Crafty KREECHR

Following on from my recent post about craft beer and the debate continuing on other people's blogs, I had an unusual bottled beer to try the other day that makes a real point  of being a "Craft Beer", so much so that even the crown cap carries the message "I Drink Craft". I acquired the beer, courtesy of  Tandleman, who kindly gave me a bottle to try, when I met him at GBBF last month.

Called KREECHR, the beer is an unpasteurised strong, 6.5% abv lager, craft-brewed in Bavaria, (name of brewery and exact location, unknown), and  marketed by an organisation called brewersandunion.com,  who are a South African/Portuguese brewing co-operative. There's a tie up with international sportswear  manufacturer Puma. "We created KREECHR in very limited quantities (600 cases) especially for PUMA in celebration of their entry in the 2011 Volvo Ocean Race.". There's also a tie up with  Oh Beautiful Beer ,  which as far as I can make out is a design house that  "celebrates remarkable graphic design from the world of beer."

As I'm not particularly sporty, I'm not that familiar with Puma's range of sportswear, but a look on their website reveals that Kreechr is the brand name of  beach shoes/sandals produced by the company, for toddlers and young children. Quite what the health police will make of this particular tie-up remains to be seen, but naming a beer after kids' shoes probably doesn't comply with ASA guidelines!

Still, that's not my problem, and as for the beer itself, I have to admit it's rather good. Smooth tasting, as one would expect of a beer that boasts a brewing time of 8 weeks, and with a nice hop character from the choice aroma hops used in its production, probably Saaz or Hallertau. Plenty of character and dangerously drinkable, despite its high strength, is my verdict on the beer. Thanks for this one Tandleman!

The Brewers and Union's website shows that they produce seven different beers, all nicely packaged and most of which are lagers. There is also a wheat beer, plus a Tripel. The website seems very keen on promoting the concept of craft beer with sections entitled "What is Craft Beer", "Craft Beer Nutrition" and "Craft Beer Care". These are illustrated by some entertaining videos, but most importantly, so far as the beer drinker is concerned , is the "Find Our Craft Beer" section; either here or in South Africa.  Most of the UK outlets are in London, as might be expected, and appear to be either up-market wine-shops or boutique-style bars. Nevertheless, I'll be looking out for when they start to become more widely available in order to give some of the other beers a try.

Well, no more blogging for a week or so. On Tuesday I'm off to Prague for a short break. No doubt I'll be enjoying a few "Craft Beers" out there! Cheers!

It's Not All Roses in the Garden of England

I count myself lucky to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country. Kent has long been known as the Garden of England, and not without some justification either. The county grows much of the nation's fruit, in particular apples and cherries, as well as soft fruits such as strawberries and raspberries. The part of the county I live in is also the home of the Kent cobnut, a large variety of hazelnut. Most importantly, for us beer lovers, until comparatively recently times, Kent was the area where most of the nation's hops were grown. Regrettably, that honour has now passed to Hereford and Worcester.

As befits such an attractive and rural county, Kent possesses some real unspoilt country pubs, and I have written about them many times in the pages of this blog. In fact I have probably written about them so much that people must think I live in a wonderful rural paradise of picture-book pubs, all  providing refreshment and sustenance in form of marvellous beer and wholesome home-cooked food, to weary travellers and hard-working country types alike.

I make no apologies for having painted such an idyllic picture, as I am proud of where I live and wart to share some of the many delights, both scenic and pub-wise, that Kent has to offer, but before I get to carried away I need to put the record straight, come down to earth a little and let people know that not everything is quite so rosy in this little corner of England as it might at first seem.

Like many parts of the country, Kent has suffered its share of pub closures, and whilst we've been spared some of the worst excesses of the ongoing cull of the nation's pubs, we've by no means been immune from it. Thankfully many of the county's rural gems have escaped, on the outside at least, but the price of their survival had often been conversion, either in part, but some times in full, to up-market eateries with prices, and clientele to match. Some pubs have even been converted into posh Indian restaurants!

At least with these conversions the building is still functioning as a licensed premises, where there is every chance that come a change of ownership, or circumstances, it can make the change back to a more traditional pub. More worrying is when a pub is deemed to be worth more as a private dwelling than as a public house, and is sold de-licensed, never to open its doors to thirsty punters again. There has of course been the piecemeal erosion of the county's stock of pubs over the years, particularly in some of the larger villages where communities that once may have been served by say four or five pubs, are now down to just two or three or, sometimes, just one. This gradual thinning down is, of course, nothing new and is a process that has been continuing for decades.

