Madcow38

www.seberkscamra.org.uk

Issue 38, Feb-Apr 2015 Page 3

Introduction

Welcome to the thirty eighth edition of the Mad Cow magazine. As the quest to find a new permanent edi-tor continues I have offered

to produce this edition as a guest editor for what I hope does not prove to be the last one for the time being. The first edition was published in 2005 during the infancy of the Berk-shire South East branch of CAMRA by our current Re-gional Director, Nick Boley. The magazine has seen a string of accom-plished editors over the years including Nick, Matt Ford, Simon Grist, John Winkley, Jeremy Barber and even myself filling in on the odd occasion. More recently, a mid-edition digital only version has appeared (Mini Mad Cow) pro-duced by Mike Rathge. Each editor has brought their own style coupled with their passion and enthusiasm for Real Ale. I still have a copy of the original print … – any offers? One of the constants that have remained over the years is our printer based in Bramley, Greenhouse Graphics, whose advice and support has proved invaluable. (www.greenhousegraphics.co.uk)

Cheers! Mike Smith

Contacts Mad Cow Magazine Editor ~ position vacant Advertising ~ Jeremy Barber [email protected] Berkshire South East Branch General Enquiries ~ Mike Rathge [email protected] Chairman ~ David Richards [email protected] Website ~ www.seberkscamra.org.uk Trading Standards 0845 404 0506 www.consumerdirect.gov.uk Back issues of the Mad Cow magazine are available to view on our website.

@CamraBSE @Ascot_Beer_Fest

Bse Camra

The views expressed in the Mad Cow are those of individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Campaign for Real Ale.

© Berkshire South East CAMRA 2015



Pub News

Ascot Jagz bar next to the station has been re-furbished and renamed as the Station Inn.

Binfield Former branch Pub of the Year, the Jack o’Newbury, has been sold to the land owner behind the pub and it has been re-ported that former Good Beer Guide land-lord of the Victoria Arms, Jim Teasdale, is to take charge behind the bar (see article on page 20).

Bracknell

After twelve years manag-ing the Blue Lion landlord, Trevor Cook, was given just three weeks’ notice as the

Stonegate Pub Co. decided to close his community pub and sell the land for rede-velopment. The atrium bar at South Hill Park now have four hand-pumps in use, serving Hook Norton, St. Austell and two guest beers. Leigh is the new manager at the Silver Birch following a refurbishment and con-tinues to serve Greene King beers.

Crowthorne The Waterloo Hotel has closed and is rumoured to be redeveloped as a care home. It used to sell a decent pint of Cour-age Best, although real ale has not been sold for some time.

Eversley A mid-week early doors discount is still available at the Tally Ho offering 50p off a pint of real ale between 5pm and 7pm. There are bar-bites on Fridays and a range of four real ales including LocAle from the likes of Siren, Andwell, Longdog and West Berkshire.

Tally Ho, Eversley

Hurst A Real Cider and Perry festival will be held at the Wheelwrights Arms from Monday, 2nd to Sunday, 8th March, showcasing cider from Lilley’s, Orchard Pig, Bottle Kicking, Broadoak, Gwynt y Ddraig, Mole’s, Cornish Orchards and Millwhite’s. The pub will also be stocking a Locale from the West Berk-shire brewery for a trial period.

Jealott’s Hill Emily has been steadily building up a reputation for great ales, Friday steak nights (sourced from the local butcher) and monthly Karaoke since taking over at the New Leathern Bottle last June. St Austell Trelawny is popular with the locals as are the two changing guests that will include LocAles from Windsor & Eton, Rebellion, Andwell



Pub News



Bracknell





Tally Ho, Eversley





Pub News



Bracknell





Tally Ho, Eversley





and Ascot Ales. A real cider is planned for the summer months.

Reading Brought back to life with a magnificent re-furbishment, the Wesnes family have re-opened the Fisherman’s Cottage on the canal side near Blake’s Lock after purchas-ing the pub from Fullers Brewery last summer. Three LocAles are currently on offer to enjoy in a relaxed bar area with comfy sofas and sports TV or you can opt to dine in the conservatory. West Berkshire Brewery has received the Royal’s Seal of Approval. A partnership with Reading Football Club has been an-nounced to sell their multi-award winning Good Old Boy bitter outside the East Stand at the Madejski Stadium before all home matches and within hospitality areas. Pre-sumably this move ensures that the bar only gets hit before the game.

Sandhurst The Dukes Head remains closed and freehold offered for sale by Greene King.

Warfield The Spice Lounge (formerly the Three-legged Cross) no longer sells real ale.

Winkfield A programme of refurbishment is underway at the Squirrels Bar, the restaurant is complete with the traditional Sunday roast and Thursday curry night both proving popular. LocAles are well represented with Rebellion Smuggler and Andwell King John on offer, alongside Fullers London Pride on a recent visit. Phil and Jean Lacey at the White Hart are as welcoming as ever, even when a mob of thirsty CAMRA members arrive mid-way

through their Wednesday night quiz to sample their excellently kept Rebellion IPA and Doom Bar. The dining area looks im-pressive and definitely worthy of a visit.

White Hart, Winkfield

Wokingham The Molly Millar next to the station are now serving up to four real ales including a LocAle or two. Their buy six get one free discount scheme has been extended; CAMRA members can obtain a further 20% discount. The Victoria Arms has re-established itself as a sports bar with five TV’s for your enjoyment of the latest Premiership action. There are two real ales on sale from na-tional breweries (Sharp’s and Caledonian on my visit). Sainsbury’s have opened a local super-market at the former Norreys Barn pub which closed in 2013.

