RyedAle & CoastAle 3

RyedALE & CoastALE Issue 3 Winter 2018/9 FREE - Please take a copy

GBG 2019 Launched at the Corporation Club

Pub News

Scarborough Area:

The latest development in the long-running saga of the re-opening of the onetime King & Cask, that briefly opened as The Doghouse in the Summer, has now seemingly reached a conclusion , and the pub has now opened as The Duke's Knickers, as of mid December. It is reported that Adnam's Ghost Ship is to be permanently available, accompanied by two guest ales.

The Wellington is likely to be closed for two or three months.

The Shakespeare remains closed at present.

We would like to welcome Jodie and Julian, the new tenants of the Hole in the Wall. This is their first venture into running a pub, and we wish them well.

Filey Area: The Station, also known as The Top House, has recently reopened following a ÂŁ175,000 refurbishment by Admiral Taverns.

Landlord Andy Quinn told our Editor that he has four real ales permanently available, Back in November, this was the first calling point on our Filey Walkabout - see article later in this magazine.

The Grapes has now withdrawn its cask ale offering.

In Cayton, The Blacksmiths' has undergone refurbishment and reopened as The Farrier.

Malton Area: Neil and Karen Suddaby, of Suddabys' Crown Hotel are still looking for someone to take over from them, and so for the time being they remain in-situ. A beer festival has recently taken place, while another is planned for Easter 2019.

Elsewhere in Malton, the proprietor of Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 is in discussion regarding taking on the lease of the Spotted Cow, although we are aware that an amount of refurbishment is required.

Across the Derwent in Norton, the Derwent Arms is reported to be for sale. We visited Norton recently, see the article in this issue.

Whitby Area: No news has reached us lately concerning Whitby, although Scarborough's Stumble Inn recently organised a minibus trip there.

Pickering Area: The work to convert the Royal Oak to flats continues. We believe a similar fate awaits The Horseshoe nearby. Adjacent to the river, The Rose continues to trade, but was reportedly up for auction on 4th December, with a guide price of ÂŁ210,000. We will continue to monitor this.

Rural Area: Good news reaches us regarding two pubs along the A64 corridor. Firstly the Dawnay Arms, West Heslerton reopened in mid December. A similar tale of good news applies to the Coach and Horses, in Rillington.

It is with great sadness that I have to report on the closure of one of the pubs within an easy walk of the editorial home address, namely Brompton by Sawdon's Old Post Office Tavern. Fuller details appear elsewhere in this magazine, but I am happy to report that the final night was enjoyable, if a bit of a blur...

In Snainton, The Peacock Hotel occasionally features a second handpull alongside the regular Tetley's Cask. Recently this has served Beer Monkey Blonde.

South of Hunmanby, The Dotterel has "For Sale" signs attached.

Brewery News

The new brewer here has started.

In addition, the new canning line has been installed. Seasonal beers are available, but apart from this, things remain fairly quiet.

Anyone who visits the Tap House in January and presents a bus or train ticket will receive a free pint!

(Eddie Knorn)

Although most of the brewery production is destined to cross the yard to the cellar of the Black Swan, the entry ior the brewery in CAMRA's Good Beer Guide has led to a few casks being procured by customers rather further afield.

(Eddie Knorn).

North Riding Brew Pub

The branch meeting that took place on 10th November was hosted by the Black Swan Hotel, Pickering. Before the meeting commenced, a few of us were able to have a look at the Great British Breworks brewery, located alongside the Black Swan. The front cover of this magazine records our visit.

I recently paid a further visit and caught up with brewer, Tristan, who told me that he has been flat out brewing the three core ales, Istanbul Pale, Great Scot and Coal Porter, along with their lager, This, coupled with the limited capacity of the site has meant that the plan to revisit the spiced pumpkin ale in time for Christmas has had to be set aside this year. In addition, the planned new mild has not been able to appear yet.

Recent brews include: Divinity 5.3% Frigg 4.7% Biotic Orb 5.8% Alto 3.4% Agnus 4.2% Berial 4.2% Artorius 7%, a black IPA At September's York Beer Festival, the Frigg was accompanied by Ornstein (6%).

A collaboration double brew day took place at the Brew Pub and the Ayton brewery involving Elusive Brewery, Five Towns Brewery and Jim Cullen, organiser of the Salford Independent Beer Festival, while Brewery Liaison Officer Graham Rogers also assisted. The results of the day were Moccachine, 5.8%, a US red ale, and India Porter, 7%.

Both of these were available at the Salford Independent Festival at the end of November / beginning of December

Brewery News on a whole new dimension. I hope that the new building will offer sufficient wall space to allow the brewery to display its seemingly ever-expanding selection of beer festival award certificates.

As a resident of Snainton (writes Eddie Knorn), I was very pleased to hear the news that the North Riding Brewery is moving to a new industrial unit in our village.

[Last Summer, I returned to our former local pub, in the village of Ruabon near Wrexham, where I found North Riding American Pale Ale available and joked that it was brewed about five miles from our front door. Now that distance will reduce to a few hundred yards....]