Fewer pubs, means less choice, less variety of beers and less choice between say a basic village boozer and an up-market food-led pub, but whilst this process of slimming down has been continuing slowly in rural areas, in the county's towns it has accelerated rapidly in recent years and is showing no signs of slowing down. The cull of pubs in urban areas of Kent is almost exclusively due to high (over-inflated) property prices, which is a downside of living in the affluent, but over-crowded south-east. Particularly badly affected are the larger town pubs, occupying substantial areas of land, especially where car-parking areas and  pub gardens are taken into account. Where such closures and subsequent redevelopments do occur, one almost has to admire the ingenuity of the architects and developers in being able to squeeze such a large number of (highly profitable) dwellings onto the space formerly occupied by a solitary public house. I say almost, because I, as a local inhabitant, would much rather see amenities, such as a thriving pub, remaining there for the benefit of the whole community to enjoy, rather than see a handful of greedy property developers make a quick buck at the expense of local residents!

In Tonbridge, where I live, this land-grabbing phenomenon has been responsible for the demise of several formerly thriving town locals, and reached its ultimate conclusion last year with the closure of the last pub in the northern part of the town. Thirsty residents in the most populated area of Tonbridge now have no choice but to travel into the town centre when they want a drink, or to stay at home with a few bottles or cans from the local supermarket. The ultimate irony is that one of the last pubs to close in this part of town, a former well-used and spacious roadside pub serving two local estates, has now been converted into a Sainsbury's Local - something that was not wanted, or indeed needed by the local community given that it is opposite a large parade of  independently owned and run local shops, but then when are the wishes of local residents ever taken into account by the powers that be when granting permission for such developments to take place? No-one can prove conclusively that money talks in such cases, but it surely must grease a lot of palms!

This process has also been taking place in nearby well-to-do Sevenoaks, where the worst loss arising from this property speculation was that of the Farmers. a very busy and well-run pub, opposite the town's railway station and a  favourite stopping off point for many commuters on their way home. Despite a high-profile campaign to save the Farmers, the sale went ahead, the pub closed in 2005 and was subsequently demolished. Some seven years later there is still a large hole in the ground, surrounded by hoardings, occupying the site which is now officially listed as one of the town's worst "grotspots". At least the development on the site of the former Railway and Bicycle on the opposite side of the road has gone ahead.

Equally prosperous Tunbridge Wells is also now starting to suffer the attentions of the dreaded property developers. There are two campaigns running at the moment to save a couple of community pubs that have been closed by their respective owners as unviable, when everyone knows the real reason is the development potential afforded by the large pieces of ground they both occupy. The High Brooms Tavern. in the Tunbridge Wells suburb of the same name, is owned by Greene King; whilst a short distance away, on the other side of the tracks, the Robin Hood, a substantial community pub, has been closed by our old friends Enterprise Inns. The development value of  these slices of real estate runs into significant sums of money in both cases.

So there we have it; on the one hand we've got a lot to be thankful for living in this picturesque corner of the Garden of England. But on the other hand this is small comfort to the residents of many of our local towns who are denied the opportunity of a pub of their own and have nowhere they can now go for a drink.

Stop Press: News has reached me that the Robin Hood has been bought by a brewery. No further details are available at present, but hopefully it looks as though the pub may have been reprieved.

Craft Comes to Kent

Craft comes to Kent, or to Tunbridge Wells to be precise. Last week on a CAMRA social in Tunbridge Wells, we finished our tour of the pubs in the Common-Mount Ephraim area of town by calling in at a fairly recently opened place called the Wells Kitchen. I had heard people talking about this establishment before, but mainly about the food. What I didn't know until the day of our visit was that the Wells Kitchen majors on keg craft beer. The building that houses the Wells Kitchen has been home to a number of other drinking emporiums in the past, including a night club and, more recently, a Yates. Certainly in this latter guise it had a reputation as something of a trouble spot, so it is encouraging to see it open in its new re-incarnation as a friendly and modern town pub.


As mentioned, the Wells Kitchen was our final port of call that evening, and after some excellent Harvey's at the Mount Edgcumbe, and some decidedly less excellent Dark Star at the Royal Wells Inn, I was looking forward to something a bit different to stimulate my somewhat jaded palate. We all know that feeling of walking into an unfamiliar pub for the first time and anxiously scanning the pumps for something either recognisable or novel, well my first experience of a craft-keg pub was just like this but several orders of magnitude even more unfamiliar than normal, The other members of our group had already identified what they were going for, and had made their purchases (Larkins Traditional), but I was glad that I had held back for the universal consent amongst my companions was that the beer was flat and lifeless.