Wokingham Borough Councillors have passed a motion to de-velop policies to help protect pubs across the Borough. The motion also calls on the Council to assist local groups to nominate their pub as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) in the wake of Tesco moving in to convert the Maiden Over pub at Earley into a supermarket.



Why Pubs Fail By David Richards There are a couple of phrases that we oc-casionally use within CAMRA. The first is “Every pub has the potential to be a great pub.” And then there is “There is no such thing as a bad pub, just bad landlords.” That is why CAMRA will campaign to save every pub, not just those that serve real ale. Contrary to the myths put out in some cir-cles, not all pub closures are the fault of greedy pubcos or supermarket chains. So why do some pubs fail? There are publi-cans that I can think of who have taken over a pub with barely any previous expe-rience and apparently without doing any market research before they move in. They then open their doors and wonder why they are not trampled in the rush to get inside. I have been into such pubs and you can almost hear the tumbleweed blow-ing through. I would appeal to prospective publicans to consider the following: � If you haven’t run a pub before, make

sure that you understand the financial demands and the workload involved.

� Do your market research. Find out

what other food and drink outlets there are in the area and what they are of-fering. Find out about the area and what type of customers you are likely to attract.

� Running a pub is all about people, it’s

a people business and if you are not good with people, be it staff or cus-tomers, then this may not be the busi-ness for you.

� Buying a pub or a lease is much like

buying any other business, so do your

‘Due Diligence’ checks and proceed warily before signing a contract or parting with cash. If the pub has a ‘tie’ or any other constraints on trade, make sure that you understand the implications.

� Prepare a budget and check that you

can live on the projected income. � Run your pub like a business, find a

‘Unique Selling Proposition’ (USP) and differentiate your offering from all the others in the area in some way. If you’re not offering something special, why would customers choose to visit you instead of going elsewhere?

� If your pub is off the beaten track or

out in the countryside, make it a ‘des-tination pub’ so that people want to travel to visit it and will seek it out.

� Once you have settled on your USP,

advertise yourselves locally and put the word out. Use a range of different advertising channels to do this. Peo-ple won’t necessarily know that you are there unless you tell them.

� Continuously conduct your own mar-

ket research. Visit the competition and keep track of what they are doing. Don’t copy, but do better than them or try something a bit different.

� Focus on quality and excellent cus-

tomer service. The rest of the world is moving this way and it’s what custom-ers are growing to expect.

� Train and motivate your staff. Insist

that they learn the product range and are able to talk about each product with knowledge and enthusiasm. En-courage them to smile (and do it your-self too).



� Never sell bad beer. Test it regularly and if you think it is going off, take it off sale immediately. Never argue with a customer about beer quality. Immediately offer them a replacement and then, when they are happy, inves-tigate the problem quietly and without drama.

� If your pub is quiet, don’t turn the mu-

sic up to compensate, that will only serve to put off even more people.

� If you think that some of your custom-

ers are giving your pub a bad name or lowering standards, don’t encourage them and, better still, get rid of them. I’ve seen pubs turned around by sim-ple steps like this.

� Keep the pub clean and smelling

fresh. Keep the loos clean and make sure that there is plenty of loo roll and a clean bar of soap or a full soap dis-penser.

It is amazing and saddening to see so many pubs that fall down on some or all of these basic principles. It’s not rocket sci-ence! Publicans will inevitably hide behind the “use it or lose it” excuse to explain their failing business, however, customers will only want to “use it” if pubs are providing what they want and come to expect.

CAMRA Members

Weekend 2015

17th - 19th April

Albert Hall Nottingham

CAMRA Members’ Weekend, featuring the National AGM and Conference, is where our members discuss our future policy and direction. The weekend also offers the ideal op-portunity for mem-bers to socialise with friends, visit recom-mended pubs and go on organised trips.

camraagm.org.uk











CAMRA Members

Weekend 2015

17th - 19th April



camraagm.org.uk











CAMRA Members

Weekend 2015

17th - 19th April



camraagm.org.uk

BOTTLE BEERS BREWERY TOURS

WEST BERKSHIRE BREWERYThe Flour Barn Frilsham Home Farm Yattendon, RG18 0XT



Brewery News

Hogs Back

You can now become a member of the newly launched Tongham TEA Club for an annual fee of £45 giving you 15% off

draught and 10% off everything else in the shop as well as branded goodies and member only events (full details can be found at www.tonghamteaclub.co.uk). Ex-isting discount schemes will be phased out.

Windsor & Eton Conqueror, a magnificent 5% black IPA, was heralded by the public as their Beer of the Festival at last October’s Ascot Racecourse beer festi-val. Customers were im-pressed with the complexity and smoky overtones of this full roasted strong bitter. The brewery has submitted plans to open a new free house in a converted 17th century building on Thames Street. Meanwhile, head brewer Paddy Johnson’s son, Kieran, has started a new venture called Uprising which promises to push brewing to new boundaries in the town drawing on his ex-periences from travelling around the world.

Ascot Ales

The brewery’s Single Hop series continues with two new UK varieties. Currently Min-strel, a UK variety that has spiced berries with orangey

citrus aromas. The next variety to be brewed will be Archer that has floral aro-mas with delicate hints of lime and peach (Single Hop is a 4.6% light copper coloured IPA, brewed with a different single variety of hops every month).

