a fortnight in real time, Martin described his visit to Maidstone; a town I know well, having lived there for five years during the early 1980's.  Martin began his post with the line, "I have to be careful what I say about Maidstone; one of my top readers lives there (probably in the posh bit with a long name)".

This sparked my curiosity, so I asked him which part of Maidstone he considered the "posh bit", and what was its long name?  "Boughton Monchelsea and the Farleighs", was the reply, so I retorted that both places were villages in their own right, and as far as I was concerned, neither were  parts of Maidstone. I finished by saying that I might be heading over that way the following week.

As it happened those words were no idle jest, as there was an equipment supplier to the south of Maidstone that a colleague and I had planned to visit, and the opportunity to do this came about at the beginning of the week.

We were part-exchanging a rather essential piece of laboratory equipment for a newer model, and seeing as Maidstone is only around 40 minutes drive from our works, we decided to take the part-exchange item over ourselves, and collect the new piece.

My colleague said he drive us, so we set off shortly before midday to conduct the exchange. We encountered quite a few snow showers en route, but nothing too heavy. Although we had visited this particular company before, their premises still took a bit of finding. Fortunately Google Directions on my colleague's phone helped us navigate there without too much effort.

The exchange carried out and the business concluded, we set off back to work. Our outward route had taken us through West Farleigh and Boughton Monchelsea; both places Martin had mentioned in his post. I had pointed out a couple of pubs as we drove through these places, so with lunchtime looming, we decided to stop off at one.

The pub in question was the Cock Inn, at Boughton Monchelsea; an attractive former coaching inn, dating from the 16th Century, and said to have been  built to provide lodgings for pilgrims on their way to Canterbury. It must have been over 30 years since I last set foot inside the Cock; probably when I was living in Maidstone.

Back then the pub belonged to Whitbread-Fremlins, but I distinctly remember it being acquired by Young's. I was somewhat surprise then to see that the Cock now belongs to Shepherd Neame.  Despite the intense cold, the sun was shining when we pulled into the car park, and the pub was looking particularly good.  I managed  to take a few decent  photos of the pub's exterior, before stepping inside.

As my last visit had taken place three decades ago, there was nothing inside the Cock which looked familiar. Instead my colleague and I were confronted with a dimly lit jumble of a pub with lots of interlinked areas, and the low, oak beamed ceiling one would expect of a building of this age. The bar counter was over to the right, and I noticed there were three Shep's beers on sale; Spitfire, Whitstable Bay and Bishop's Finger (tempting, as it's rarely seen on draught). There was also a guest ale in the form of Black Sheep Best Bitter, and this was my choice (3.0 NBSS).

The friendly landlady suggested we warm ourselves in front of the large  inglenook fireplace. My colleague grabbed himself a steak baguette, but as my sandwiches were waiting for me back at work,  I resisted.  The sun was streaming in where we were sitting at the front of the pub, which belied the cold wintry conditions outside. There were several groups of diners,  and I noticed on my way to the toilets that there was a substantial restaurant area at the rear of the building.

I took quite a few photos, after asking the landlady's permission, of course. Even so, she asked me if I was an estate agent; as if? Looking back at some of these now, it is quite obvious that the Cock is a “foodies” pub. Not pretentious food, but it is still a pub with a strong emphasis on food. Drinkers though are still made welcome, and according to the write-up on Whatpub, so are walkers and dogs.

The Cock wouldn’t have been my first choice; that was the Tickled Trout (formerly the Chequers), at West Farleigh, (but only because I wanted to see what it is like now). As my colleague was doing the driving though, I let him decide, and in a strange sort of way I was pleased that we called in where we did.

Fumbling around in the dark

Following on from my post about last weekend's Good Beer Guide selection meeting, I thought it was worth taking a closer look at one of the issues which came up on the day. This issue was a major one, and more than anything else, had the potential to derail the whole selection process.  This fly in the ointment/spanner in the works, was the fact there was insufficient information available on many  prospective GBG entries, to make a properly informed choice.

We are probably in a better position than many branches in that we make every effort to get round as many of the pubs in our area as possible. The rural ones are the most difficult, for obvious reasons, but a combination of rural bus routes and the odd country walk does mean it is possible to get round more of our country pubs than you might think.

Despite what might be considered a firm base, there's only so much a handful of us can achieve, and it's on occasions like selecting entries for the Good Beer Guide that the full effects of a lack of active members really comes to the fore. The crazy thing is that a ready made solution is available, but like anything worth doing in life, it does require a little effort, especially at the start.

CAMRA's Whatpub data base not only provides the ideal means for members to enter NBSS scores, but also allows them to amended out of date information. The former acts as an indicator to the quality of the beer in a particular pub; although in order to provide a true picture scores need to be submitted over a lengthy period and by as many people as possible.

The latter helps the branch form an up to date picture of what the pub is really like, and whether it is worthy of a second look and a possible guide entry. Last weekend although we did have NBSS scores to go by, more often than not, they were from just a handful of members.

This is a pretty poor show, given that we have over 600 members in the branch, but the sad truth seems to be most of them can't be bothered to submit scores. Surely these inactive, "armchair" members go to the pub, even if it's only occasionally? If not, why are they members of an organisation like CAMRA?

If there's one thing they could do for CAMRA and their local branch then it's submitting NBSS scores for the pubs they visit. Just think how up to date our branch pub database could be if these people just went online from time to time and submitted the occasional score?

I suppose we are all guilty of not doing this from time to time, but it's not hard to get into the habit of inputting your beers scores following a pub visit; you can even do it on your phone or tablet, whilst still in the pub!

Persuading "armchair" members to get into the NBSS habit is probably easier said than done, so perhaps branches need a strategy where they can put this into practice. So whilst I am not particularly involved with the GBG selection process these days, I would still be interested from members of other CAMRA branches to learn what they do.

The bottom line though, is every time you visit a pub, especially if it is one you don't normally go to, then use Whatpub and submit your NBSS scores. The more data the Campaign can amass, the more accurate CAMRA's flagship publication becomes. The more accurate the Guide is, then the more it is likely to appeal to both new buyers and seasoned users. This can surely, only be a good thing.