The new site will still be a ten barrel plant, however the cold room will be much larger than the "old" one at Ayton.

As I write this, just before Christmas 2018, I have been advised by Graham and Ann Rogers that the last brew at the Ayton site has taken place, and that the brewery is now devising how to get the new site, on Barkers Lane in Snainton, up and running. I have had the privilege of visiting the Ayton site nearly a year ago, when the CAMRA branch from Halifax were visiting in order to present a certificate to Stuart, and I recall the pleasure of enjoying a few "free samples" from the built-in hand pulls in the brewery. At present it is too early to say whether the new premises will have any similar facilities, but if some form of tap room takes shape, I can see my dog-walk around the village taking

September's Beer Festival at York saw four beer from North Riding available: N.E. Pale 4.3% U.S. Lite 3.5% Neapolitan Milk Stout 4.5% Your Latest Trick 4.3% A collaboration double brew day took place with the guys from Needle & Pin, Loughborough, which resulted in Coffee & Walnut Stout, 7.4%, and Cryo for Help, a 4.3% Mosaic dry hopped with Cryo hops.

(Thanks to Graham Rogers for the background information).

The contract brewing arrangements for Suddaby's beers remain in place for now, noting that the Suddaby's are looking for someone to take over the running of The Crown.

Featured Pub - Three Tuns, West Lutton Mike is responsible for the beer, while Sharon looks after the food offering.

Eric

is

sometimes

given

the

opportunity to guard his spot in front of the fire.

On the occasion of our visit, two hand-

Eddie Knorn writes:

From a purely personal point of view, one

of

the

benefits

of

CAMRA

membership is the opportunity to explore pubs in the branch area that are “off the radar”. Some months ago, we had a branch survey trip that included pubs along our southern border, and having discovered the Three Tuns, I felt that a further visit was

required,

so

at

the

end

of

November I returned, accompanied by branch

Beer

Festival

Organiser,

Stewart Campbell. The Three Tuns belongs to Mike and Sharon Mowforth, assisted by dog Eric.

pulls were available, Tetley’s Cask (with the traditional huntsman on the pump

clip,)

and

Marston’s

Saddle

Tank. Mike advised that the Tetley’s is a permanent fixture on the bar, also that during the Summer period, the third handpull is brought into use. At times, the eponymous “Three Tuns Ale“

is available; this is actually a

Ringwood Brewery product, originally “Ringwood Best” this has been rebranded “Ringwood Razorback” in the last few years. (In a previous edition of this magazine I erroneously stated that the Three Tuns Ale was from another source, and for this I apologise).

Featured Pub - Three Tuns, West Lutton Mike advised us that M&B “Brew XI” The Three Tuns is currently on Winter was poised in the cellar and ready to opening hours, 16.00 - 23.00 appear on the bar. Mike noted the Wednesday and Thursday, 12.00 Tetley’s sells well at the Three Tuns, 23.00 Friday - Sunday. Food is available from opening time until also that standard, “middle of the 20.00 Wednesday - Saturday, and from road” bitters are good sellers, so these 12.00 - 16.00 Sundays. The Three are most likely to be found on the bar.

Tuns opens additionally on Bank Mike and Sharon have had the Three Holidays, 12,00 - 19.00. When we Tuns since November 2015, and in visited, it was late afternoon / early discussion it emerged that prior to evening and it looked like a small this, they had turned Muttley’s Motor group of locals was in to enjoy good Bike Shop in Hull into a real ale bar; conversation; from a personal point of this became an oasis in the real ale view, a pub with such an atmosphere desert of Hull’s Holderness Road.

and good beer is a good find and worthy of a further visit.

Brewery Liaison Officer's Role, and a visit to Great British Breworks Our November branch meeting was held at the Black Swan Hotel, Pickering. Apart from the public house and hotel, the site is also the home of the Great British Breworks.

The brewery is run single-handedly

by Tristan, son of the landlord and landlady. Before the meeting began, a few of us were able to have a look in the former wash house that serves as home to the brewery. The image shows near-enough the entire extent of the brewery, along with branch members (from bottom left) Graham, Ray, Harry, Stewart and Eddie.

(Thanks to Bob Watmore for taking this). Eddie is Brewery Liaison Officer for Breworks and he recently visited the Black Swan to catch up with Tristan. In the run-up to Christmas, the brewery was fully occupied with production of the core range of real ales, and as a consequence the Christmas pumpkin-spiced ale and

the new mild were not able to be produced. Unfortunately this is a consequence of the small plant being at capacity, but equally it is good news that the ale sells as fast as it can be brewed.

Breworks beer epitomises the term "LocAle" as it has to travel a matter of a few feet from brewery to the bar!

Due to the limited capacity, Breworks beer is only rarely available at other outlets.

The role of the Brewery Liaison Officer (BLO) requires the member to maintain regular contact with "their" brewery and to provide updates to branch meetings also to provide input to the brewery section of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide.

A few of the breweries in our branch area have vacancies for BLOs. Why not give it a go, and get involved?

Too Many Micro-pubs in Scarborough?