Rebellion The Marlow brewery have signed a new 20 year lease at their premises in Marlow Bottom and have embarked on several capital investment projects. The new shop was

up and running before Christmas and cus-tomers are welcome to sample their beer before buying. The shop now stocks an extensive range of wines, ciders and local food produce – well worth a visit. A new tank/fermentation room has been complet-ed and works are underway constructing a new brew house. Trial brews have been successful, using barley grown locally by their landlord and they hope to extend the supply source from local harvests. The biennial charity weekend is scheduled for 11th and 12th July this year.

West Berkshire

Brewery Chairman, David Bruce, is plan-ning to raise £4m through an Enterprise Investment Scheme to fund further expan-sion of the business. He is looking to con-struct a new brewery, visitor centre and purchase a freehold pub to meet the grow-ing demand for their beers. This year is the 20th anniversary of the brewery from its humble beginnings in a barn at the back of the Pot Kiln pub in Frilsham. To celebrate they have dusted off the archives and are brewing one of their original beers, Grizzle, a 4.2% tawny coloured ale with earthy hop flavours named after a brick that was made at the Frilsham brickworks.



Brewery News (contd.)

Siren Craft Brew

Siren Craft will be celebrating their second anniversary in February. To mark the event they are bottling part two of a blended oak aged anniversary ale called ‘Maiden’. Siren started by brewing a hoppy American style barley wine, which they transferred into Bourbon, Tequila, Arma-

gnac, Madeira and Rum barrels. The final selected blend creates an incredibly complex barley wine. Production rates continue to increase month on month with expectations to be at 800 to 1000 litres per month by the end of the year. Distribution continues to be evenly split be-tween cask, keg and bottles. Liquid Mistress has won the SIBA South Re-gion Craft Beer in Keg Competition 2014 and will go through to compete at the National Beer Competition at BeerX March 2015. Beer Festival Guide By Simon Grist Updates will be posted on our website at seberkscamra.org.uk/localfestivals

18th - 20th February 2015: The Brewmasters Beer Festival eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-brewmasters-a-theatre-of-beer-clapham-2015-tickets-14560630237 There is no CAMRA Battersea Beer Festival this year as the hall is being renovated. However, an alternative has been organised even closer to Clapham Junction station. They advertise over 200 cask beers, plus ciders and a selection of bottled foreign beers. Reduced entry for CAM-RA members.

20th- 21st February 2015: Alton Beer Festival altonbeerfestival.co.uk Entry is by advance ticket only and may sell out. There should be around 70 ales, plus ciders and perries. In an environmental initiative, custom-ers are requested to bring their own lined half pint beer glass.

11th – 13th March 2015: London Drinker Beer & Cider Festival northlondon.camra.org.uk/viewnode.php?id=772 Held in the Camden Centre opposite St Pancras station this is a very popular CAMRA festival with Londoners. Expect around 150 real ales, ciders & perries, plus an extensive foreign beer bar. Reduced entry for CAMRA members.

13th – 15th March 2015: The Perseverance, Wraysbury thepercy.co.uk A Spring beer festival from this friendly local. Landlord Nick will typically put on around 8-10 carefully selected real ales at time during the festival. Hopefully the weather will be unseasonably warm like last year.




Siren Craft Brew










Siren Craft Brew









Beer Festival Guide (contd.)

19th – 22nd March 2015: Rose & Crown, Sandhurst roseandcrownsandhurst.info Another beer festival at our reigning Berkshire South-East Pub of the Year. Expect around 20 real ales, both local and national, plus a few real ciders. Theme – Victorian England Past & Present.

20th – 21st March 2015: Winchester Real Ale & Cider Festival winchesterbeerfestival.org.uk Winchester is only 35 minutes by train from Reading, making this CAM-RA organised festival surprisingly accessible. It is held in the elegant surroundings of the Guildhall, where there should be around 75 real ales, ciders & perries. Entry is by advance ticket only.

2nd – 5th April 2015: Egham Beer Festival eghambeerfestival.co.uk This will be the 20th charity beer festival at Egham United Services Club. Bob Inman specialises in discovering new breweries and new brews from old favourite brewers making this festival a “tickers” paradise. Ex-pect around 60 ales, plus around a dozen ciders & perries. Reduced entry for CAMRA members.

23rd - 25th April 2015: Farnham Beer Exhibition (“Beerex”) farnhamlions.org.uk/fundraising/farnhambeerex.html The Beerex is run jointly by Farnham Lions and CAMRA at the Farnham Maltings. Expect around 70 ales, ciders & perries. This festival is very popular, having run every year since 1977. Tickets will go on general sale at 8am on Sunday 1st March, with demand so high that some people queue throughout the night.

30th April – 3rd May 2015: Reading Beer & Cider Festival readingbeerfestival.org.uk This festival is organised by our neighbours in Reading & Mid Berks CAMRA. It features a remarkable 500+ real ales, around 150+ ciders & perries, an extensive selection of foreign beers, and some English wines for good measure. Reduced entry for CAMRA members.

23rd – 24th May 2015: Royal Oak, Sunningdale theroyaloaksunningdale.co.uk/ A first beer festival from this up-and-coming local pub. Plans are still being firmed-up but we anticipate around 15-20 real ales, all from local brewers. There will be a “Battle of the Breweries” competition where customers vote for their favourite based upon the beers on offer.

24th May 2015: Bracknell Town FC Ale & Wine Festival bracknellalefestival.co.uk Unbelievably this is already the 5th year of this event held by Bracknell Town FC. Expect around 20 ales from local and regional breweries, plus ciders and English wines. You can take your drink onto the pitch and (hopefully) soak up the sun! Free entry for CAMRA members.

