The presentation of the Runner Up award for CAMRA’s National Club of the Year 2024 will take place at Dobcross Band & Social Club on Saturday 16th November at 13.00.
The club will also be presented with Rochdale Oldham & Bury branch’s Club Of The Year Award on the same day.
The presentations will coincide with the Dobcross Band and Social Club Beer Festival. All members are invited to the event.
Meet at Bolton Station in time to catch 11.54 train to Stockport, change at Manchester Piccadilly arriving at 12.39 or meet at the Petersgate Tap at 13.00. The off-peak fare is £7.10 return. If using the bus to get to the station, there is a System One bus and train ticket for £9.40. Of course those who have a bus pass can use the train within Greater Manchester if they add train and tram to their bus pass for £10 for the year. We may not visit all pubs.
Start at Petersgate Tap: 19a St Petersgate, SK1 1EB
Six changing cask beers. Cold pies from local butcher.
The next two are all in the Market Place a few doors apart.
Bakers Vaults: Market Place, SK1 1ES
Eight cask beers, five Robinson’s and three changing, usually from Titanic.
They let you bring in food from surrounding businesses. Possibly Old Tom will be on the bar.
Angel Inn: 20 Market Place, SK1 1EY
One regular cask beer, Thornbridge Jaipur and five changing beers, including 2 dark.
Crown Inn: 154 Heaton Lane, SK4 1AR
Two regular beers. Three changing beers. Food available
The Magnet: 51 Wellington Road North, Heaton Norris, SK4 1HJ
Fourteen cask ales, one regular and 13 changing.
Ye Old Vic: 1 Chetham Street, SK3 9ED.
6 changing beers. Doesn’t open until 5.00 unless Stockport playing at Home. This pub is opposite the station and is well worth a visit
If anyone is thinking of joining the group in Stockport please call for information about where we are; Gill 07967585670
Branch Meeting
Unfortunately, the October Branch Meeting due to be held this evening, 1 October, at the Beer School, Westhoughton, has had to be postponed, owing to a leak at the premises. The good news is that the meeting will now take place next Tuesday, 8 October 2024 at 7.30 at the Beer School. The meeting will be followed by a beer themed quiz. Everyone is welcome, as always, and we will be hoping to attract some new members to join the branch.
Budget
The new Chancellor’s first Budget will be held on Wednesday 30 October and we want to see meaningful action taken to support pubs, social clubs, brewers, cider makers and consumers.
We’ve called for the Chancellor to make sure that the draught duty rate is able to realise its full potential by introducing a 20% difference between the tax paid on pints in pubs compared to supermarket alcohol. We’ve also asked the Government to stick by their manifesto committment to reform the unfair Business Rates system.
CAMRA has joined forces with industry leaders, the Society of Independent Brewers to send groundbreaking new economic modelling directly to the Treasury, showing the transformation a UK wide cut in duty charged on beer and cider served in pubs could bring.
Our proposed 20% discount for tax on pints in pubs would create thousands of new jobs and put millions back into the economy, as consumers are encouraged to move from supermarket alcohol back to being able to support their local pubs and social clubs. We’ll also be taking the campaign to the heart of Parliament, holding events to lobby MPs directly over the next six weeks.
If you haven’t already done so, you can help by emailing your MP asking them to urge the Chancellor to support CAMRA’s position. The link below will take you to CAMRA’s main campaigning page where you can use the easy online tool. This will match you with your MP and give you a template email, which you can choose to edit or send straight away. It only takes a few minutes to get involved.
Cheers
John Mitchell
Chair
Branch: Bolton
Plans are being finalised for Wigan Beer Week 2024. So far more than 20 handpulls at pubs in and around
Our local social this time will take us to Harwood. We will be able to visit the newly open The Plough. Meet at the Bolton Bus Station to catch the 507 bus at 12.40. Stand E. We should arrive just before 13.00. We will meet at the House without a name. The stop is Lea Gate (opposite Church Street)
House Without a Name, 75-77 Lea Gate, BL2 3ET, 2 changing beers
Nook & Cranny Tap House, 12 Gatefold BL2 3HN, 2 changing beers
Plough, 157 Lea Gate, BL2 4BQ, 2 changing beers
If anyone has suggestions about other pubs with cask, no on the list please let us know.
If you need any further details or need to contact on the day, please contact social@bolton.camra.org.uk or call Gill on 07967585670
Nominate your local for this prestigeous award before 29 October 2024
Welcome to your Bolton CAMRA Branch update. I hope you have been able to enjoy a pint or two in the outdoors despite the poor weather and days when the moon seemed to shine brighter than the sun!
Summer Pub of the Season
On the subject of summer, the branch has chosen the Thomas Egerton in Egerton as its Summer Pub of the Season so congratulations to the team there. A presentation of the award is being arranged so please watch our social media for details.
Branch Meetings
There won’t be a formal Branch meeting in September, however, an informal get together will be held on 12 September starting at the Olde Man and Scythe, Bolton at 8 p.m. and possibly moving on to other venues in the town centre as the evening progresses.
The October branch meeting will be held on TUESDAY 1 October at 7.30 p.m. at the Beer School, Westhoughton. The meeting will be followed by a beer themed quiz. Everyone is welcome, as always, and we will be hoping to attract some new members to join the branch.