In a way I was not surprised; it was dispensed direct from a cask kept behind the bar and whilst the cask was jacketed there was no evidence of any cooling. Sensing my hesitation, the manager asked if I would like to try a few samples. I had already spotted the pumps for the Freedom Brewery, and another that caught my eye was that from Chapel Down Vineyard. Also available, and one that had been spotted by several of my companions, was Liberty Ale from Anchor Brewery in San Francisco. Now I would quite liked to have gone for this, but t £6.00 a pint, no way! The manager explained that the high cost was due to the beer having been shipped halfway across the world and I could see his point, but the prices charged for some of the the other beers was also on the dear side, and we are talking in the main about local ones!

I tried one of the various Freedom brews on sale, their Pilsner I believe, but wasn't that impressed, so in the end settled for a glass of Chapel Down Curious Brew.  I have written a previous post about bottles of this company's beer being on sale at Waitrose, but this is the first time I had seen any of them available on draught. Curious Brew is the company's lager,and it is brewed using champagne yeast rather than normal brewer's yeast. Andy Hepworth, from the Horsham based brewery of the same name, is the man behind this brew. Chapel Down themselves are based at Tenterden, and are a wine producer with a serious (ie. extremely good), reputation.

I found the beer a touch too floral  for my liking, with a quite pronounced peachy flavour, but it was still pleasant enough. However. at £4.20 a pint it was definitely a beer to sip and savour rather than swill straight down. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to ask the manager his name, as he was called away to deal with a matter in the restaurant. This was a shame as he seemed really passionate about the beers he was selling.   He had twigged that we were from CAMRA and was apologetic about his single cask offering and the poor state it was in, but in his defence stated that there just wasn't the market for cask ale at the Wells Kitchen,  Apart from the Anchor Liberty Ale, and the Larkins, all the other draught offerings were craft lagers - Freedom, Curious Brew. plus one from Hepworths. They has tried craft-keg ales but like the cask they just hadn't proved popular, so the pub decided to major on craft lager instead.

I will definitely be calling back, as the Wells Kitchen is a welcome addition on the local pub scene. Also it is  good to see someone who is so passionate and enthusiastic about beer behind the bar.  My one gripe however, and this seems to apply to all craft establishments and is a question posed by many a beer blogger, "Why is the stuff so expensive"?

ps. The pub also stocks a wide range of bottled beers, which includes ales as well as lagers.

Beer as a Commodity

As more and more people switch from drinking in the pub to drinking at home,  beer is increasingly being regarded as a commodity rather than something to be enjoyed on a night out. A slab or two of canned lager now forms part of many people's weekly grocery spend, and the underlying thought process behind which band to choose is almost invariably that of price. Whatever brand of international lager happens to be on offer that particular week will usually dictate what ends up in the shopping trolley, especially when it is the lady of the house that is making the purchase. I don't mean to sound sexist about this, but I speak from personal experience when stating that is is usually women who are in charge of the weekly shopping budget, so it is inevitable they get to choose what the money is spent on.

We are all aware of the devastating effect this switch in drinking habits is having on pubs, but despite the large price differentials between the price of a pint in the local pub and that of a can from the nearest supermarket, there are other factors, apart from those of cost, that are keeping drinkers in their droves. away from pubs.  For the moment though, rather than elaborate on what these factors are, I want to address the effect this is having on consumer choice, and the availability, and indeed survival of local breweries.

Selling beer to supermarkets must be a mug's game, even for the major brewers. The former will inevitably demand substantial discounts, holding the threat of de-listing of particular brands from their shelves if the brewer(s) concerned don't play ball. Often the only way that brewers can maintain their margins is to cut costs and this is normally achieved by cuts in the brewing process. For example, lagering or maturation times might be reduced. There might be a small reduction in the alcoholic strength of the beer, meaning the brewer has to pay less duty to the Exchequer. Stella Artois is probably the best known example of a beer that has been reduced in strength in recent years, but there are also many examples of well-known ale brands having received this treatment as well (Bombardier, Old Speckled Hen to name but two).  Money saved by such reductions is rarely, if ever, passed on to the consumer. Even worse than the aforementioned, is the temptation to use cheaper and, by implication, inferior ingredients. Increasing the use of cheaper adjuncts, such as maize, rice or various sugars, rather than more expensive malted barley, is one example, as is the use of hop extracts rather than whole or pelleted hops. It is because of such practices that the commoditisation of beer has become such a cause for concern in recent years.  

This is the case in the UK at least, but what about countries like Germany, where beer is seen as part of the national psyche, as well as a matter of national pride, and where drinkers are protected by the world's oldest consumer protection law; the Reinheitsgebot? Whilst the latter undoubtedly  protects the consumer from the use of adjuncts and other inferior ingredients, the fact that it stipulates what beer can  be brewed from (malted barley, hops, yeast and water), does not prevent brewers from using either cheaper varieties of these key ingredients, or alternatively, less of them. Like in  the UK, beer in Germany is increasingly viewed as a commodity, much to the detriment of consumer choice and product variety, and is leading to beer as a drink becoming de-based and de-valued.