5th Bracknell Ale & Wine FestivalSunday 24th May @ Bracknell Town Football Club, RG12 9AN from 1pm

20+ Real Ales

Wine & Cider

Live Music

Food on site

On the pitch

FREE entry to CAMRA members

Tickets On Sale Now Atwww.bracknellalefestival.co.uk

Come and celebrate our

�fth birthday in style!

bracknellalefst

bracknellalefestivalFestival sponsor wanted. Seewww.bracknellalefestival.co.uk for details



Branch Diary

Visit our branch website for the latest diary updates. We welcome your suggestions for a future social visit. Contact our social secretary, Clive Doran. [email protected]

FEBRUARY Thursday, 12th February 8pm Queen’s Head, Wokingham RG40 1BP Social, all welcome. Thursday, 26th February 8pm Sunningdale Social ~ Royal Oak SL5 0QL Then to Nags Head SL5 0NG Social, all welcome. Saturday, 28th February Central Southern Regional Meeting Details TBC, all members welcome.

MARCH Thursday, 5th March 8pm New Leathern Bottle Jealott's Hill RG42 6ET Open Meeting, all members welcome. Saturday, 7th March Annual Dinner – Beer & Curry Roebuck / Sultan Balti Palace, Market Place, Wokingham RG40 1AL Details TBC, members advance booking. Thursday, 19th March 8pm Rose & Crown, Sandhurst GU47 8HA Beer Festival, all welcome. Thursday, 26th March Windsor & Eton Brewery visit Ascot Beer of the Festival Presentation Details TBC, members advance booking.

MARCH (contd.) Saturday, 28th March, all day Ascot Racecourse Beer Festival Helpers Trip – Downton Brewery, followed by a pub buffet lunch and then a pub crawl of Salisbury. Details TBC. Advance booking by invitation.

APRIL Friday, 3rd April, meet 1pm (Good Friday Bank Holiday) Egham United Services Club Beer Festival Discounted entry for CAMRA members Beer Festival, all welcome. Tuesday, 14th April Rebellion Brewery visit Details TBC, members advance booking. Friday, 17th – Sunday, 19th April Members Weekend and National CAMRA AGM, Albert Hall, Nottingham Pre-registration required. Thursday, 30th April Reading Beer & Cider Festival King’s Meadow, Reading RG1 8BN. Details TBC.

MAY Thursday, 14th May 8pm Queen’s Head, Wokingham RG40 1BP Mild Month social, all welcome.



Beer Quality Is Your Pub serving Your Real Ale as it Should Be? CAMRA members are invited to score the real ales that they try according to the scale opposite. You may use half scores if you are undecided between two of the cat-egories. Enter your score on the What Pub website – you will need to login by entering your membership number and password (the default is your postcode without spaces)

www.whatpub.com Alternatively, you can send your scores to our beer score analyst, Lee Allsopp, by email. Please remember to include your membership number, date of visit, name of the beer and the pub.

[email protected] Remember – you are judging how well the beer has been kept and served, not whether you particularly like the style or brewery. Greene King IPA can score just as highly as Binghams Twyford Tipple. The scores are vital to help us choose our Good Beer Guide entries, local Pub of the Year and help us maintain an overview of real ale offerings in the area. Current Top Five Pubs

1. Queen's Head, Wokingham 2. Cannie Man, Bracknell 3. Royal Oak, Sunningdale 4. Rose & Crown, Sandhurst 5. Tally Ho, Eversley

0 No Real Ale No cask-conditioned ale available.

1 Poor Beer that is anything from barely drinkable to drinkable with consid-erable resentment.

2 Average Competently kept, drinkable pint but doesn’t inspire in any way, not worth moving to another pub but you drink the beer without really noticing.

3 Good Good beer in good form. You can-cel plans to move to the next pub. You want to stay for another pint and seek out the beer again.

4 Very Good Excellent beer in excellent condi-tion.

5 Perfect Probably the best you are ever likely to find. A seasoned drinker will award this score very rarely.

We recommend that if you have to return a beer that is undrinkable you don’t score this beer – as long as the landlord takes the beer off sale and offers a replacement with good grace.





























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LocAle Update By Mike Smith Our LocAle campaign seeks to encourage pubs, clubs, off-licences and restaurants within our branch area to permanently stock at least one real ale produced by a local brewery (draught or bottled) and serve it in good condition. The Queens Head in Wokingham contin-ues to go from strength to strength with their offering of three LocAles usually from Binghams, Loddon and Ascot Ales along-side Greene King staples.

Queen’s Head, Wokingham Following a refurbishment of Greene King’s Two Poplars pub in Wokingham there are now eight hand pumps on offer; Hogsback TEA was served during my last visit, let’s hope that at least one pump can become a permanent LocAle. The Cannie Man in Bracknell recently cel-ebrated the 50th birthday of landlord Neil Maxwell with a mini LocAle beer festival featuring – Twickenham, Siren, Triple fff, Longdog, Andwell and West Berkshire breweries. A brewer from Twickenham was on hand to answer questions fully equipped with samples of Sundancer and bottled Honey Dark. Well done Amanda, a top class event! Please keep sending in your reports.