Item taken from the Yorkshire Councillor Allanson's concerns are Coast Radio website.

that there could be 'too many' in the

There are some concerns over the future. He said: increase

in

'micro-pubs'

in "Shops are being turned into wine

Scarborough Borough.

bars or micro-pubs in single room

Councillor Godfrey Allanson, who establishments. In Filey for instance, represents

the

Hertford

Ward, in less than a minute's walk we've got

brought it up earlier this week, after one micro-pub in a shop and another it

was

decided

the

Cumulative just around the corner and I think

Impact Zone would remain in Whitby. there could be a third one.

Micro-pubs

are

usually

a

small So it's really easy to open one. They

freehouse, mainly serving cask ales, seem very, very popular and their promotes conversation and tends to obviously easy to maintain. keep

away

from

all

forms

electronic entertainment.Â

of But I think we might reach a point where -just as people have concerns

In recent years, a number of them about more coffee shops-we could have appeared around the borough, see particularly Scarborough.

on

Falsgrave

three

or

four

micro-pubs

in together.

I think, in some high streets, that could lead to some concerns."

A response to this from "bob 36", on the same website: "If these micro-pubs are a social problem, then how come they are still in business? The answer is that they are more popular and profitable than the Pub Chains that are noisy and expensive and only provide what "they" think is what the public want.

Shock News! Award-Winning Micro-pub closes.

Eddie Knorn writes...

In July 2016, Tracey and I had started things in motion to purchase a house in Snainton, on the road between Scarborough and Pickering. Tracey noted that there was a micro pub in the next village, Brompton by Sawdon, and that she had been meaning to suggest that we pay it a visit. So it was that we discovered The Old Post Office Tavern. The pub was located in what had obviously been the village shop, and on the bar were four hand-pulls serving real ale along with the opportunity to enjoy real cider, via bag-in-box format. Of the four hand-pulls, the left hand one as seen from the front was dedicated to dark beers, with lighter beers generally on the other three.

A useful feature was the availability of “Three third” samplers, and on many subsequent visits I was able solve the conundrum of “which lighter beer to try?” by trying a little of all three! Neil and Sue were also very welcoming on our visits, along with up to three of their dogs, Bailey, Tia and Honey.

Apart from the beers and ciders, the OPOT offered gins and whiskies, along with pizzas and home-made

curries and chillies. There were selected nights of the week when deals were available on food and a pint. There were many times when Tracey and I were passing when it seemed easier not to bother going home to cook, closing instead to enjoy the food offering. On other occasions, I found it possible to walk there briskly from Snainton in around 25 minutes, though I did usually need a pint upon arrival…

Occasionally, the OPOT hosted whisky or gin tasting nights. The whisky event for Burns’ Night 2017 was hosted by Jim McMillan, proprietor of the specialist spirit shop in Malton, a Scot with a true passion for the malts. The whiskies were accompanied by a haggis dinner, and I vaguely recall having an enjoyable time. I have better memories of the gin nights as I was there as designated driver; usually the gin was followed by a selection of cheese and crackers prepared by Neil and Sue. Prior to running the OPOT, Neil and Sue had been in charge of other pubs; the Racehorses Hotel Kettlewell in 2003, then moved to the Downe Arms Wykeham in 2005 then on to the Boot and Shoe at Barkston Ash 2008 then OPOT which opened on 11th December 2015.Since opening, the OPOT has been awarded our branch “RunnerUp Rural Pub of the Year”, 2016 and 2017, also “Rural Cider Pub of the Year” 2017. The OPOT has also appeared in Good Beer Guides for 2018 and 2019.

Shock News! Award-Winning Micro-pub closes.

So it was, in September, just after the launch of the 2019 GBG that we found out the devastating news that Neil and Sue were about to close the OPOT. One of the causes of this was the state of the building, and this was not helped by a dispute with the building landlord, nor by the lack of a formal lease agreement. Above the pub is a flat, and there were many issues with water leaking from there into the pub below.

As a consequence, Neil and Sue had to have the OPOT toilet room sealed against water ingress, also replace the tiling. The walls had also suffered from damp. The final straw was on a Sunday, where further water leakage occurred 15 minutes before opening time, and Neil and Sue had to sort out the mess on their own.

A further factor in the demise of the OPOT was the inconsistent quantity of custom. Although there were many times when we had seen the place busy, there were others when I might drop in to find myself the only customer there. Neil recently told me that he had noticed a sharp decrease in the weekly takings following the end of the “holiday season” this year.

It does not surprise me that Neil and Sue “pulled the plug” when faced with these circumstances. So it was that a final Gin Tasting Night was to take place on Saturday 6th October (once again I was designated driver) while the final night ever was arranged for Saturday 27th October. Not surprisingly, the final weeks saw a reduction of stock

levels, however there was a real ale offering until the very end. When the last dark beer ran out prior to closure, supplies of Wold Top Marmalade Porter were obtained in bottled form. On the final night, the ale offerings on hand pull were: Sonnet 43 - Couplet v2.0 Jolly Sailor - Vienna Smash Wold Top - Bitter In addition, a few boxes of real cider remained available.

