ALE Spring 2005 No. 317 : Next section

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Thumbs Up To Nero

The St Radegund in King Street, Cambridge now stocks Nero, a Milton Brewery real ale stout. It came on tap in late February and has proved to be hugely successful. It is the only stout I now stock having dropped the Guinness. It had never crossed my mind to do so until recently when outrageous continuous price increases put Guinness up into the region of £3.00 a pint if one is to get any margin on the project.

Guinness was the last product that has been here during the fourteen years I have owned the pub. It was something a pub did, until you ask the question why?

There was a time when Guinness were very generous with back-up and freebies on St Patrick's day and everybody always looked forwards to seeing the Guinness rep. I have not seen one for the past five years and there hasn't been any sign of a free keg .... They even make you pay for glasses nowadays which for a free house is not on.

The truth of it is that if you sell good real ale you do not sell much Guinness except to true fans. It is also talked about that it goes better in pubs where the real ale is kept a bit ropey.

At present it is difficult to ascertain how many sales have been because of the novelty value or at the expense of other real ales I sell. One thing is for sure it will always outsell Guinness in my pub, a better deal for the punter and better for me. It is priced at £2.50 a pint for a beer that is 5% A.B.V. which could signal an early bath for those who fiddle with Nero too long.

Terry Kavanagh
Landlord
St Radegund Pub

ALE Spring 2005 No. 317 : Next section
Cambridge & District CAMRA