Fellow beer blogger Barm, I Might Have a Glass of Beer posted an article back in June about this situation using as his illustration a programme shown recently on German TV.  The programme highlighted all that is wrong with the German beer industry today, claiming that because the market is currently marked by consolidation and price wars, small breweries are closing. Cut price beer means German drinkers will not support their local breweries and buy the discounted big brands instead. Consumers in Germany take very cheap beer for granted, but although German brewing tradition is superb, German brewers have not paid enough attention to what has been happening in the rest of the world and have fallen behind. They all brew the same beer and have not kept up with the development of new hop varieties or techniques. The development is towards a monoculture such as previously existed in the USA, less hop, less aroma, less malt, less distinctive beers. 

I have seen  this discounting for myself, both recently, and also on previous trips to Germany. In supermarkets, beer is literally dirt cheap. So cheap in fact that even given the large disparities between beer duty/tax between Britain and the Federal Republic, much of what is stocked in supermarkets is sold at almost give-away prices. I have of course taken advantage of this situation, and have struggled back on several occasions with a  suitcase stuffed full of interesting bottles.  I say interesting because I have been quite discerning in my selections. For example when in Bamberg I restricted my purchases to beers from the city's 9 breweries and on a subsequent trip went so far as to buy a selection of beers directly from some of the breweries themselves. The choice of beers we noticed in shops on our recent trip to Munich though, was rather less inspired, and consisted in the main of the products of the city's Big-Six breweries, coupled with nationally available brands such as the aforementioned Becks, Bitburger and Warsteiner. Having said that it was good to be able to purchase bottles some of the stronger beer styles, such as Bock and Doppelbock, that are only available on draught at certain times of the year.

Commodity type beers were taken to the extreme at a small branch, a short distance away from our hotel, of budget supermarket NORMA, Here plastic PET bottles of "own-brand" beer were on sale at a ludicrously low price, I don't remember quite how low, as I wasn't paying that much attention at the time, but they did seem quite popular with shoppers. What did interest me was the Lobkowicz Baron Czech dark lager, sold at just 44 cents (plus 8 cents deposit) a bottle. This was a real bargain, and an excellent beer to boot, but I suspect it was a "one-off" special purchase, along the same lines as what Lidl's do over here. 

The biggest commodity market, so far as beer (and pretty much everything else) is concerned, has to be the United States. Home of the six-pack, and virtual pioneers of  lumping beer in with the groceries. It is several years since I last crossed the Atlantic, but even on my last visit I was able to witness the massive shift in people's perception of beer, from something cold and wet you buy in cans, to stick in the fridge and enjoy whilst watching  TV, or after mowing the grass in the "back-yard",  to craft-brewed, speciality beers, packed full of character and flavour that rank amongst the finest in the world.

Interestingly enough, Barm's article cites several examples where American breweries scooped awards in German beer style categories. It seems that so far as these awards are concerned, the best German style pilsener is no longer brewed in Germany, but by Sierra Nevada, in the USA, the land with no purity law, no beer culture, no centuries of tradition, where almost nobody even knows the word pilsener. What is even more disturbing is that in blind tastings, consumers had great difficulty telling apart the five best-selling German beers, (those produced by: Krombacher, Oettinger, Beck’s, Warsteiner and Bitburger), and none were able to correctly identify all five. Analysis in the laboratory at the brewing school Doemens Institut confirmed the similarity: all five beers have a similar gravity and level of bitterness..

A spokesman for the German brewing industry was forced to admit that German brewers have not been concerned  enough with what makes their product stand out among the competition. He thinks they are turning a corner and will concentrate more on regional roots. Yes, they still make cheapie brands, because they do not want to lose the consumers.

Back in the UK, despite what the Daily Mail would have us believe about it being "cheaper than water", beer is not sold at anywhere near the low price it is in Germany. This means discerning  UK consumers are prepared to pay that little bit extra for premium bottled ales, and certain lagers, whereas in Germany they expect to pay the same low prices as they would for standard everyday Helles and Pilsners.

Hopefully though, things are starting to change. In the upmarket Galeria-Kaufhof, just off Marienplatz in central Munich, we noticed an interesting display of bottles beers from both Fullers and Sam Smiths, including such delights as India Pale Ale, Porter and Imperial Stout. Perhaps even in Germany, as in both the UK and the USA,  there is hope for the stay-at-home beer drinker after all?