As usual, the OPOT opened for the last time at 5.00p.m. and our decision to get there early was vindicated as the place soon filled up. I subsequently found out that some people tried to get there but could not get in the door. Our seats, right by the bar allowed the enjoyment of several pints of ale, with Scottish single malt chasers.

One has to do one’s bit to use up the stock. I think there was not much ale left at the end of the evening, possibly aided by the reduced prices for the drinks.

In the immediate aftermath, let’s just say that on the Sunday I refrained from driving a motor vehicle, Tracey and I were able to meet Neil and Sue at the OPOT where we collected some ciders and whiskies that we had been able to purchase as a “package deal”. The furniture and equipment had been advertised as a job-lot via a micro pub group on social media, and a buyer was found in a short time.

Neil and Sue have now moved on to

Shock News! Award-Winning Micro-pub closes.

Beer festival Hire bfhyorkshire@gmail.com and Gin Delights www.gindelights.co.uk , along with running their holiday let www.homeaway.co.uk/8749361 I think that it is fair to say that the Old Post Office Tavern was more than good, while it lasted, and its closure should serve as a lesson to us all to use our local pubs.

Emptied and Anonymous, the former Old Post Office Tavern on 31st October, the day that the keys were handed back...

Transport Links At the time of writing, transport arrangements in our branch area have been at risk of disruption on two fronts, with strikes seemingly continuing on Arriva's Northern Railway services, along with the threat of strike action by drivers on Arriva Buses in the North East.

Obviously, by the time you read this, the situation may have changed, so check before you travel.

On a more positive note, Scarborough Station has seen evidence of the new fleet of diesel locomotives for a new fleet of pushpull trains for TransPennine Express, and current suggestions are that we will see the new trains in May 2019.

Typically, one locomotive seems to reside in the station while another is to be seen running in and out, presumably on staff training.

A front page article on the Scarborough Review newspaper for December described the introduction of a new "fit-to-travel" policy on trains between York and Scarborough after 6.00p.m. on Saturdays and also on Bank Holiday weekends, on the Sunday and Monday evenings.

Apparently, passengers will be asked to demonstrate that their ability to walk has not been impaired by drink or drugs. Please bear this in mind if taking a train to York for a beer or three...

Autumn Survey Trip Our September outing saw a group undertake a patrol of our north western border area. The route to the border itself passed through scenic Thornton Le Dale, so the opportunity was taken to visit GBG-listed New Inn, which now offers a discount to CAMRA members, along with the Buck Inn just across the road. See elsewhere in the RyedALE and CoastALE for a report on the Buck's first beer festival! Our branch border lies just west of the Malton to Pickering road, where the minibus found the Black Bull. From here, it was northwards through Pickering to Newton-on-Rawcliffe. Here, opposite the village green lies

the White Swan, and the good quality of the beer here was remarked upon.

Returning to Pickering, a call was made to the Bay Horse where the pub was presented with its GBG pack in a small ceremony. Next call was the peaceful village of Levisham, where the Horseshoe was visited. From here the minibus began its return to Scarborough, though stopping off at the Cayley Arms, Allerston, and taking a small diversion to Sawdon to visit The Anvil. Of note, The Anvil offers a CAMRA members’ discount, along with real cider from relatively local Coleman’s of Driffield.

Sun Inn Beer Festival Eddie Knorn writes...

The sixth Beer and Cider Festival took place at Pickering's Sun Inn on 21st - 23rd September. A group of us took a journey on the 128 bus from Scarborough and made the short walk to The Sun. The festival is based in a marquee in the garden behind the pub itself, Having obtained our festival glasses and beer tokens, we found a table near to the bar and perused the beer list. There were around 24 real ales on offer along with around 18 ciders. This, of course, excludes the normal beer and cider offerings in the bar in the pub....

Locally brewed ales were Hambleton's Stud Blonde (4,3%) and Bootleggers (3.8%), while the range of ales from further afield included Anarchy Brew Co's Sublime Chaos from Morpeth, Dorking's Washington Gold from Dorking, Hopback's Summer Lightning from Salisbury and Salcombe Bay's Lifesaver from Devon.

I occasionally visit Merseyside in my travels, and the Liverpool based Higson's Brewery was a sad loss from that part of the world in 1990.

(Thanks, Whitbread). The brand has been revived in December 2017, and The Sun festival had Higson's Amber on the bar (4.1%).

When we previously lived near Wrexham, we were in the distribution area of the Salopian Brewery that has, in the last few years, moved out of Shrewsbury to a new site in Hadnall. The Lemon Dream (4.5%) that I was able to enjoy

at The Sun was certainly up to the usual standard, and brought back memories of my former drinking habits. Our former "local" also used to regularly serve the ales of Tiny Rebel Brewery of Newport, South Wales. The Sun festival had planned to have their Chocolate Stay Puft Porter (5.2%) but had been sent the ordinary Stay Puft Marshmallow Porter, No chocolate, but still a delightful half pint!

Tracey was with me at the festival, and she was able to enjoy several of the ciders and perries on offer. In the range available there was even an offering from local producer, Malton Cider, Premium cider (7.5%) made using apples collected in the Malton area.

