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The magazine of the Lunesdale Branch of CAMRA.
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I n s i d e . . .
Wish Upon a BeerCraft beers in Orlando, Florida
Town & City PubsAround Heysham
plus much more...
Taddy’s TravelsIn Brussels, Belgium
WWW.LUNESDALECAMRA.ORG.UK
Issue 00Issue 29 | January - March 2016 IIssue 00FREEpleasetake a copy
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An old Lancastrian, wisely seeking refuge in one of the few pubs to
remain open during the power cuts caused by the worst floods to affect this area for many a year, was overheard saying, “it’s nowt but a couple of puddles.” His dogged spirit is admirable, but we’re aware that puddles were rivers for some people – which only prompted more jokes about indoor swimming pools where the front room used to be.
Amongst the worst affected pubs was the George and Dragon on the Quay, or the Middle House, as some people call it. As the waters rose, a text from the pub went out asking for help with finishing off a barrel. The tide was high and they were (just about) holding on. As as we go to press, they were appealing for help in clearing up the mess – in particular a ruined cellar. Landlord Mike Brandwood said that the water levels in the neighbouring pub the George and Dragon were even worse, with stinking drain and river water actually coming into the pub.
Bottom Wethers, or to speak more correctly, the Green Ayre, is likely to be closed until around March, as the lower floor was inundated. Staff are being redeployed elsewhere in the area, as
are the customers. As the extent of the damage to the town became apparent, a single mum of my acquaintance, with a four-year-old who didn’t understand why the house was in darkness, went tin search of Wetherspoons. “Wetherspoons is always open. It was closed.” The Yorkshire House is assessing the extent of the damage but doesn’t know when it will be able to open again.
Many people have reported how pubs were the first havens to which people resorted, and we can only report from one or two, despite being aware of heroic efforts undertaken by many others. The Royal in Morecambe stayed open by candlelight. The Three Mariners was a home from home for refugees from further down the Quay, providing hot meals in front of a coal fire. Mark Cutter at The Gillow – having had to abandon the Juke Joint to six feet of floodwater – rang the police to tell them that people were welcome to use it as a refuge, while the MP for (most of) Lancaster, Cat Smith, fished someone out of the river formerly known as North Road. And all she went out for was a lightbulb from Sainsbury’s.
Whilst your editor’s suburb was lit only by candles and torches, power was restored to the White Cross. All phone
EDITOR’S COLUMNCliff Laine is hung out to dry
Chairman: Michael DillonBranch Secretary: Martin Sherlocke: [email protected]: 01524 66131Treasurer: John SlingerLunesdale Drinker Editor: Cliff Lainee: [email protected]: 07810 507602 (call for a postal address)
Enquiries: [email protected]
Disclaimer: The views expressed in articles are those of individual contributors and are not necessarily the views of the Lunesdale Branch, The Campaign for Real Ale Ltd. Lunesdale CAMRA accepts no liability in relation to the accuracy of advertisements; readers must rely on their own enquiries. It should also be noted that acceptance of an advertisement in this publication should not be deemed an endorsement of quality by Lunesdale CAMRA.
© 2015 Capital Media Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted, reproduced, recorded, photocopied or otherwise without the express written permission of the copyright holder.
Branch Contacts
PUBLISHED BY Capital Media Group, 1st Floor, Central Buildings, Middlegate, Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, NG24 1AGt: 01636 302 302 • e: [email protected]
The Editor reserves the right to amend or shorten contributions for publication. All editorial copyright © Lunesdale CAMRA 2015.
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networks were down, but Lancastrians have a radar to detect an open pub, which works without relying on new-fangled inventions like the telephone.
I have three teenage girls who spend their weekends in what passes for my fatherly care and attention. We were playing Twenty Questions whilst ekeing out the tea lights. “Make it really complicated,” said my eldest. “Make it Fifty Questions, because we’re going to be sat in the dark for ages.” I made them a tea of half-defrosted chips and vegetarian sausages, but the mood was sinking. So I suggested we take a pack of cards down the White Cross.
The White Cross attracts a fair number of students and young people, and it was amusing to see entire tables of people staring into phones and tablets and the other paraphernalia of our technologically-centred life, plugged like Davros’s head into extension cables serving a multitude of yoof from a single socket. It was a wonder the whole pub didn’t explode, shattered screens preserving the last moments of that vital Facebook update. If you wanted evidence for how we are becoming androids – half-human, half-machine – you should have been in the White Cross on Sunday night.
