Stourbridge Beer Festival Preview

(Produced for Ales & Tales)  

The mornings are brighter, there are flowers adding vibrant bursts of colour, trees in full blossom and residents at long last ditching their heavy winter coats. We've even managed to recover from losing that extra hour in bed with the arrival of British Summer Time.

This of course means two things: that by the time you are reading this spring is well and truly here and that the beer festival at the Stourbridge Town Hall is getting ready to tempt you with a multitude of real ale delights.

The 14th Stourbridge Beer Festival takes place a little later than usual, so make sure you make a note in your calendars for the 12^th 13^th and 14^th of May. The festival, for those that haven't been before, is held yearly at the Stourbridge Town Hall, close to town centre bus stops and the Stourbridge Town rail station. A short walk along the high street will present you with the magnificent Victorian town hall and the less aesthetically pleasing 1980s built Crown Centre. Entrance is through the library.

As ever there will be a delightful range of around 80 real ales from round the country and also around 20 real ciders and perries with their time-honoured fruitiness. This year's theme will be beers from Yorkshire, so along with plenty of your locally brewed favourites and a few festival specials, several gems from “God's Own County” will be making an appearance. Worry not however, as dourness and flat caps will of course be optional.

Our logo for the commemorative festival glasses this year is celebrating the life of a former resident and British hero, Frank Foley. In his role as passport control officer he helped thousands of Jews escape terror in Nazi Germany. At the 1961 trial of former high ranking Nazi Adolf Eichmann, he was described as a “Scarlet Pimpernel” for the way he risked his own life to save Jews threatened with death by the Nazis. Despite having no diplomatic immunity and being liable to arrest at any time, Foley would bend the rules when stamping passports and issuing visas, to allow Jews to escape “legally” to Britain or Palestine, which was then controlled by the British. Sometimes he went further, going into internment camps to get Jews out, hiding them in his home, and helping them get forged passports. One Jewish aid worker estimated that he saved “tens of thousands” of people from the Holocaust.

Entrance charge to the festival is reduced for all CAMRA members and those wishing to join up on the day will be rewarded with discounts and a host of other goodies. For more information visit our website www.stourbridgecamra.org.uk/beerfest/ where you'll be able to take a look at the beers on offer as well as how to get involved.

We hope to see you at this year’s festival, whether you are a veteran attendee of many years or have never been before. Remember, Stourbridge Beer Festival for three days will be the biggest pub around!

Roberto Ross

Meet the... Publican, Bob Dummons

(Produced for Ales & Tales) 


Meet the... Publican

Name: Bob Dummons

Age: 60

Occupation: Owner of the Waggon and Horses in Halesowen

• What was your first drink?

When I was seven years of age my parents took my brother and myself to France, Belgium and Holland. It was then that I sampled beer and wine on this trip. I can't remember what they were now though.

• What are your hobbies and interests?

Listening to music and going to concerts. Walking when I get the chance, and believe it or not, drinking beer. I also enjoy a drop of wine and going out to dine.

• What is your favourite beer?

The one I have bought for me! No Seriously, trying to narrow down to one beer is impossible. Having said that; Nottingham EPA, Marstons Burton Bitter, Linfit Enochs Hammer, Fullers ESB and P2 Stout come quickly to mind to name but a few.

• What is your favourite:

-Food? Indian cuisine

-Drink that's not Real Ale? Proper Tea, crushed leaves, etc.

-Music? As Yehudi Menuhin said when asked what music he liked and how he could play so many different genres, he said “There are only three kinds of music, good, bad and indifferent.” I like good music.

• How did you get started in the trade?

By joining CAMRA as a branch member, chairman and later area organiser. Also being in overall charge for a time of the beer at the Great British Beer Festival, and working in various pubs in Southampton.

• What's the history of your pub under your ownership.

We bought the pub as a lot of folks will know in 1987. At the time there were 6 handpumps and we increased these to 8. There were no real ale wholesalers at the time so the beers had to be sourced ourselves. We gradually ended up supplying the Seven Valley Railway, The Somers Sports and Social Club and the Beacon Hotel. The 14 pumps you see now came after a beer festival we did, we could not stillage casks upstairs so the extras were put on the bar and never came off.

• What are your aspirations for your business?