August Bank Holiday 2012

Well the last Bank Holiday weekend of the year is nearly over, and like the weather it's been a bit of a mixed bag. August Bank Holiday sees many beer festivals taking place, including on our own doorstep the one at the Halfway House, Brenchley. This award winning pub, and current West Kent CAMRA Pub of the Year, holds two such events each year;one over the Late Spring Bank Holiday and one over the August Holiday weekend.

 
Unlike previous years, and indeed the earlier festival, the forecast for Saturday was wet and windy, with torrential thundery downpours predicted. It certainly wasn't the weather for walking, so I joined a few of my CAMRA colleagues and caught the bus over to the pub. We arrived in the midst of a downpour, so went straight inside the pub, rather than sitting out into the garden where the majority of the beers are normally racked. Fortunately the pub was quite quiet, so we were able to grab a table and peruse the beer selection at our leisure. Compared to the event held over the Jubilee Weekend, this festival was somewhat toned down in nature, with only 50 beers available instead of the 70 on sale earlier in the year. Possibly landlord Richard Allen had seen the long term forecast, or alternatively with many people still on holiday at this time he though it wise to cut back on the beer order. Nevertheless, the beers that were available were a good selection  from Kent and Sussex brewers, which was the theme behind this  particular festival.

Beers that really stood out for me were Gravesend Guzzler from Millis Brewery and Beyond the Pale from Kent Brewery,  (my beer of the festival). I also caught up on same old favourites, including Blue Top from Old Dairy, Dark Star Original, plus a couple of beers from the Swan brew-pub at West Peckham which, although quite close to where I live, is not a pub I get to visit as often as I would like.

Round about one o'clock the sun came out, so we decided to move out into the garden, and the enjoyed the rest of the afternoon sitting outside. I grabbed a very tasty Cajun chicken burger to help soak up the beer, and whilst people began arriving as the day wore on, I can't say the festival was as busy as previous events.

On the way home we stopped off at the Bedford, in Tunbridge Wells, where alongside a selection of different beers two 5.0% offerings from Royal Tunbridge Wells Brewery caught my eye; Helles and Golden Ticket. The former is, as its name suggests, is a pale German-style beer, whilst the latter is a golden ale, with a fine slightly fruity flavour. Both beers were good, but of the two I preferred the Golden Ticket (think Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by Roal Dahl). 

I have written before about the renaissance of the Bedford, under the careful stewardship of Simon Lewis, who is also the founder, owner and the driving force behind RTWB. Well the pub just seems to get better with each visit;  it's certainly the place to enjoy a relaxing pin in pleasant surroundings in the company of like minded people, and so it proved on Saturday. Do call in if you are in Tunbridge Wells and see for yourselves.

The rest of the holiday weekend has been pretty mundane, catching up on domestic chores, gardening and even a spot of decorating! Having got these tasks out of the way by mid-afternoon, I jumped on my bike and headed down into Tonbridge to pick up a few last minute items. I also took the opportunity of calling in at the Humphrey Bean, (our local JDW)  to see what was on offer. I was disappointed not to find Thornbridge Jaipur on sale, as this excellent beer has become a semi-permanent fixture on the bar. My disappointment was mitigated though by two beers from Hopdaemon from Newnham, near Faversham. I tried both the 4.0% Incubus and the 4.5% Skrimshander;  the latter beer definitely having the edge over the former. I bumped into a couple of friends at the pub, so was able to enjoy a pleasant interlude catching up on things over my beer.

Tomorrow it's back to work. No doubt the weather will suddenly take a turn for the better but hey, that's what English Bank Holidays are all about!

ps. Check out the purpose built shelters in the bottom photo. With the summer we've just had, these could  soon be catching on at other pubs.

The Pubs of Tonbridge - Part 2

Following on from the previous article about Tonbridge pubs, and moving a bit closer towards the town centre, we come to the New Drum, tucked away down the steep narrow side street of Lavender Hill. It is worth noting that before turning into the aforementioned street, one passes one of Tonbridge's long lost locals. On the opposite side of Pembury Road, just down from the Primrose, is an attractive terraced house that was once the Druid's Arms. Evidence of this pub's former past can be ascertained by the stout post in the front of the building, which is the remains of the pubs former sign. The Druid's closed long before I became acquainted with  the town, but it looks as if it must have been a small and rather basic town local.

The New Drum is similar in appearance, and is evident that it started life as two adjoining Victorian terraced cottages that were knocked through into one some time in the late 19th Century. I first became acquainted with the pub in the early 1980's, when a work colleague took me there. It had recently been modernised and was then called  the Victoria Tavern. From memory I found it a bit too modern for my liking, preferring back then olde worlde traditional pubs. I am not certain what beer(s) it sold, but I have a feeling King and Barnes Sussex may have been one of them, which would have been unusual for the area at the time.