I asked Tim Tomlinson about how the pub coped. “Most staff worked on their days off and some for as long as 14 hours straight, in order to get food to customers. They, like the customers, hadn’t had heat,
showers or warm food but carried on. They did an amazing job. We were the only place in the area with heat and light, and which could stay open. It was packed and everyone wanted food and I don’t think anyone left hungry or uncharged.”
Without any mobile networks operating, there were long queues at the very few phoneboxes still working. Many young people struggled with the alien, antique machines. One youngster was seen trying to swipe the little screen.
It’s been a tough time, of which this article hardly scratches the surface, but at least we made it into the national Guardian. An article about the floods in Lancaster which illustrated an article about the flooding in Lancaster by local architect Ian Martin with pictures entirely taken in Carlisle, which does make you think that for even the better national newspapers, it’s all a bit vague once you get north of Hemel Hempstead.
But as the old announcement on the telly used to say in times of force majeure, that open-ended get-out clause for insurance companies … normal service will be resumed shortly.
Cliff [email protected] 1050 7602
PUBS WITH CAMRA DISCOUNT
• Water Witch (LA1 1SU) - 30p off a pint• White Cross (LA1 4XT) - 10p off a pint MORECAMBE• Morecambe (LA4 5HX) - 10% off cask ales• Royal Hotel (LA4 4BJ) - All ales £2 a pintGARSTANG• Th’Owd Tithe Barn (PR3 1PA) - 30p off a pint• Wheatsheaf (PR3 1EL) - 20p off a pintGALGATE • Plough (LA2 0LQ) - 40p off a pintHEYSHAM • Royal Hotel (LA3 2RN) - 10% offINGLETON • Wheatsheaf (LA6 3AD) - 10% off
This list is believed to be accurate, but may of course change without notice. Some pubs don’t give discount on half pints. Email any errors or omissions to [email protected]
LANCASTER• Bobbin (LA1 1HH) - 30p off a pint• Borough (LA1 1PP) - £1 off a pint of their own ales only• Fibber McGee’s (LA1 1UP) - 30p off a pint• George & Dragon (LA1 1RB) - 10p off a pint• Greaves Park (LA1 3AH) - 30p off a pint• Juke Joint (was Lord Ashton) (LA1 1NY) - 10% off• Merchants (LA1 1YN) - 10p off a pint• Pendle Witch (LA1 1XN) - 10% off• Penny Bank (LA1 1XF) - 10p off a pint• Penny Street Bridge (LA1 1XT) - 30p off a pint• Robert Gillow (LA1 1HP) - 10% off• Study Room (LA1 1LH) - 10% off• Tap House (LA1 1UH) - 10% off• Three Mariners (LA1 1EE) - 10p off a pint
Members need to be in possession of a current valid CAMRA membership card to claim the discount.
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Unfortunately due to my holiday I could not get my copy for he last issue to the
editor in time so it is a belated thank you to Peter Morgan and his team for all the hard work they put in to the organisation of the Morecambe Beer Festival at the Trimpell Club and to all the volunteers who helped over the three days of the festival. Without you it could not have happened!
As is usual for me at the end of August I have been sampling the craft beers in Oregon and thanks to Jay who sorted out my US simcard at at&t in Salem discovered a truly wonderful IPA with the great name of “Tricerahops”. This is brewed by the Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene, Oregon and is described as a Double IPA with an ABV of 8% and IBU of 100. If ever there was a good case for emigrating to the USA this is it!
The CAMRA “comms tool” is now being used to send out the Lunesdale monthly mail out to CAMRA members and from the feedback I have received is working very well, but this does depend on the email address held by CAMRA being up to date. All future communications to branch members will now be sent out by
means of this in addition to our website and this magazine. Unfortunately with the increased cost of postage using Royal Mail is no longer an option, although to really find out what is going on come to our monthly branch meetings.
As I write this I am looking forward to Christmas and sampling whatever Christmas ales will be on offer around Lancaster and Morecambe and also spending New Year’s Eve at the Hawkshead Brewery in Staveley. But by the time this is in print it will all be over for another year.
Here’s hoping you had a good Christmas and Best wishes for the New Year!