General Election
The general election seems like a long time ago but we now have a new government in Westminster and two new MPs in Bolton. CAMRA is engaging with the new ministers who have responsibilities relevant to the Campaign. In particular, CAMRA will be pushing for greater legal protection for pubs one year on from the sudden demolition of the Crooked House pub in the Midlands. Further information on this can be found on CAMRA’s website here. I will be writing to our local MPs asking them to give their support to our local pubs, clubs and breweries.
CAMRA Experience
If anyone has looked at CAMRA’s national website recently, you will have noticed that it gives you the option of being redirected to the new website, known as the CAMRA Experience. The intention is to bring a number of separate websites (e.g. WhatPub and Learn and Discover) together so that they can be linked and accessed much more easily. The new version of WhatPub will also have a beer quality indicator giving pubs/clubs a score of one, two or three pint glasses. These scores will be based on the beer scores submitted by members. It is felt that showing scores this way will encourage licensees to keep their beer in the best condition. Beer scoring is the key to this and to ensure that our local cask ale outlets do not end up with three empty glasses, please score their beers when you visit. If you haven’t scored beers before, please read the guidance on how to do it on the branch website here.
Good Beer Guide
The Good Beer Guide is CAMRA’s flagship publication and the 2025 edition will be published in late September. Bolton has an allocation of thirteen pubs in the guide, but which pubs they are will not be revealed until the Guide is published. The branch is intending to hold a launch event on our around the publication date so please watch our social media for details.
Pub and Club News
The Victoria and Albert in Horwich is to reopen on 23 August after a major refurbishment. Up to five real ales will be on offer along with a cask cider. This should be another great addition to the already thriving real ale scene in Horwich.
Over in Harwood, the Seven Stars, now renamed the Plough, should be opening shortly following refurbishment. We are told cask ales will be on sale, adding to the allure of Harwood as a real ale drinker’s destination.
Astley Bridge Cricket Club will be holding its annual beer festival on 13,14 & 15 September. Nine ales and four ciders will be on offer. Entry is £5 including a glass and programme.
Maybe the often promised heatwave will materialise before Autumn sets in, but whatever the weather, a glass of cask ale in one of our local pubs and clubs will always make the day a little brighter.
Cheers
John Mitchell
Chair
Presentation of the Gold and Bronze Beer of the Festival
The presentation is to brewers Blackjack and Steelfish and will take place at Station Hop in Levenshulme.
This venue was chosen because both beers were developed from the Home Brew Competition and both were submitted by a coalition from the Levenshulme Homebrew Club.
There is a good chance that Henry, after whom one beer was named, will be there wagging his tail at the success, so maybe bring a few doggy treats along as he isn’t allowed beer.
Station Hop is now supplied with most of its beers from Blackjack, so is effectively a brewery tap.
Our August social will be in Bolton as it is easy to access by bus for many of us and we still have a couple of pubs to visit that we normally don’t visit and missed in our social in July. We can meet at One for the Road in the Market at 12.30-13.00. Food is available for anyone who wants to eat. The Greyhound is closed after the explosion, but should it be open again by 17 August we will call in.
One for the Road, Stalls F14 to F15 Ashburner Street Lifestyle Hall, BL1 1TJ, 2 changing ales.
Old Three Crowns, 14 Deansgate, BL1 1BR, Theakson Old Peculiar & 2 changing ales
Hogarths, 37-41, Churchgate, BL1 1HU, 2 changing ales
Prince Billy’s, 9-11 Bradshawgate, last time we called there was no cask, but we can call in again to check.
Northern Monkey Bar, Nelson Square, BL1 1AQ, 4 changing ales
If anyone has suggestions about other pubs with cask, we don’t visit please let us know.
If you need any further details or need to contact on the day, please contact social@bolton.camra.org.uk or call Gill on 07967585670
Frequent flyers of The Moorfield Sale will have undoubtedly noticed that it had closed for a while.
Well the good news is that it’s reopened as…. just merely ‘The Sale’ (Imagine the discussion at the marketing meeting coming up with that one!)
Anyway, after sampling what they have to offer at the Sale I can confirm that there are 4 handpumps, however, the Old Golden Hen wasn’t on despite the clip showing. When I pointed out the clip should be turned, this was met with silence and a blank stare. The practice of leaving pump signs visible when not on seems to be an industry norm now.
I tried the Deuchars (well kept but bland) and the Abbot Ale which was in decent form and just about merited a 3 score. 2 halves cost £4.60 so clearly not trying to compete with Wetherspoons and its ilk.
It seems like even more of a food pub now and beyond the bar, it has been given a restaurant feel (quite well done IMHO). Even the bar area, where the fruit machines remain, is geared up for food. There is a terrace and large patio area out the back in front of a large car park. This was very popular on the warm evening of my visit.
Service looked stretched and somewhat fraught and I assumed this was understandable teething problems.
Overall, a significant improvement and very pleasing to see real ale back on. The continuity of this and its quality should ideally be regularly checked.
It was nice to see a few people drinking cask from my observation.
Watch this space!