Shortly afterwards the pub changed hands. It's new owners were an elderly couple named Tom and Margaret. With the new owners, came a new name; Uncle Tom's Cabin - probably one of the daftest names for a pub I've ever come across, but one that seems to have stuck over the years. Even though the pub changed its name. yet again, in the mid-nineties to its present moniker, people still sometimes affectionately refer to it as the Cabin or Tom's. I have a particular soft spot for the pub, as for the half dozen or so years between my moving to Tonbridge and the birth of our son , BC (Before Child) as my wife likes to call those years, Tom's was very much my local. I wasn't in there every night, or even every other night, but one session I never missed was Sunday lunchtime. I would take the dog for a long walk, and then invariably end up in the pub, joining a very erudite bunch of regulars who, like me, were all thirty somethings. As well as putting the world to right we would consume several pints of beer, chosen from an ever changing list (Tom's was a free house). There was also a weekly meat raffle, so it was an added bonus if I could return home in triumph, with a joint of meat ready for the following Sunday's roast.

Tom's was also notorious for lock-ins. In the days before all day Sunday opening, come 2pm one of the regulars would be told to slip the latch on the door and the drinking would continue. It was not unusual for me to leave the pub at 4 pm, stagger home for a nice Sunday lunch, before dozing off into front of the tele. Nocturnal lock-ins were equally notorious, "Pull the curtains across, put the door on the latch and try not to make too much noise when you leave"!

Tom and Margaret were succeeded by another couple, Richard and Joan. For a while they obtained their beer from the Crown Brewery (former South Wales Clubs Brewery) of Pontyclun, but the Welsh beers were not to the taste of the locals (including myself), and the couple switched to Greene King. The Suffolk company was not particularly well represented in the South East at the time and their beers were a welcome addition to the local scene. Things continued in much the same vein as before, but my pub-going started to tail off following the birth of our son Matthew in late 1991.

Eventually yet another change of hands saw experienced licensee Tony, who also ran a pub in Goudhurst, buying the pub and putting his son Matt in charge. They made some welcome changes, opening the pub up and extending it even further backwards. They re-named it the New Drum; a far more sensible name than its previous one! The downside, so far as I was concerned, was that Matt was an out and out sports fanatic and, no matter what time of day or night one visited the pub there would be sport of some description showing on one of the all-pervasive television screens. It might have been golf, tennis, show-jumping or tiddly winks, but what ever it was Matt was engrossed in it, so much so that  at times it was difficult to get served!

The pub  has changed hands a couple of times since those days, but is pretty much the same. I don't tend to go on there that often, as I find it rather cliquey, and also the wall to wall TVs remind me of an American bar, rather than an English pub.

Heading down further into town along Pembury Road, one comes to the Somerhill, prominently sited on the junction with Priory Street. This is another pub with a chequered history. When I first came to Tonbridge it was a pretty basic, working man's local. It was called the Somerhill Arms back then; Somerhill being the name of the family seat of the D-Avidor Goldsmid family - the local big-wigs, cum-Lords of the Manor. Back then it was run by a chap called Vic and his wife, who's name escapes me. It was a rather non-descript sort of place, but it did have two bars.

When Vic passed on the Somerhill went through the first of a series of intermittent rough patches that have dogged it ever since. For a while it was definitely NOT the sort of place to enjoy a quiet drink with the locals!. Then some time in the early 1990's, the pub was bought by a small independent pub chain, called the Hooden Horse Group. They were based in Ashford but had gradually expanded westwards, also acquiring the John Brunt VC, pub in Paddock Wood. The Somerhill was given a complete re-fit; the ceilings were lowered, the bars were knocked through into one, and the serving area was moved over to the back wall of the pub. There were plenty of bare boards and beams, plus candles for lighting, but the whole thing wasn't really in keeping with what was a typical, late-Victorian building. Nevertheless the Wonderful Hooden Horse, as the pub was now called, did major on traditional draught beer with Hop Back Summer Lightning as one of its regular ales, alongside Old Hookey from Hook Norton. Mexican-style food, for some bizarre reason, was the pub's other attraction.

Like all fads this one eventually ran its course; the pub became increasingly run down, so much so that come the new millennium its kitchen had a closure order slapped on it by the local Environmental Health  Department. Cue another new owner, this time a member of the landed gentry. Unfortunately for him the pub's reputation had been severely damaged by the rats in the kitchen fiasco with the previous owners. Try as he might, this individual struggled on, but with a flawed reputation he was on a hiding to nothing. What made matters worse is that following years of neglect by various past owners, the building itself was in a a parlous state. The roof leaked like a sieve and the whole place suffered from problems of severe damp. Another new owner stepped up to the plate, but this chap was no fool when it came to running a pub. Steve and his wife had run a successful pub in Gravesend and were now keen to try their luck with the Hooden Horse.