Happy Drinking
Michael Dillon
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGEMichael Dillon
JANUARY• Tuesday 12th : 8pm : Branch Annual General Meeting, Penny Street Bridge (Lancaster)
• Thursday 21st - Saturday 23rd : Manchester Beer & CIder Festival, Manchester Central
FEBRUARY• Thursday 11th - Saturday 13th : Fleetwood Beer Festival, Marine Hall
• Thursday 18th : 8pm : Branch Meeting, Crofters (Cabus). Catch bus 40 from Lancaster Bus Station at 19.30
MARCH• Wednesday 9th : 8pm : Branch Meeting, Borough (Lancaster)
FUTURE EVENTS
We will have social events in 2016 but we haven’t organised any yet. Check our website www.lunesdalecamra.org.uk/diary. Nor have we been informed of any real ale-related events in local pubs. Note to licensees: if you let us know in time, we will include your beer festival, meet the brewer or whatever in our listings. Deadline for the next issue is 26th February. Send to Martin Sherlock at [email protected]
For more details keep an eye on our website: www.lunesdalecamra.org.uk
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Our walk around Morecambe continues past the Winter Gardens.
It was the venue for the first three Morecambe Beer Festivals and is a late Victorian theatre which still needs millions spending on it to bring it back to its former glory.
The old Morecambe and Heysham boundary is at the Battery, a Thwaites pub which closed some years ago. The original small pub was built in 1875, with a bigger extension to the right. I’ve seen pictures of the Lancashire Artillery having a summer camp using an old mill as an arsenal, hence the military name of the pub.
The best way to reach Heysham village is to walk along the promenade, past the site of the former Grosvenor Hotel, dating from 1899 but demolished in
2003. Further along, after a former miniature golf course on the left, there
used to be a pub called the Pot House Inn, which was destroyed in a great storm in 1907 and replaced by the Bay Cottage. I can remember it being a café in my younger days but it was demolished in the 1960s and is now a children‘s play area.
Horse trams once ran from Happy Mount Park to the Strawberry Gardens, but when Morecambe Corporation took over the town’s trams, the Company kept the Heysham section, latterly with petrol trams until they ceased operating 1924. However, the horse trams in Morecambe, were the last in England, and lasted a little while later until 1926.
The first pub we reach is the Cumberland View, with its bowling green, where a real ale is usually available, although I call it more of a ‘lager pub’. Almost next door is the friendly R.N.A. Commodore Club -- sign yourself in and there is normally a real ale on at weekends until it runs out. In ancient times at the junction of Heysham Road and Dalton Road, there was a pub named the Cat’s Nest, laterly the Swordfish Inn (1824), which was closed by 1873.
TOWN & CITY PUBSLawrence Bland ventures to Finisterre, known locally as Heysham
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The buses all meet up at the Strawberry Gardens. Both the gardens and strawberries went many years ago, but it’s now a John Barras pub, a popular pub showing televised sport, and serving basic pub meals. A little further on at Heysham Towers, where some buses terminate, is the Old Hall, built in 1598. It was converted into a Mitchell’s pub in 1958, but is now looking rather neglected. Heysham Towers dates from 1837, and was a private house taken. It was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1896 and was the original Midland Hotel, before being turned into Morecambe Bay Holiday Camp in 1925 (later Heysham Towers Holiday Camp), but is now housing.
Back to Combermere Road, go down Trumacar Lane and Rothesay Road to the Duke of Rothesay (named after a former railway steamer at nearby Heysham Harbour) a newish pub built in 1984 as the Moneyclose Inn, now a Mitchell’s family pub with meals. The ‘navies’ building Heysham Harbour (opened 1904) had their ‘Klondyke Hotel’ on the building site. South down Honeyclose Lane is the large Ocean Edge Caravan Park with a
popular club, but no real ale.
Heading north on Penrod Way and Smithy Lane to Half Moon Bay, you can get a cup of tea at the
Half Moon Bay Café, before passing a former hilly miniature golf course on to Heysham Head. In my younger days this was a popular entertainment centre, with a circus, go-karts, miniature railways, amusements, and a tavern called ‘The Shearer‘s Arms‘, but long closed and again now housing. Fortunately the coastal path, is now National Trust and makes a delightful walk with marvellous view over Morecambe Bay and the Lakeland Hills, passing the remains of St. Patrick’s Chapel (8th or 9th century) and St Peter’s Church in a beautiful setting on the headland, with its rock hewn graves.
We are now in Heysham Village, and on the Main Street is the beer highlight of the tour, The Royal Hotel (1770s), a former Mitchell’s pub, now an Asset of Community Value-protected Thwaites pub serving excellent beers, meals, outdoor gardens with occasional music. Heysham was once famous for its nettle beer, and nettle tea and nettle cordial is still available in the village; the history of Heysham is set out in the Heritage Centre. Real ale is also available at Heysham Cricket Club, and there used to be a pub called the King’s Arms just going up Crimewell Lane and another called the Dobson’s Hotel, later Dobson’s Arms in the early 19th century, but I can’t find its location. Buses pass by the Village to return to Morecambe.
