December 2001

• (27-Dec) Added the Beer list for the Winter Ale Festival and updated the Local Breweries page.
• (21-Dec) Updated the Winter Ale Festival page with the list of pubs selling tickets
• (2-Dec) Added more archive links
  [ Meetings & Events : News : Pubs of the Year : Good Beer Guide Entries : ALE ]

November 2001

• (28-Nov) At the Branch AGM yesterday the new committee was elected.
• (28-Nov) Cambridge Winter Ale Festival 2002 pages launched.
• ALE Autumn 2001 No. 304 is now out in Web form; the printed edition should be out around the second week of December.
• The Restoration of the City Tavern, Birmingham - the fascinating story of the saving of a Victorian pub.

October 2001

• Good Beer Guide 2002 Entries

August 2001

• (14-Aug) We've heard that the Boot, Dullingham, has been saved by a villager who has bought it as a pub, hopefully reopening around the end of September and perhaps featuring Adnams. [See Pub News in ALE 303.]

July 2001

• (28-Jul) ALE Summer 2001 No. 303 is now out in Web form; the printed edition should be out around 7-10th Aug.

May 2001

• (28-May) Champion Beers and Cider from the 28th Cambridge Beer Festival.
• (22-May) Cambridge Food & Ale Weekend details.
• (15-May) ALE 28th Cambridge Beer Festival No. 302 (Web edition) is out.
• (8-May) 28th Cambridge Beer Festival : the beer, cider, perry and cheese lists are now available.

April 2001

• (29-Apr) [Follow-up to the Star City article in ALE 293]
  George Clooney opened the Birmingham Star City leisure complex in July 2000 but it's failed to attract the expected numbers and some operators are reported to be thinking of pulling out. It includes outlets such as Long Island Iced Tea, a 30-screen Warner Village cinema and many bars and restaurants.

• (25-Apr) [Follow-up to the Brewery News article in ALE 301]
  After months of uncertainly, Wolverhampton & Dudley announced yesterday it plans to sell the Cameron Brewery, close the Mansfield one and sell the Pitcher & Piano pub chain and some small pubs. It will concentrate on food-oriented community pubs. In the meantime the whole company is still subject to various bids.

• (24-Apr) Charles Wells were again one of the few organisations celebrating St George's Day yesterday : the St George's Day promotion included handing out lapel badges when one bought Bombardier. Celebration is still small-scale compared to Guinness' massive promotions of St Patrick's Day in Britain. Congratulations also to the Live & Let Live (Mawson Road) for continuing its celebration of the day, including stocking St George's Bitter (Worcester).
  • Archive: St George's Day?
  • Follow-up: The Publican 6-Jun : Bombardier gains new listings after St George's Day campaign

• (6-Apr) Congratulations to the Government for at last offering mandatory rate relief to village pubs - something CAMRA has long been campaigning for!
  • CAMRA welcomes Government lifeline for rural pubs
  • Village pubs' and rural petrol stations' rate bills cut in half

• (4-Apr) The Web edition of ALE 301 is out.

• (3-Apr) Congratulations to Milton Brewery for their recent string of successes, covered in ALE 301:
  • Champion Beer of the Cambridge Winter Ale Festival
  • Best Mild at the SIBA regional blind-tasting trials
  • Cambridge Evening News Small Business of the Year Award

March 2001

• (1-Mar) The great campaign (so long in preparation) Ask If It's Cask is launched.
  ALE 301 article

February 2001

• (14-Feb)
  • The Branch Pub of the Year 2001 is the Kingston Arms.
  • Meanwhile Lidstone's Brewery (Wickhambrook) is installing extra plant at the weekend to increase capacity.
  • The Branch is delighted to announce that the 28th Cambridge Beer Festival will be on Jesus Green on the usual dates.
  • The Ship at Brandon Creek, the 1996 Pub of the Year, is now a microbrewery. Brendan Moore of Iceni Brewery has been helping to set it up. The pub also now does B&B.
  • We hope to have ALE 301 out around mid- to late-March.

• (5-Feb) Much missed...

  The Branch has heard that Christian Muteau has died.

  He was a much-loved and well-known personality in CAMRA, having worked in many capacities and particularly at many, many beer festivals (including Cambridge ones).

  His other activities included cricket scoring for the likes of the Lords & Commons team and charity work for Get Kids Going and Macmillan Cancer Relief.

  House of Commons Early Day Motion 306 (38 and counting signatories) noted with sadness his death.

January 2001

• (14-Jan): Champion Beers of the Winter Ale Festival
• (5-Jan): the Cambridge Evening News, showing more interest than usual in the pubs sector:
  Stunned village finds pub closed down overnight

  "Angry villagers say the surprise closure of their pub has left an `abyss' in their lives. Stunned regulars found boarded up windows and locked doors when they turned up for a drink at the Poacher pub in Elsworth."

  "Mike Udin, the pub's owner, confirmed it had been shut down and had been put on the market."

• (4-Jan): the CEN carried the story Awards pour in for the best pub in the city, which looks as though it's derived from a press release, as they're prone to do.
  "The Free Press pub is the best in Cambridge according to the Cambridge Insider Critic's Choice. What is more, the Prospect Row hostelry is guaranteed to serve a perfect pint of real ale every time, because it has been awarded the National Cask Marque Award."

  "The perfect pint, according to Paul Nunny, who started the initiative, should be cool, refreshing and taste like nectar."

  [In fact, several pubs have a Critic's Choice award, such as the Cambridge Blue and the Kingston Arms.]

  A follow-up item, Guest beers on tap at pub, seems to be from another press release:

  "If a pint of Wychwood Hobgoblin, Fiddler's Elbow or a Hall and Woodhouse Tanglefoot take your fancy, then go to The Regal. The city's biggest pub just got bigger with one hundred guest ales, including award winning tipples, on offer until the end of February and at least 10 extra a week after that."

  Deputy manager Mark Davies said: "We might be a big pub but that does not mean we do not know how to look after our real ale and our customers."

• (3-Jan): the DTI has ordered Interbrew to sell Bass Breweries.
  • What now for Bass Brewers? at CAMRA HQ.
  • Beerage - All Change
• (2-Jan): the plans for a small brewery in the Kingston Arms (Kingston Street, Cambridge) are on hold for a while - there are other priorities for developing the business.