To accompany the drinking, there was live music on the "bandstand" and in the marquee itself, also burgers, hotdogs and pizzas available. When I placed a pizza order, I was handed a slip with my order number on; I turned my back at the wrong time, and the pizza chef had to venture into the marquee and call out my order number.

This then led to the immediate creation of a song: something like "Pizza 31 oh where have you gone?"

All in all, a very good day out, and I look forward to the next festival.

Buck Inn Beer Festival The final weekend in September was the occasion of the Buck Inn's first ever beer festival. The Thornton-leDale pub's rear garden held a festival marquee that held something for everyone. The main bar offered a variety of beers from some familiar breweries such as Rudgate, Yorkshire Heart, Whitby and Timothy Taylor, along with the new Whitbybased brewery, Lady Luck.

At the other end of the marquee, Helmsley Brewery had their own bar, where they were able to offer some of their own ales along with some from Sheffield's Sentinel Brewery. (I

particularly enjoyed the Sentinel Orange Stout...).

Elsewhere in the marquee, the cider bar offered a range of ciders from fairly local producer, Coleman's of Driffield. (I admit that I may have had a part in suggesting that a cider bar was provided). Also, riding the current trend for gin, there was a little three wheeled "tuk-tuk" gin bar.

A number of Scarborough Branch members made the trip, and I got the impression that this was an enjoyable day out.

I hope that this festival will be followed by many more.

Third Successful Big Sky Beer Festival On 5th and 6th October, Wold Newtonbased Wold Top Brewery welcomed over 200 visitors to its Hunmanby Grange home for its annual real ale, cider and music festival.

Eighteen real ales were chosen by members of the brewery team as beers not usually available in the Yorkshire Wolds. These included beers from Beartown, Blackedge, Adnams and Three B's. Over 500 pints were served over the weekend, and favourites were Wold Top's Against The Grain and Loweswater Gold from Cumbrian Legendary Ales.

Over 40 people braved the weather to camp at the event.

There was a lot of positive feedback, and Wold Top's brewery manager Alex Balchin was delighted with the success of the third such festival. "As brewers, its great to get feedback from the public about the beer that we brewand the festival was a great, relaxed way to engage

with the people who support us.

"We deliberately selected beers that are not available locally so that people were able to try something new".

The festival's name originates from the artist David Hockney who compared the sky over the Yorkshire Wolds to "the big sky" he experienced in the American West.

One Paw in the Treat Jar Blue Ball has some in a box right on the top shelf so I can't reach them, me mates at the Brass Castle Tap have a big jar of gravy bones put just out of my reach in the bar and when I go to the New Malton Gemma serves me lovely little bones on my own saucer, nice!

Have you been anywhere in the Scarborough Branch with doggie treats? Let us know and we'll add it to my column.

Further a'field!

We're off on our hollibobs soon to Alnmouth in Northumberland again because all three pubs are dog friendly and the beaches are fab! Just up the road is the famous Barter Books where we can all go for our breakfast!

If you want to know all of the dog friendly pubs in our region you can go onto the What Pub website, type in Scarborough and paw on Scarborough (Branch). Then 'Filter Results' and scroll down to 'Dog Friendly', paw the box and 'Search Results' at the top. There are 120 dog 'Ello, my name is Scruffy and friendly pubs in our region, great for after a day I'm 'ear to tell you all about on the beach or walking in the countryside. how Dog Friendly North Yorkshire is.....

If your seeing this online you can use this I live in Malton with my pet 'Umans and we 'ave just won the title of the UK's Most Dog Friendly Town 2018, beating Leek in Staffordshire and Keswick in the Lake District.

Wow! I ain't surprised though, it's brill living 'ear.

Wherever we go to into Malton for a bowl of water and a beer they've got all sorts of treats for us doggies..... now Chris at the

link...

https://whatpub.com/search? q = S c a r b o r o u g h + %28CAMRA%29&code=SCA&t=b&p=1&features =Pub%2COpen%2CRealAle High five everyone!........Mmmmm, treat!

Thanks!

Since this item was written, Scruffy fell ill while on his Northumberland holiday. His Humans, Bob and Racheal brought him home and gave him a special day involving a visit to the beach and some of the really nice dog food.

We suspect that he has found the real ale pubs in dog heaven, and that they all have treat jars

One Sunday Afternoon in November Graham Woodford writes...

Reports of the newly refurbished Station pub in Filey suggested this venue and other local hostelries needed a visit, so 8 of us plus Millie the dog and her custodian Mike rolled into Filey on the noon train.

The weather was typically Autumnal but luckily it's just a short stroll from the Railway Station to The Station.

(Clue to its name maybe? D'Oh!)

On arrival we were presented with a range of Sharps beers including Doom Bar and Atlantic. Then we spot the Rudgate Ruby Mild and we all indulge, proclaiming it to be in good nick.

They have done a fine job with the refurb - the layout remains the

same but with new fixtures and fittings. We will be back!

Another short walk (nowhere is far in Filey) took us to The Star, a regular in the Good Beer Guide and a customary haunt for local CAMRA members. Most of took on the Bradfield brewery Farmer's Blonde as a counterpoint to our previous dark ale.