Accredited LocAle Outlets Ascot Station Inn (Jagz) Binfield Jack O’Newbury Bracknell Cannie Man

Green Man Old Manor

Eversley Tally Ho Jealott's Hill New Leathern Bottle Sandhurst Rose & Crown Sindlesham Walter Arms Sunningdale Royal Oak Winkfield Squirrels Bar

White Hart Wokingham Crispin

Molly Millar Olde Leathern Bottel Queens Head

LocAle Breweries (within 25 miles of Bracknell)

Abbey Ford (Chertsey, Surrey) 14 Andwell (Andwell, Hampshire) 19 Ascot Ales (Camberley, Surrey) 9 Bell Street (Henley, Oxon) 14 Bingham’s (Ruscombe, Berks) 9 Brightwater (Claygate, Surrey) 22 Farnham (Farnham, Surrey) 17 Hogs Back (Tongham, Surrey) 16 Loddon (Dunsden Green, Oxon) 13 Longdog (Basingstoke, Hants) 25 Rebellion (Marlow, Bucks) 15 Sherfield Village (Sherfield, Hants) 19 Siren (Finchampstead, Berks) 9 Tillingbourne (Shere, Surrey) 21 Triple fff (Four Marks, Hants) 25 Twickenham (Twickenham, Middx) 21 West Berkshire (Frilsham, Berks) 24 Wild Weather (Silchester, Berks) 19 Windsor & Eton (Windsor, Berks) 10 Zero Degrees (Reading, Berks) 13



A Farewell To Dave Pepper By David Richards

Pub of the Year 2011 It was with great sadness and a sense of shock when I learned in December that the Jack o’Newbury was to be sold to the company that own Binfield Court, which has fields that back onto the pub, and that the landlord, Dave Pepper, was to retire. However, we have known for some time that Dave’s wife, Lorraine, has not been in the best of health and that Dave wanted to spend more time with her away from the hectic environment of a pub. We wish them both well and hope that they have a long and happy retirement together. So it is with a mixture of fondness and deep regret that I have to write this article. My earliest memories of drinking at the Jack date back to the early ‘80s, when I worked at Ferranti and my team used to pop out to Binfield for a lunchtime away from the office. It was Dave’s parents-in-law Mick and Jean Lowes who ran the pub in those days and I remember that Flowers Best Bitter was the beer of choice. Many a

happy lunch-hour was (mis)spent in there. Then in 1987 I changed jobs and began working in the centre of Reading, so my forays to the Jack came to an abrupt halt. 20 years and two children later, I became active within the local branch of CAMRA and hence the visits to the Jack started up again. This would have been roughly the same time as Dave Pepper took over the family business and became the landlord, which he did in 2006. The Jack o’Newbury is one of only a few genuine free houses in the area. This gave Dave total freedom over what beers to serve. They came mostly from local micro-breweries and included Loddon Hoppit, West Berkshire Good Old Boy and the mysterious house beer, Binfield Best. It was chosen by his regular customers in a blind tasting of nine beers from eight brew-eries. He still won’t reveal the name of the brewery that it comes from and when asked to explain why, Dave says that he does so merely to maintain the mystery and interest that it creates. Local CAMRA members have been driven mad trying to guess what beer it is and whenever they suggest one, Dave just gives one of his enigmatic grins. The Jack has won our branch Pub of the Year (POTY) award for five out of the sev-en years from 2007 to 2013, which is a remarkable achievement by any standards. It only missed out in 2010 as the branch decided to give some of the other local













pubs a fighting chance to win the award. One such award led to Dave being inter-viewed on BBC Radio Berkshire, which he pulled off with great aplomb. His modesty always prevents him from taking full credit and he will be the first to admit that he couldn’t win it without the full support of his dedicated team running the pub.

Dave has been a terrific supporter (or should that be ‘tolerator’?) of CAMRA and gave us free use of the skittle alley for meetings. We have had some great times there, including our branch 10th anniver-sary celebrations when Dave very kindly provided some free samples of Charles Wells new beer, DNA, along with a souve-nir glass for all of the attendees. On one memorable occasion, Dave hosted a bottled beer tasting session which almost turned into a riot. We had rather unwisely decided to combine it with a beer scoring training session which went hilariously wrong. Dave had provided some sample beers of various qualities from downright dreadful (he had added vinegar to the beer) to the best that he could muster. Some members inexplicably thought that the spiked beer was OK and gave it rea-sonable scores. Meanwhile, the good beer had been sitting in a jug for some time and had lost condition. The trainer, knowing which was which and being too embar-rassed to say that the ‘good’ beer was in

fact poor, gave it a high score, whereas many of the rest of us scored it rather low-er. Fuelled by the bottled beers that we’d been drinking, a heated debate soon broke out which rapidly deteriorated into a squabble. Dave just stood at the bar with his chin in his hands, grinning from ear to ear at our antics. During the most recent POTY award presentation, one of our more enthusiastic members backed up rather too far to get a 'better' photo and continued straight through a window, smashing the old and fragile glass in the process. Again, Dave just smiled and refused to accept any of-fers of compensation. When interviewed for an article in the Mad Cow in 2011, Dave was asked what his impressions of CAMRA were. His reply was this – “They continually block the area around my hand-pumps, making it very difficult for my loyal lager drinkers to see what brands I have on offer.” This is just typical of his sense of humour and he will be greatly missed.

Any likeness to Dave is intentional! At one of the many POTY presentations when Nick Boley was branch chairman, he said that whatever it was that Dave had, he should bottle it and sell it to other pub land-lords. Maybe this is something that Dave could do as a side-line during his retire-ment, because his blend of wit, personal presence at the bar, firm handling of any ungentlemanly behaviour and hands-on attention to detail is something that is sore-



ly lacking in many pubs today. What Dave had was virtually unique – a man who owned his own pub outright, feared no-one, had no men in suits to bend over backwards to please and who was able to put his own stamp and personality on the pub and run it exactly as he thought best.