They completely gutted the place, ripped out the false ceilings, moved the bar back to close to its original location, installed some comfortable seating, whilst still retaining an area for darts, pool etc. Finally they restored the pub's name to something like its original, but instead of the Somerhill Arms it became the Somerhill. They did really well for a number of years; the pub proving particularly popular with local builders and fellow tradesmen.  Beer wise the pub was nothing special, with Greene King IPA as the token cask ale, and with Steve resisting calls from local drinkers to put Harvey's on instead, they missed out on an important sector of trade. When the economic slump started affecting the construction industry the Somerhill's trade really began to suffer. What made matters worse was the closure (and subsequent demolition) of the Railway Bell, sited at the other end of Priory Street. Many of that pub's less desirable customers found their way up to the Somerhill, putting off the more gentrified customers it could, and perhaps should, have relied on.

It is still open today, but has had a succession of different licensees, Rumours surface, from time to time, that because of its prime corner site the pub is ripe for redevelopment, but fortunately to date none of these have proved true. At least the pub sells Harvey's these days, which has to be an improvement!

Two thirds of the way down Priory Street  is the Cask and Glass. For nearly six years this off-licence that specialises in draught cask beer (and cider)to take away, was run by my good self. I won't say any more about the Cask & Glass for now, suffice to say I have lots of very happy memories (plus the odd bad one), of the time I spent behind the bar there, of caring for the cask beer we sold, sourcing new or unusual beers and generally enjoying acting like a pub landlord who's customers went home to drink, rather than remaining on the premises.

At the far end of Priory Street, at the junction with Priory Road, stood the Railway Bell. Once billed as the roughest pub in Tonbridge, the Bell called time for good back in 2008 and was subsequently demolished. Flats now occupy the large, corner site, which is a shame as the pub itself was an attractive, late Victorian building which still could have had a viable future in the right hands.

Running parallel with both Lavender Hill and Priory Street, is St Stephen's Street, home to the penultimate pub in this part of town. The Punch and Judy is yet another pub that has undergone several name changes in recent years. When I first moved to Tonbridge, it was the Gardener's Arms, and whilst it was probably the most traditional pub in the town, it was one of the few not to sell any traditional beer. If you wanted a pint of "top-pressure" Fremlins, then this was the place to go. Perhaps the locals liked it that way, but the pub didn't get much custom from me because of this. The pub is constructed on two levels, and back in those days the public bar was at the front of the building. with a separate saloon bar to the rear.  Nowadays the interior has been opened up into a large single bar that extends a fair way back. It is now known as the Punch and Judy, having had the misfortune to be called Clown's Piano Bar for a short while.

As pubs go it is by far the best traditional pub in Tonbridge, but according to a friend who used to drink there regularly, the beer quality can at times be a bit variable. I can't really confirm this, as I've never had a really bad pint there, but then again I am a rather infrequent visitor.. Several years ago, the Punch was one of three pubs in the town owned by legendary Irish landlord, Colm Powell. We'll come onto his other former pubs in a later article, but for the record they were the Station Tavern (now Mojo's), plus the Ivy House. Colm was quite a character, but after many successful years of running his three pubs, became embroiled in a dispute with his landlords, Enterprise Inns.  This led to his hunger strike and sleeping in a coffin stunt, .in protest at the rent and beer prices being charged by Enterprise Inns. Unfortunately this culminated in his eviction from the pub. Colm managed to achieve nationwide publicity out of this though, being carried out of the Punch in a coffin, and then driven away by a horse-drawn hearse. Another memorable occasion was when he laid real turf in the bar, as part of the pub's St Patrick's Day celebrations. It took staff days afterwards to clean up all the soil and other mess left behind by this stunt!

Like in Colm's day, the Punch hosts regular quiz nights, live music evenings and other similar events. It has also re-commenced serving food. It is a real community local, and for the cask ale drinker, offers Harvey's, alongside a beer from local concern, Tonbridge Brewery.

The Forester's Arms is the last pub in this part of Tonbridge, and is also the town's only Shepherd Neame pub.  Anyone who knows me will know I dislike the Faversham brewer's beer with a vengeance, so much so that I can't remember the last time I set foot in the place! That's not to say it isn't a good pub.Sited on the main A26 heading out of town towards Tunbridge Wells, the Foresters is also the nearest pub to West Kent College, and is therefore popular with students.