Three or four strides out of The Star brings you to Filey's only micropub, Cobblers, which is in an old shoe repair shop, strangely enough. Some unusual guest beers were on tap and everybody sampled, my choice being the Selby Pale, which had a refreshing Summery taste to it. I could almost forget the November gloom outside. Cobblers can get quite busy (there is an extra room out the back) we all got seated OK to enjoy our beers.

Millie was getting restive and demanding her doggy chew stick (reward for good behaviour) The canny pooch knew she was entitled one in every new pub! Chew duly scoffed she settled under the table, oblivious to our beer fuelled conference.

One Sunday Afternoon in November Next stop was Bonhommes bar, just off The Crescent. Obviously Sunday afternoons here are a must for locals as it was very busy. Entertainment was in the form of wonder guitarist Julian Socha, who could produce any sound imaginable from his instrument by means of various pedals and boxes.

Parting the throng at the bar exposed Trident Pale from the Scarborough brewery along with Bonhommes Bitter (brewed by Isaac Poad) and yet more of the delicious Rudgate Ruby mild which was in such good nick even our Treasurer couldn't fault it!

After quaffing 2 rounds of Trident I was tempted to spend the rest of the rapidly diminishing afternoon here, however, into the gathering dusk to our next call, the Conservative Club.

To gain entry you press the door buzzer and the steward at the bar operates the lock remotely and lets

you in. This was not a venue I had visited before and I was pleasantly surprised at the warm welcome we received. Quite a few clubs are struggling in our branch area, but clearly this one is well patronised as it was buzzing with a surprisingly mixed clientele.

There were 2 or three cask ales on the bar (memory fails) but we all chose the Thwaites (Marstons) Wainwright gold, all except Mike, who was outside on Millie duty having exhausted his supply of good girl chews.

We planned a stop at the Filey Snooker Club, a stones throw from the station but sadly the last Sunday train to Scarborough was beckoning.

An agreeable way to spend a November Sunday afternoon, good beer and good company – next time come and join us!

Finally, a message from Millie - BRING MORE CHEWS!

Norton Night Out Eddie Knorn writes...

Norton-on-Derwent is an overlooked part of the Scarborough CAMRA branch area, sitting next to its (dare I say?) more glamorous neighbour, Malton. Malton is known for food festivals, the Beertown Beer Festival, a couple of breweries and some wellknown pubs. Norton could be forgiven for being overlooked.

As a way of redressing the balance, Bob, Racheal and Scruffy Watmore came up with the suggestion of a Friday Night Norton pub walkabout.

A date was set in November and on the night in question, a small party of Scarborough CAMRA members travelled to Malton Station and were led by Bob into unfamiliar territory.

Our plan was to head to the furthest pub in Norton and then work our way back towards Malton, So it was that we found our way to the Hyde Park.

As soon as we walked in, we could tell that this was a welcoming atmosphere. There was a good crowd of locals at the bar, and we were able to choose from either Tetley’s Cask, or Hobgoblin.

Once our group had settled in to an

alcove, we were able to meet Steve Rice who runs the Hyde Park with wife Sue. They have been here nine and a half years, and are keen on providing quality real ale for their customers.

Steve told us that Tetley’s was a permanent fixture on the bar, and the other pump rotated beers to include the Hobgoblin that we found, Taylor’s Landlord or other seasonal beers. Steve was about to put out the Christmas decorations and told us that these would be spectacular! During our visit, Heidi the pub alsatian wandered over to investigate our group, before settling beneath our table.

We moved on to The Union, where we again found Tetley’s Cask, accompanied by Doom Bar. The licensee is new here, having retired from being a railway signalman, but prior to taking the pub on, he drank here for 8 years.

On the night of our visit, the place was buzzing, as a sixties night was taking place in the other bar.

Onwards to the Derwent Arms, where we found a choice of Tetley’s Cask and Thwaites’ Wainwright. We noted that the pub is up for sale, and so will keep the situation here under observation.

Norton Night Out

Derwent Arms, Norton Brass Castle Tap Amongst our party were Harry and Sandra from Scarborough’s Corporation Club, and it was a logical move for them to want to investigate the Railway Social Club near the station. The Bombardier here was reportedly in good form.

Having crossed back to the Malton side of the Derwent, the group was drawn to the Brass Castle Tap, where

we found Racheal and Scruffy waiting for us. On the bar we found Bad Kitty and Session Mini IPA available on handpull, and for those who prefer cider, Orchards of Husthwaite was available.

To conclude, thanks are due to Bob, Racheal and Scruffy for the idea and to Bob for leading the expedition on the night.

Suddaby's Winter Festival

From Thursday 6th to Sunday 9th December, Neil and Karen at Suddaby's Crown Hotel in Malton ran their 57th overall and 23rd Winter Beer Festival.The Crown is up for sale with Neil and Karen seeking to move on to a very well deserved

retirement from being responsible for keeping brewing going in Malton since the 1980s, and no doubt creating the inspiration for the recent developments of Brass Castle, Bad Seed and Malton / Horsetown breweries in the town. On the Saturday, 12 Scarborough Branch members met with small groups from CAMRA branches in Wakefield and York to sample the 18 festival beers, the normal 5 beers on the bar and the 4 ciders.