We are starting to do hot food and eventually we will put accommodation upstairs when the banks (spit) come to their senses. But overall I want a friendly pub that sells good food not a restaurant that sells good beer!

• What's the best and worst thing to happen in the industry in the last 10 years?

-Best? Not all-day opening, but flexible hours. Progressive duty for small brewers has also been a big boon to the industry.

-Worst? The lamentable rise of sub-standard alcopops. The lumping of all drinking cultures under one roof, so you have morons out of their face (and normally clothes) categorised with good steady (well sometimes steady) real ale drinkers in their local.

• How do you feel CAMRA could help you in your business?

Vote me National Pub of the Year! No really, I have been a member since 1974 and it's a campaign! So it's always what can I do for CAMRA.

• Which is your favourite pub? (Can be anywhere in the country as long as you don't own it)

How would I know, I don't go anywhere else! Once again I cannot narrow it down to one. My list would include The Beacon Hotel in Sedgley, Coopers Tavern in Burton upon Trent and The Barton Arms, Newtown, Birmingham.

Roberto & Bob
Waggon & Horses
21 Stourbridge Road
Halesowen
B63 3TU


Roberto Ross

Stourbridge Beer Festival

The Duke William

Stourbridge & Halesowen CAMRA

www.stourbridgecamra.org.uk

Pub Of The Year 2011 & Cider Pub Of The Year 2011

The Stourbridge & Halesowen Branch of CAMRA would like to announce their “Pub of Year 2011” & “Cider Pub of the Year 2011” to The Duke William, 25 Coventry Street, Stourbridge, DY8 1EP.

On Monday 21^st of March the Stourbridge & Halesowen Campaign for Real Ale awarded The Duke William, Stourbridge, its most prestigious yearly awards after many months of judging. Branch Chairman, Roberto Ross, stated “There are so many quality pubs in our branch so it has always been difficult to choose an overall winner. The work David Craddock has done to this distinctive Edwardian town centre pub is breathtaking, with its high ceilings, lovely brickwork and recently refurbished oak floors, the pub is a true gem to visit.

“The beer and cider quality is, of course, tremendous and the pub additionally serves a dazzling array of foreign bottled beers.

“With pubs nationwide closing their doors forever at a rate of one every three hours it's wonderful to see such dedication from staff and investment into an area that is already regarded as a real ale heaven.”

This outstanding new pub has very recently added a brewery to its set-up and in the next few weeks will be serving some of its very own craft ales.

David Craddock & Roberto Ross

What's new at The Shovel Inn

What's new at The Shovel Inn

What comes to peoples minds when they think of The Lye? The noted English stage and film actor who played King Arthur in the comedy/musical, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949), and the Pharaoh Seti I in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 film The Ten Commandments; Sir Cedric Hardwicke? Er no probably not. How about then the bountiful spread of Balti houses so appetisingly wafting their exotic aromas through the innocent nostrils of passers-by? Now that's more like it!

Mexican Night

Well from the 31^st of March, The Shovel Inn, Lye, will be conveying a different redolence to the scene. After a £30,000 investment in the pub which has included extending and improving the kitchen, adding to its already popular Ultimate Balti Night, which takes place on a Wednesday, every Thursday will be Mexican Night. The pub will transform itself from cosy English boozer to vibrant Mexican saloon each week with innovative changes in decoration.

Real Ale Fridays

That's not the only thing changing at The Shovel Inn though, extending its opening hours on Friday so that it opens all day from noon till midnight is another boost for parched imbibers. Not to mention another wonderful deal where between noon and 5pm Friday CAMRA members get 10% off their drinks if they remember to bring their membership card. A welcome gesture in such times of austerity.

Help for Heroes

Lastly and most poignantly is the beer festival The Shovel Inn is organising to take place on Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd April which is in aid of the charity Help for Heroes. Complimenting the twelve ales already situated on the bar will be a further six racked outside. A special beer is also being brewed to commemorate this event by Andrew Brough who is brewing at the Ironbridge brewery in Shropshire.

Archives and photos and even an unseen Pathé film from WWII will also be for everyone’s viewing pleasure during the festival so those interested in history will have a fascinating time. Commemorative glasses will be available with all proceeds donated to charity and there will also be entertainment from local musicians.

Shovel Inn

81 Pedmore Road, 

Lye, Stourbridge, 

DY9 7DZ

Roberto Ross
(Produced for Ales & Tales)