When I first moved to Tonbridge, some 27 years ago, we lived just up the road from the pub and would pop in for a few drinks from time to time. Back then it was a traditional two-bar local with a small saloon and much larger public bar. The saloon was the haunt of Les, the one-eyed landlord, who would be sat on a stool at the bar, surrounded by a bunch of cronies, nodding to his bar-staff as to who to serve next. Not the most welcoming sort of place! When Les retired a very pleasant young couple took the pub on and made a real go of the place. It may have been around this time that Shep's renovated the pub and knocked the two bars through into one. It was probably also around this time that recipe for the company's beers changed for the worse, and I found I was no longer enjoying them.

As I said earlier, I haven't been in the Forester's for years, even though I drive past it twice a day on my way to and from work. There are blackboards outside advertising a multitude of different attractions, including various football matches, karaoke and other forms of entertainment, none of which appeal to me. The pub seems popular enough though with its own crowd, so it must be doing something right.

This then concludes the second instalment of our tour around the pubs of Tonbridge.  Part 3 will follow at an unspecified later date. ie. When I get round to writing it!

The Way Forward?

There was an article published, a month or so ago, in CAMRA’s "What's Brewing" newspaper in which correspondent Neil Harvey from Tyneside branch, argues the case for scrapping CAMRA branch meetings, and conducting all business via Facebook or Twitter instead.  He claims that  "it's either evolution or extinction for the campaign", arguing that unless CAMRA fully embraces modern technology it will fail to attract younger members and, as the older ones pass into obscurity then so will CAMRA itself. 

Whilst not quite willing to go all the way down that route, after all you can’t beat a good get together in a decent pub over a few pints, Neil does have a point. Formal branch meetings tend to be long and boring; such meetings are bad enough at work, so why subject oneself to more of the outside the workplace? Fortunately I’m no longer on the committee of my local branch, so no longer feel pressurised into attending such events. The trouble is, many of my fellow branch members would agree, as evidenced by the fact that few, if any, non-committee members turn up to what are billed as "open branch business meetings". With stuffy, out-dated, formal proceedings: “Point of order Mr Chairman,”; “Put it to the vote”; “Minute that, please secretary”, it's small wonder  that most younger members, as well as quite a few older ones, are put off attending such meetings.

Socials though are different and are definitely something that local branches should be encouraging. Over more years than I care to remember, my local branch (West Kent) has struggled to attract members to our socials; to say nothing of the aforementioned formal branch meetings! We have tried mailing people who live locally before holding a social in their particular town or village; we have tried adverts in the local paper and advanced notices via the branch website, but all to no avail. It seems that barring a few exceptions, we are stuck with the same old faces week in week out. Meetings, of course, are advertised each month in “What’s Brewing”, but judging by the poor attendance do people bother to consult the “Branch Diary” section? Or is what we are currently offering just not appealing to the majority of our 450 odd members?

Over the course of the last few years we have changed tack and have been updating members by e-mail instead..  This approach seems slowly to be working, but current data protection/anti-spam legislation means that members have to actively “opt in” to the e-mail circulation list before we can contact them. Over the years the numbers on the list does seem to have grown steadily, meaning we can inform more and more of our members about up and coming events.

As mentioned above, branch socials, along with business meetings, are listed in “What’s Brewing”, but the ridiculously short deadlines for notifying events for listing in the paper, does mean that the branch diary often has to be arranged weeks in advance,  leaving little opportunity for change or alterations to take place nearer the time. In short, the system is inflexible and arguably outdated.

Recently the branch has found a way around this by holding “unofficial” socials. It was realised, quite a long time ago, that there was just a small hardcore of members turning up to socials, and trips out, on a regular basis. This was especially true of events held at weekends or to places further afield. A number of us decided to start organising additional trips, either by public transport, or as part of a walk in the country, on days that didn’t clash with official branch events, staying in touch with each other by e-mail, and circulating details about travel arrangements, best pubs to visit etc amongst ourselves. This arrangement seemed to work quite well, and to date we have conducted various walks to hard to get to country pubs, and have also had days out to towns such as Lewes, Canterbury and indeed London, together with visits to the Kent Beer Festival and GBBF. 

As these unofficial and informal socials seemed to be working well, we decided to publicise them to a wider audience, by circulating details, by e-mail, on the branch mail-out system. This has led to other activities taking place, such as historic pub tours, (one of our committee members is a qualified “Blue Badge” tourist guide, and is happy to organise such tours). These events are now being publicised on the West Kent CAMRA Facebook page as well, and in turn members prescribing to the page have been putting up their own suggestions for walks/trips out etc, along with suitable dates. The whole thing is starting to snowball and become self-perpetuating, which has to be a good thing.

Obviously because these practices by-pass “What’s Brewing”, they have to remain unofficial, but it does seem to be the way forward in encouraging people to support their local branch, and to actually get involved.

I wonder what the views of other branches are on this matter?