The Half Moon - Skinny Fattie White Porter, Blue Bee (Sheffield) - Ginger Pale Ale, Brew York Rhubarba Streisand and local Brass Castle Hyggie Figgy blueberry and fig were very tasty.

By this time, four of the beers had already gone thanks to good local support for the live music on Thursday and Friday.

Neil and Karen's Beer, Music and Food Festivals have become legendary, and all at CAMRA wish them well and hope that this Malton institution can be continued in the years to come. Cheers!

Report by Bob and Racheal Watmore

Cider and Perry Tracey Knorn writes...

Cider has been "quiet but active" of late. Seamer's Hedgehoggers Cider has been active in the local community, while Suffield's Tree Top Press has continued production while also growing the vegetable box / farm shop scheme.

We are very sad to have lost the Old Post Office Tavern from Brompton, as this was our rural Cider Pub of the Year, and incidentally was very convenient to get to from home.

Good news is that cider does seem to be becoming more available in pubs in Scarborough.

January is the traditional time for Wassailing, and the traditional date for this is on 17th January. The purpose of wassailing is to awaken the apple trees and to scare off evil spirits from them, so as to lead to a healthy apple harvest at the end of the Summer. The orchard-visiting wassail is typically led by the Wassail King and Queen who will lead a musical procession to the orchard and oversee the placing of pieces of toast, soaked in "wassail", hot mulled cider from the previous fruit harvest, onto the branches of the trees.

In addition, there is an incantation read aloud to the trees to bless them.

A key part of the wassailing is to make lots of noise, so as to ensure those evil spirits are scared away!

For 2019, the significant date for wassailing is Saturday 19th January.

On this day, there will be two wassails in or near or Branch area.

From 10.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m.

Coleman's Cider will again be holding their wassail at Sledmere House, with the festivities starting at midday. We went last year and it was a good trip out!

From 4.00 p.m. until midnight, it will be the turn of Hedge Hoggers' Cider in Seamer to hold a similar event.

Starting at Irton and Seamer Memorial Hall, there will then be a procession through the village to the orchard.

This is their first "proper" wassail, previous events have taken place in the middle of Summer. Later in the evening, the Memorial Hall will be hosting live music. Apart from their cider, there will be Wold Top beer available along with food.

Again, past experience of Hedge Hoggers events has shown them to be worthwhile.

I hope to see some of you at one of both of these events!

Looking ahead to our Beer and Cider Festival, at the Spa Theatre on 7th 9th March, I shall once again be looking after the Cider Bar, and I hope to be able to offer you over twenty different ciders and perries. If you are visiting the festival, please drop by and say hello!

Club Feature: Scaborough Borough Council Employees' Welfare Club This club, more commonly referred

generations and can be traced back to

to as the Corporation Club, was first

the founding members of 1935.

opened in 1935 for the benefit, as the name implies, of the council employees and is situated on Dean Road, Scarborough.

Throughout the post war years until the 1980’s the club fielded both cricket and football teams. Currently, they continue to be represented in

The club originally consisted of the

various darts and domino leagues as

bar, an upstairs snooker room and

well as the snooker league. The darts

concert room although the concert

team lays claim to winners of the

room is now the snooker room. The

Scarborough Singles competition and

upstairs room is now a function

the snooker team were runners up in

room. In addition, the club had a rifle

the team knockout cup. The function

room which was located further down

room upstairs is home to Desapline

Dean Road towards the old prison,

Martial Arts club which is run by ten-

with attendance and participation at

time world champion coach Andy

the rifle range actively encouraged by

Des’a. Members of the club recently

the authorities.

won 21 medals at the ICO World

All

council

employees

were

Championships in Rome.

automatically enrolled as members

The club is open 7pm til Midnight

with the upkeep of the building

Monday

undertaken by the various trades,

Friday & Saturday and 12-3, 7-11:30

such as plumbers, electricians and builders,

employed

through

the

various council departments. Some families have members spanning four

on

–

Thursday,

Sunday.

agreement

is

The now

11-12:30am beer

supply

operated

by

Heineken with up to three real ales now on the bar. The Club has been awarded Scarborough CAMRA's Club

Club Feature: Scaborough Borough Council Employees' Welfare Club of the Year in both the last two years.

In 1985 Whitbread, who supplied the club with their beer

and

wine,

presented

the

club

with

a

commemorative shield to celebrate 50 years of operation.

The club is run by Sandra Smith with the able assistance

of

club

secretary,

Harry

Smith

and

treasurer, Irene. Membership of the club is currently £10 per year with reduced membership of £5 for women. The club would welcome new members so please call in for more information.

2018 Pubs and Club of the Year Consumer and

At the recent Annual General Meeting in

Trading Concerns

December, we announced the results of

If you have any complaints regarding short measure or any related consumer rights issues, please contact Citizens Advice

the voting for our Branch Pubs and Club

03454 949596

Runner Up: Stumble Inn

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Rural Pub of the Year:

of the year.