Spot the new window At the time of writing, what is to become of the Jack still remains uncertain, although it is understood that it will continue as a pub if a suitable licensee can be found. This is a great relief, because it would be a very sorry loss for the local community if it were to close. Genuine free houses are becom-ing very rare indeed and so it is hoped that it will continue to sell real ale, preferably from local breweries and continue as a shining example to others of how a pub should be run.

***Stop Press – see page 4***

All this is in the future. The only certainty is that the pub is closing on 24th January and that Dave and family are moving out by the 31st. It will be a sad day. Having said that, I absolutely understand why Dave has decided to sell. It was his pen-sion fund and he deserves a comfortable retirement. I’m going to miss going to the Jack for a chat with Dave. I’m going to miss the charity quiz nights. But above all, I’m going to miss Dave himself, his family, his elegant standard poodle Boston and all the lovely staff that I’ve met over the years. Farewell Dave, here’s to a long and enjoy-able retirement.

Dave Pepper hard at work Cheers Dave – we all wish you the very best for the future. Surely you can tell us who brews Binfield Best now! [David Richards is Chairman of the Berkshire South East branch of CAMRA]















THE OLD MANORTHE OLD MANORGrenville Place, Bracknell. Tel: 01344 304 490

Subject to local licensing restrictions and availabilty at participating free houses

Quality Real Ales and Ciders from £2.35 per pint.

JDW-J6200_P65_Half page advert_V4.indd 1 30/06/2014 16:11



40 Years of CAMRA in Berkshire By Nick Boley The East Berkshire branch of CAMRA was formed on the 11th December 1974; a West Berkshire branch had already been formed in June of that year. The inaugural meeting was at the Hope and Anchor in Woking-ham, a traditional Brakspear’s town pub, something it remains to this day. The branch, which covered all of the central and eastern part of the county, evolved into Reading and Mid-Berkshire branch, with the Slough, Windsor & Maidenhead branch forming in 1975 and Berkshire South East branch in 2001.

Hattie Gutzman (Hope & Anchor) & Nick Boley (CAMRA Regional Director) On Saturday 13th December, CAMRA members of the three branches celebrated the formation of that first branch with a presentation at the Hope & Anchor, a few pints in Wokingham followed by a bigger party at the Nag’s Head in Reading. I was very pleased to make the presentation to Hattie Gutzman, the landlady at the Hope & Anchor to commemorate that very first meeting and to say a few words to contrast then and now.

In December 1974 Britain was recovering from the three day week and the shock of the oil crisis; Bachman Turner Overdrive were storming up the charts with “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” and over 80% of our pubs were owned by the “Big Six” brewers – Bass, Allied Breweries, Courage, Scot-tish & Newcastle, Watney and Whitbread. Keg beer was the mainstay of these, with such ‘delights’ as Double Diamond, Younger’s Tartan and Watney’s Red widely available. CAMRA was a young organisa-tion with only a few thousand members, but was starting to have an impact. The 1974 Good Beer Guide was a thin volume, with a relatively small brewery section. CAMRA’s concern was not just in the number of pubs selling real ale, but brew-ery closures, which restricted choice and often resulted in local brews disappearing. Courage still brewed real ale in Reading, although the beer could be hard to find. Wethered in Marlow, just over the county boundary in Buckinghamshire (part of the Whitbread group) brewed a good selection of real ales and Brakspear and Morland were established independent brewers in the Thames Valley, owning a number of fine pubs. Drinkers would flock to beer festivals and free houses to drink exotic rare beers like Greene King Abbot, Mars-ton Pedigree or Wadworth 6X. The aver-age beer had a strength of around 3.7% ABV, mild was in terminal decline and stouts and porters non-existent apart from Guinness, although this was bottle-conditioned and known as the beer drink-ers friend as it was available in most pubs. Contrast that with today with nearly 1,300 breweries and more opening every month! CAMRA has nearly 170,000 members. Many would say CAMRA have won the war on saving real ale, but although there is truth in that, we cannot take our eyes off the ball. The global brewers, losing market share on their bland, tasteless, fizzy lagers, are just waiting for a chink in our armour.



The fight now, however, has to concentrate on saving our pubs. The great British pub is under threat, and without it where will we find that fantastic choice of real ale, both in terms of breweries and styles? CAMRA’s leaders in 1974 may well have said “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet” and they would have been right. Many things that we now take for granted – a wider range of beers, most pubs selling real ale, more interesting beer styles - were the result of hard work and campaigning by successive genera-tions of CAMRA activists. We now have real clout with politicians and public servants. Some would say we have become part of the establishment, but I know that is not true. Anyone who has been to meetings of Regional Directors and the National Executive will know we are still a feisty, campaigning organisation with a clear agenda on behalf of the (beer) drinkers and pub goers of this country.

Here’s to the next 40!

[Nick Boley is the Central Southern Regional Director of CAMRA]

Good Beer Guide 2015 Edited by Roger Protz Available now

£10* (special online price) Packed with 4,500 of the best real ale pubs in the UK and in-formation on every real ale brewery currently operating and their key beers.

camra.org.uk/gbg (or available from the branch)



















Campaign Focus By Barry Garber

A Fair Deal for Your Local at Last? Tuesday, 18th November 2014 was cer-tainly a special day for CAMRA because that was the day that a 10 year campaign achieved a great outcome.

