Outposts, rarities plus the occasional, unexpected delight

Back in the early days of CAMRA ale lovers often knew exactly where they were in the country, just from a quick glance at the name of the owning brewery on the signs, or on the side of the pub, was sufficient to inform drinkers, what they might expect. Back then, the majority of the surviving local independent breweries, had a clearly defined and often quite rigid trading area. So, for example, if you were in the West Sussex town of Horsham, or thereabouts, it would be no surprise to see the name King & Barnes featuring on many of the local pubs. Similarly, if you were in Dorset, and close to the county town of Dorchester, local brewers, Eldridge Pope, would be most prominent name appearing on local pubs.

There were numerous other examples, some perhaps covering a wider area, due to the brewery in question, being a larger concern. Examples such as Brain’s of Cardiff, Robinson’s of Stockport and Thwaites of Blackburn, spring to mind. The thing was, drinkers and beer connoisseurs, knew what to expect, and fully expected the necessity of travelling to different areas, and sometimes even just different towns, in order to track down and ample the wares of a particular brewer.

This was one of the joys of being a beer lover during the late 1970’s to early 80’s, and also part of the fun. Things started to change with the advent of beer agencies, who sourced and then offered cask ales drawn from a much wider area of the country. Later on, the gradual appearance of a growing number of new, start-up, independent small brewers, added another complication to the mix, even if it did improve the choice available to the drinker.

For the purpose of this article, I want to go back to those early, pre-internet, and pre-Smartphone, days when, printed guides, maps, and good old-fashioned paper and pen were essential tools for those in search of a good, or indeed unfamiliar beer. CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide proved indispensable in this respect, as did a pioneering book published in 1973, called “The Beer Drinker’s Companion.”  Assiduously written and researched by Frank Baillie – a beer connoisseur if ever there was one, the book listed each one of the draught (cask), keg and bottled beers produced by the individual breweries.

Frank also told drinkers where they could find pubs belonging these breweries.  A statement, such as," within a 30-mile radius of Little Topping," might suffice, but often he would add a statement saying where “outposts” of the brewery, might be found outside of that radius. For example, the late, lamented Horsham brewers, King & Barnes owned 58 pubs, that were easy to find in Horsham and the surrounding villages. Further out, a little more detective work was needed. Outposts were listed in towns such as Reigate, and villages such as Blackbrook near Dorking, and Eridge, near Tunbridge Wells.

The Huntsman still provides refreshment to rail travellers, arriving at Eridge station, although today the pub is owned by Dorset brewers, Hall & Woodhouse aka Badger Ales. It now represents something of lone outpost for the Blandford Forum based company. When I moved to west Kent, King & Barnes actually owned a pub in the county, namely the Hopbine, at Petteridge, near Paddock Wood. Today, the pub is a free house, but back in the day, landlord Mike Winser, served a very good pint of K&B Sussex Bitter, alongside a selection of the brewery’s seasonal beers.

The Huntsman isn’t the only anomaly in the west Kent area, as the village of Riverhead, which today is a district of Sevenoaks, is where Hertford brewers, McMullen & Sons Ltd, have a lone outpost to the south of the River Thames, in the form of the Bullfinch. This attractive looking pub is just a stone’s throw from the massive Tesco superstore, just off the London Road, but strangely enough the presence of this Mac’s pub, is rarely acknowledged by the local CAMRA branch.

This might have something to do with the branch’s late chairman, Scottish Iain, a man who, shall we say, wasn’t over enamoured with McMullen’s beers. We suspect this antipathy dated back to when Iain lived in Hertfordshire, but strangely enough he wasn’t the only person I’ve known who wasn’t keen on the company’s beers. I, on the other hand, don’t mind Mac’s beers, although I don’t pretend to be a massive fan. Back in my student days, a friend and I cycled from Barking to Waltham Abbey, a distance of around 16 miles - although it seemed much longer at the time, in order to sample McMullen’s for the first time. 

Mac’s had a pub in the town, and this represented their nearest tied house to Barking, where my university friend lived with his father during the summer vacation. Checking back in the 1974 Good Beer Guide – the only guide available to point us towards the nearest McMullen’s outlet, the pub in question was the Angel, in Sun Street. Furthermore, according to What Pub, the Angel is still a McMullen’s pub, nearly half a century later. So, what exactly is Kent’s lone McMullen’s outlet like? 

Surprisingly spacious, is the answer, and judging by the number of vehicles in the car park, popular too. It also offers a warm welcome as I discovered the other Saturday, when I left Mrs PBT’s to do the shopping, and called in at the Bullfinch for a flat white, plus a quick look around. The coffee was needed as the visit was the day after the previous day’s Birmingham pub walkabout!

It was quite a few years since I’d last set foot in the pub, and that occasion had been for a poorly attended, CAMRA social.  Public transport to Riverhead is non-existent in the evening, and the few of us who did turn up, faced a 30-minute walk from Sevenoaks station. This time around, the Bullfinch appeared far more spacious, and despite the diners, plus the odd casual drinker, there were plenty of spare chairs and tables. McMullen’s IPA and Country Best Bitter were the cask ales available, along with a beer called Harlequin, from the company’s Rivertown Brewing subsidiary. 

I had a brief chat with the landlord, whilst waiting for my flat white to be poured. The discussion centred on the pub’s Gavin & Stacey themed, quiz evening. Mrs PBT’s is a big fan of this sit-com; I’m rather less keen, but it seemed a good reason to tempt her out for a drink. If not, the Bullfinch looks a reasonable bet for a meal, with a varied and interesting food offering to go with the McMullen’s beer. 