Town Pub of the Year:

North Riding Brew Pub

Sun Inn, Pickering Runner Up: Star, Filey

Town Cider Pub of the Year:

Stumble Inn Runner Up: Scholars

Rural Cider Pub of the Year:

Sun Inn, Pickering Club of the Year:

Corporation Club, Scarborough

Brewery to Brewery: On the Road Again...

Stewart Campbell writes...

Saturday 6th October saw the trusty

A question and answer session

Mike Kent minibus on the road again

place for a core range of beers to

transporting

establish a breweries place in the

CAMRA

members

followed with issues such as the

around pubs of our branch with a

market

view to assessing them for inclusion

experimental breweries push the

in the 2020 Good Beer Guide.

boundaries. Chris then showed us

Before checking out the pubs we headed directly to Bad Seed Brewery in Malton, following an invite from owner

and

head

brewer

Chris

Waplington. Upon arrival we were treated to a welcome beer by Chris

and

how

far

can

around the brewing floor where Harry

made

the

most

of

the

fermenting vessel being jacked-up ready for cleaning. After a very enjoyable time we departed for the pubs in Old Malton.

before he gave us an informative and interesting

presentation.

Chris

explained how the brewery was set up; their ethos and their position in the current beer world.

Above and left: "Harry! You were warned not to touch anything!!"

(Not that he ever listens...)

Brewery to Brewery: On the Road Again...

Our first pub was the Royal Oak. This

This

Grade II listed building dating from the 18th century has been given a

bitter is not seen

touch up since our last visit and met

branch area very

with the approval of our group. Three

often

real ales were on offer and were in

always

excellent condition and very much

dropping

appreciated by the members. A short

the East Riding

walk away is the Wentworth Arms, another Grade II listed 18th century

when

coaching Inn. Looking splendid in the sunshine and with the ivy a glorious autumnal red (see below) we were treated to beers from Tetley, Beer Monkey and Helmsley.

traditional

around

our so

it

is

worth into

in

the

vicinity.

Our

last

destination is Wold Top’s Big Sky Beer Festival. Here, in addition to the range of Wold Top beers, there were 18 guest beers to choose from together with cider from Colemans Cider of Kilham. Once our group had purchased their tokens and collected their glasses they set sail into the barn. Reappearing ninety minutes later we all boarded the minibus for the

return

trip

to

Scarborough.

With time ticking along it was time to

Consensus was that the trip had

board

next

been the most enjoyable of the year

destination. The East Riding Hotel at

and members were looking forward

Sherburn has proven to be a favourite

to

pub on the survey trips in the last two

Year.Thanks must be extended to

years so it would have been remiss to

Jonathan for being our designated

pass it by. Once again it was pleasing

driver across all our trips out since

to see Butcombe Original on the bar

May.

the

minibus

for

the

the

next

trips

in

the

New

Black Sheep Acquires York Brewery In early December Mitchells of Lancaster, and therefore their subsidiary York Brewery, went into administration.

Thankfully, Black Sheep brewery stepped up to the plate and purchased York Brewery, its brands, along with four pubs as part of the deal. The pubs include the well known Last Drop Inn, York and Mr Foley's Tap House, Leeds.

The acquisition, which was facilitated by Administrators Duff & Phelps Ltd, builds on a positive year for Black Sheep, which itself returned to profit in 2018. Andy Slee, Chairman of The Black Sheep Brewery, said: "This acquisition fits perfectly with our strategy of developing our presence in our Yorkshire heartland and owning pubs. Entering administration was worrying for the team at York Brewery, but our deal offers some comfort that its successful brand can be maintained, and the pubs can continue to operate. York Brewery complements our strong brands and by acting quickly we have been able to provide a good outcome for both organisations."

Rob Theakston, Managing Director, Black Sheep Brewery, said: "Over the last 26 years we have produced some of the UK's most iconic, award-winning beers, and the purchase of another longstanding brewery will secure the future of another well-respected Yorkshire brand.

"It also starts our journey into retail which was announced at the AGM in September.

We are delighted with the acquisition."

Scarborough Beer Festival The Festival will run from Thursday 7th until Saturday 9th March and will be open from noon until 11pm daily in the Ocean Room of the Spa Theatre, Scarborough.

The festival will feature a choice of up to 80 real ales and 25 boxes of cider

and

selection

perry

of

distinctive

local

ales

as

showcasing breweries well

as

a and

from

breweries across the UK. The Festival Organiser, Stewart Campbell said, “We are delighted that following this year’s unfortunate chain of events we will be staging our third real ale festival

in

association

with

Scarborough Spa. There will be 80 real ales including 18 casks from micro-breweries in Scotland and 25 ciders and perrys featuring produce from the heartland of cider country, the South West plus some local North Yorkshire ciders from Hedgehoggers and Tree Top Press.”

There will be hot and cold food plus snacks catered by the Spa plus soft drinks for drivers. The festival will feature live music on Friday and Saturday

evenings

designated Accompanied

a

with quiet

children

welcome until 8pm.

Thursday night. will

be