As part of the debate in the UK parliament on the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Bill, MPs from all parties vot-ed by a narrow margin of 284 to 259 in favour of a new clause which will allow pubco licensees to have a choice. A choice between a tied agreement where licensees are forced to buy specified beers quite often at an inflated price or the option to pay a fair market rent to their pubco in re-turn for the right to buy beer on the open market at often substantially lower prices. There is provision to force licensees of large pubcos who choose the market rent option to stock beer from their tied brewery but they will be able to buy the beer from anywhere at a lower cost. It may be that for some licensees the tied model works well, but for others it clearly does not. The bill does not abolish the tie regardless of the inaccurate claims made by those representing the pub companies. Not all pubcos seek to exploit the tied model but some do and that is what this amendment

is all about, permitting licensees to choose between remaining tied or to have a free of tie market rent option. The market rent option, however, will come in gradually and only at certain defined trigger points before it can be chosen. The trigger point can be an event such as a scheduled rent review or lease renewal or an elapsed period of 5 years since either of these events happen-ing. The bill only applies to pubcos with 500 or more pubs in their estate thereby providing some protection to smaller family brewers with a smaller number of tied pubs. Protec-tions have been put in place to stop the bigger pubcos from splitting into smaller companies to get round the law by em-powering the new pubs adjudicator to re-gard a group of related companies as if they were a single company for the pur-poses of assessing whether the new rules applies to them. Of course pubcos could release a number of pubs from the tie (and the new rules) and apply a rent far higher than what would be regarded as a fair level. CAMRA will be watching carefully and campaigning where necessary if this was observed happening and government would no doubt take a dim view of this practice. The smaller brewers are key to the continued success of real ale and on the whole act fairly towards their licensees. Theoretically the lower price of beer to licensees should allow the product to be sold to customers at a lower price, but this remains to be seen. Many licensees are struggling to keep afloat; many are working long hours for far less than the minimum wage and it would be a good outcome for them if they were able to make a decent living out of running their pubs. Above all the choice to the cus-tomer, the real ale drinker should improve and more pubs remain viable. This bill is essential to ensuring the survival of many pubs going forward. We are at a crunch















time in the industry and action is long overdue to stop the tide of pub closures that we are currently seeing.

The pubcos are unlikely just to sit back and accept the new rules. It is anticipated that they may seek ways of mitigating the new rules and even seek to chal-lenge the ruling.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has loudly voiced its concern over the new rules stating that many pubs could now become unviable under the new mod-el citing a variety of spurious reasons. It is likely pubcos will accelerate their plans to sell off their pub estate to try to reduce their debt pile. CAMRA will be watching with interest how things pan out, and in the meantime will vigorously continue with its key campaigns. If pubcos do seek to of-fload pubs then be assured CAMRA will continue campaigning to bolster planning laws to protect pubs from being turned into convenience stores and flats amongst oth-er things. This extraordinary win would not have been possible without the relentless sup-port of CAMRA members and is a testa-ment to all their hard work over the past 10 years. Our work is far from done though. CAMRA is committed to ensure that the bill is applied fairly and that the newly an-nounced pubs adjudicator shows it’s teeth in applying judgements in cases where pubcos feel the need to test the law as they surely will. It really is time for a fair deal for our locals! At the time of writing, the bill has passed its second reading in the House of Lords, will go through a committee stage, a third read-ing and then be returned to the House of Commons before receiving Royal Assent.

Assets of Community Value Since the launch of CAMRA’s ‘List your Local’ campaign, over 600 pubs have been listed as Assets of Community Value. This proves that pubs are valued as assets worth saving – as community groups across the country are fighting for pubs to be safeguarded in their local community. However, pubs are continuing to close at an alarming rate and 2 pubs are converted into supermarkets every week. At last year’s Great British Beer Festival, we launched a new hard-hitting campaign, ‘Pubs Matter’ to urge the Government to amend the law in England to ensure plan-ning permission is always required before the conversion or demolition of a pub.

Thanks to your support, there are now 90 MPs signed up to support this change, alongside a CAMRA supported petition with over 11,000 signatures. We are currently waiting for our local MPs, John Redwood and Dr Phillip Lee to pledge their support by signing EDM 208 More information can be found at:

www.pubsmatter.org.uk [Barry Garber is the Campaigns officer for Berkshire South East CAMRA]



Wokingham Home Brewers There has been some strange goings-on in the pubs in and around Wo-kingham recently with a group of enthusiastic people huddled around a collection of plain brown

bottles, a jug and several partially filled glasses, sniffing, sipping, looking quizzical-ly and muttering strange things about mash PH, flocculation, cold-breaks and hop utili-sation. To the onlooker it all seems a bit odd, but not for the members of the Wo-kingham Home Brewers Association who meet every second Tuesday of the month to discuss the ancient craft of brewing beer, and occasionally cider making. Jon Hosking formed the association in February 2013 and subsequently moved on to start his own commercial brewery, Gyle 59 in West Dorset. Current Chairman, David Shuttleworth (inset) says; “There has never been a better time to be a home brewer, with the rise in popularity of craft beer, there is now a huge variety of malts and hops available from around the world, combine these with the creative skills we share at the WHBA, we can pro-duce high quality beers which rival any-thing available commercially.” If you are interested in joining this band of merry brewers & brewsters, contact us at

[email protected] or feel free to just turn up to one of their meetings.

Britain’s Beer Revolution Reviewed By Mike Rathge CAMRAs latest book by beer experts and award winning writers Roger Protz and Adrian Tierney-Jones is receiving very positive reviews. Featuring local breweries, Siren Craft and Windsor & Eton, this book takes a hard look at what has recently been happening to the British brewing industry and focuses on the personalities who are driving this revolution. Our brewing industry has been completely and thrillingly transformed over recent years. New breweries have started up all over the country, traditional breweries have been rejuvenated and more new beers have been launched than an enthusiast could ever dream of sampling. Britain’s Beer Revolution takes you on a fascinating journey behind the scenes, introducing you to some of the key people, breweries and brews inspiring beer lovers throughout the nation and beyond. Britain’s Beer Revolution is available now from CAMRA’s book shop for the reduced price of £12.99

http://shop.camra.org.uk There is also a promotional video with the authors discussing the book and British beer.