I’d be interested to learn of other “outpost” pubs, that people know of, because even in these times of mega-choice, it’s good to hear of the odd “lone wolf”, flying the flag for a family-owned, independent brewer.

The outlook for Birmingham, is mild

Three of the six pubs I visited in Birmingham last Friday had mild ale on sale. It was dark mild as well, and what's more it was the cask-conditioned version too. So, three different pubs and mild from three different breweries, each dark and distinctive in its own way. Drinking this dark, mellow, and rather tasty beer, was a rare treat, as we never see cask mild in Kent or indeed anywhere in the south east. We might occasionally see keg mild, but it's still very much the exception.

Each of the milds I enjoyed last Friday we're of the highest standard, being well-conditioned and keenly priced as well, and the fact it was being stocked at all, bodes well for the future of what was once a very common style of beer. This is despite the many threats facing mild ale, although contrary to the rest of the UK, Birmingham and the West Midlands have always been a haven for this once popular beer style.

My first beer on arriving in Birmingham was a well-earned pint of Hobson’s Champion, a 3.2% abv dark and “nutty” mild. The pub where I enjoyed this beer was the Post Office Vaults, a subterranean bar reached from the street by a flight of steep descending steps. Below ground, this opens out into a long bar with tables and chairs at either end.

 

Described as "Birmingham’s premier, specialist beer bar," the POV stocks beers from Belgium, Germany, France, Norway, Holland, Austria, and the USA, alongside a range of up to eight cask ales, micro-breweries around the UK. We received a warm welcome from the two girls behind the bar, and given the range of beers available, it was a shame we couldn’t stop longer, but needs must, and after a quick catch-up with my fellow pub explorers it was time to head off to sample a few of Birmingham’s finest.

Traditional Mild was also available in the second pub of the day, which was the Queen's Head, a modernised, terrace pub in the Colmore district of town, and just a stone’s throw from Birmingham’s imposing town hall.  The pub had a bright and well-lit interior which was enhanced by the use of reflective, metallic tiling around the bar, off-set by some much darker tiles in other areas. There was a warm and welcoming feel about the place, which translated into large numbers of office workers enjoying a lunchtime pint, along with a bite to eat. (The food looked good, btw!)

The Queen's Head is owned by Davenport’s Brewery, a name that some of us remember from the 1970s. No one seemed quite sure when the original brewery closed or even when it reopened, but when I lived in Manchester, during the mid-1970’s, Davenport’s distinctive delivery vans were a familiar sight on the city’s streets, offering the company’s unique, “Beer at Home” bottled beer service for those unwilling, or unable to venture out to the pub.

A spot of online research revealed that the Davenport's Bath Row brewery ceased production in 1986. After its closure, the company was bought by the Highgate Brewery of Walsall, who brought the Davenport’s name back to life. Sadly, this revival was short-lived as Highgate itself went into liquidation after a failed attempt by two property developers to rescue the brewery.  The company along with the Davenport’s beer brands and recipes, ended up in the hands of Smethwick-based pub branch company, Global Star.

The revived Davenport’s name along with its beers, is now, once again, a familiar sight in the West Midlands, and for someone like me, who is interested in brewery history, it was great to enjoy a few of these beers once again, on their home turf. There were four, Davenport’s cask ales on sale at the Queen’s Head, CB Original Bitter, IPA, Gold Ale, plus a traditional dark mild. All four ales had their own, distinctive, retro pump clip, and the 3.5% abv mild was especially good. I also tried a half of CB Original Bitter, for comparison/nostalgia reasons.

The next, and the final mild ale pub, was actually No. 4 on our guide (LAF)’s list, but No. 5 if you count the rather strange Big Smoke Bar. Stafford Paul and I swerved that one, after departing the Barton’s Arms slightly later than the rest of the group. We didn’t miss much, by all accounts, not unless Shisha and fortified Jamaican wine are your recreational drugs of choice!  We stuck our heads through the door, in passing, but only to confirm we’d made a wise decision in giving that particular pub a miss.

Instead, we carried on, along the busy urban, dual-carriage way back towards the city centre, before crossing to pub No. 4, which was the Bull. As we walked across the car park behind the pub, the rain started, and didn’t stop until I was safely back at Moor Street station, several hours later. 

We made our way inside this classic, Birmingham street-corner pub, glad to have escaped the rain, and feasted our eyes on the interior of this popular backstreet local. The Bull is one of the oldest pubs in Birmingham and has a snug, comfortable and homely feel to it. There are two distinct drinking areas surround a U-shaped bar with a smaller back room for more privacy. A collection of over 300 ceramic and porcelain jugs adorns the ceiling, along with a number of old pictures and memorabilia.

There was also a good choice of cask ale, with beers from Hook Norton (Old Hooky), Oakham (Citra), and Church End Brewery available. The 3.8% Grave Digger’s Mild, from the latter company, was my choice, and it turned out to be the best pint of mild of the day, and possibly the best pint overall. Paul and I hadn’t been at the Bull long, before the rest of the group arrived, and they were as equally enamoured of the Bull as we were. The pub was definitely a nice place to while away a rainy afternoon, but there were at least two more pubs to visit of LAF’s itinerary, and possibly more.

We will leave those pubs for another day, as this article is supposed to be about mild. I must admit, that despite Birmingham being a enclave for the style, I still didn’t expect to find it on sale at three of the six pubs we visited, and for it to be in such good condition. It was keenly priced as well, with the Grave Digger’s Mild retailing at just £4.20 a pint, at the Bull. So, if you are someone with a craving for this increasingly rare style of beer, you know where to head for, and even if mild is not your tipple, I’m sure you will find some of the other beers to your taste, alongside some of the finest pubs in the land.