Unit 19 Easter Park, Silchester RG7 2PQ. Tel: (0118) 9701837

Email: [email protected]

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Landlord’s WitterBy Barry Fenton

An occasional interview with a landlord from a local pub. Answers are limited to 140 (ish) characters.

This time we welcome Ollie Swift, Manag-er of the Tally Ho in Eversley, back in the 2015 Good Beer Guide. I am particularly pleased to do this interview as I use the pub a lot, being impressed with the range and condition of the beers.

Q. How long have you been in the pub business and at the Tally Ho? A. I’ve been here for 5 months, my first time as manager. I graduated in 2009, got a job in my local, the Cross Foxes in North Wales, and have been with the same company, Brunning & Price ever since. Prior to this I was at the White Hart in Sevenoaks.

Q. What do you most like about the pub trade? A. Talking to people, introducing people to each other, making connections and being part of the community.

Q. And the least?A. Not being able to turn off when out socially in other pubs.

Q. What Real Ales are you selling today? A. Timothy Taylor Golden Best 3.5%. Flack Manor Double Drop 3.7%. Upham Punter 4.0%. Andwell Ruddy Darter 4.6%. (Unfortunately Milk Street Bobbled, on sale over Christmas, had run out!)

Q. And how will these change over the coming weeks and months? A. We rotate Local Beers from Andwell, Siren, Flack Manor, Wild Weather, West Berkshire with guests from further afield.

Q. How important are Real Ales to your pub?A. Incredibly important. Supporting lo-cal breweries gives locals pride. Local people love it.

Q. What are your impressions of CAMRA in the area? A. I like what they stand for, it’s im-portant. They are the guys who shout on our behalf and they keep us on our toes.

Q. What plans have you got for your pub in the next year? A. Burns Night, Valentine’s Day and March Food Week specials. We are supporting a local guy cycling around WW1 battlefields for Help for Heroes, with a promotion to be advised. In late summer, something new, a fete in the adjoining field. Watch this space.

Q. What would you like to get over to our readers to encourage them to come into your pub?A. Although food is very important to us, we need to get over to people that we are a local pub and drinkers are most welcome. Our wine culture is seri-ous. We have a huge beer garden, great walks nearby and we are dog friendly.

Q. What Wrong would you most like to put right in the pub trade? A. We are too heavily taxed. There is unfair competition from supermarkets who sell beer & wine as loss leaders.

Q. Which celebrity would you most like to work behind your bar and why? A. Prince Harry; he has a good story to tell, but I would have to watch the stock control.

[Barry Fenton is the Membership Secretary for Berkshire South East CAMRA]



Quiz By Mike Smith

Beer Gardens of Berkshire At this time of year I start looking forward to those late spring / early summer days when it is a pleasure to visit a pub and sit outside in the sunshine with a pint and a newspaper (or copy of the Mad Cow). See if you can identify these Berkshire pub gardens, take the first letter of each pub (ignor-ing “The”) and rearrange the letters to spell a heavy defeat. Answers on a postcard to [email protected] (answers will be published in the next Mad Cow and there will be hints on our Twitter feed).

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7) ____________

Beer Gardens of Berkshire



Quiz By Mike Smith


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2) ____________

3) ____________

4) ____________

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Quiz By Mike Smith


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Nuts Anyone? New rules are now in force regarding the labelling of food and drink for actual or possible allergen content (Food Infor-mation for Consumers Regulation - EU FIC 2014). This law requires all vendors, including beer festivals, to review their equipment and utensils and their supply chain for al-lergen content or contamination. There are fourteen allergens specified by the legisla-tion. It is recommended that all suppliers be screened and that food safety and in-surance certificates are also kept. Allergen information must be provided in a clearer and more consistent way on pre-packed and loose food, making it easier for the consumer to make safer choices when buying food or eating out. In the UK it is estimated that 1-2% of adults and 5-8% of children have a food allergy – i.e. around 2 million people. There are 4,500 hospital admissions and 10 deaths from food aller-gy each year. There are currently fourteen substances whose presence must be made known to consumers: (1) Cereals containing gluten; (2) Crusta-ceans; (3) Eggs; (4) Fish; (5) Peanuts; (6) Soybeans; (7) Milk (including lactose); (8) Nuts; (9) Celery; (10) Mustard; (11) Sesa-me seeds; (12) Sulphur dioxide and sul-phites; (13) Lupin; (14) Molluscs. There are a number of websites providing the full list including that of the Food Standards Agency. www.food.gov.uk

Advertising & Distribution

The Mad Cow magazine is produced solely in-house by CAMRA volunteers to pro-mote real ale and support our local pubs. The revenue col-

lected from advertisements covers the printing cost with any small surplus used to support our campaigning activities. 2,400 copies of the magazine are distribut-ed by CAMRA volunteers to over 100 pubs and outlets across the Berkshire South East area and beyond. If you would like to stock the Mad Cow in your establishment, please drop us a line. Printed by Greenhouse Graphics Limited. www.greenhousegraphics.co.uk 01256 880770

Advertising Rates Quarter page £20 (new adverts) Half page £60* Full page £120* Full page premium £135* * Discounts available for annual sub-scription (four editions) paid in advance. For all Mad Cow enquiries contact [email protected]

Next Edition Deadline (May – July Edition) Advertising 6th April Articles 13th April

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