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WHEN YOU WISH UPON A BEER
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Our roving reporter Barry Young ventures into the sweaty swamps of the deep south (that’s Florida, not Galgate)
Ten years ago I went on a mission to Orlando, Florida, to get Mickey
Mouse’s autograph for my eight-year-old neighbour. Knowing that this would be a beer desert I concentrated on the theme parks. The first year I found one English pub on International Drive called the Cricketer’s Arms, selling Brains SA, Hook Norton, and Fullers London Pride, all on handpump and all tasting like they do at home.
I don’t know what it was that made me come back here every year, but the benefit of doing so that that as time passes the American microbreweries are growing rapidly. This year’s visit has seen Florida go from three craft breweries to forty. New bars are being built to see who can sell the most craft beers. The most famous of these belong to a chain called World of Beers. They boast five hundred beers for sale, plus forty on tap. Orlando has four of these outlets, which do not sell food,
but allow you to bring your own in. A free T-shirt is on offer for those who drink a hundred of the chain’s beers.
I started my visit with a tour of the Orlando O r g a n i c Brewery, which opened in 2006
and which currently brews sixteen beers. It supplies hotels and restaurants and pub chains. The Clarion Hotel in Lake Bella Vista where I stay every year is a Budweiser stronghold, but it was a pleasant surprise to see this year a craft beer on sale from the Orlando Brewery called Gator Drool at 5%, a very snappy drink.
Just across from the road from my hotel is the Sea Dog Brewery which is owned by the Shipyard Brewery in Portland, Maine, who brew for Ringwood’s, making a nice pint of Old Thumper. Shipyard’s brews are featured on draught in cities like Liverpool and Manchester. Sea Dog do a nice range of brews and from 4 till 6.30 you can sample them all for $2 during their happy hour.
The most successful brewery in Florida is Clear City originally from the old Spanish Quarter of Tampa, called Ybor City, which used to make Cuban cigars. Clear City is no stranger to Wetherspoons pubs as they have featured their falgship Jal-Al IPA at 5.6% there. The new Tampa Bay Brewery is one you might have seen featured on a Freeview channel called Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins.
Finally I came across an unusual beer festival in downtown Orlando called the Bark and Brew Festival where you can take your dog along. Could you see this happening in England? Kegbuster and dog would be proud of such an event. Pint of mild for me and a Brewdog for Rover!
Orlando Brewing
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The Snug Micropub
at Carnforth Station
Open Tuesday to Saturday 12 noon - 2pm & 5pm - 9pm& Sundays 12.30pm - 5pm
Call: 07927 396861Blog: thesnugmicropub.blogspot.co.ukEmail: [email protected]: www.facebook.com/thesnugmicropub
We serve Real Ale, Wine & Soft Drinks
No lager, spirits, music, TV
or gaming machines
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We begin with an update of last issue’s pub news. The Morecambe
(Morecambe) did indeed re-open between press date and publication, after lengthy and expensive refurbishment. The floor plan is unchanged, but otherwise it’s completely different. Now owned by a local businessman, the intention is clearly to take it upmarket. One interesting feature is video screens showing scenes of twentieth-century Morecambe on a loop. Cask ales, mostly from Cross Bay, and a 10% CAMRA discount.
Other predictions in the last issue were not so accurate. The Britannia (Lancaster), I am glad to say, has reopened under a new licensee. But the Smuggler’s Den (Morecambe) has closed again and it is for sale. There’s still no sign of a refurbishment of the John O’Gaunt (Lancaster).
Mitchells have sold two of their pubs to Thwaites. One is the Boot & Shoe (Lancaster). This cannot bode well for the Bowling Green nearby, also owned by Thwaites. An obvious move would be for Booth’s to extend their existing store into this property. The other pub sold is the Royal (Heysham). The long-promised alterations, incorporating the neighbouring barn, are now expected to go ahead. Of course, the beer choice in both pubs has declined considerably.
Talking of Mitchells, they have closed the Victoria (Glasson Dock), perhaps for good. They now have fewer than 40 pubs and falling.
O t h e r pubs recently closed, with an uncertain future, include the Brockholes Arms (Claughton-on-Brock) and the Horse & Farrier (Bentham).
The Ranch House (Morecambe) has been living on borrowed time for years, but now the tenant has been given definite notice. He says it is to close “on or around the 31st January 2016”, with the business moving to the Imperial (currently closed), about half a mile away, as seamlessly as he can manage. The reopened pub will be given a new name, as yet undecided. The old pub will be demolished as part of the redevelopment of the old Frontierland site and replaced by a “family dining pub”.
We end with a curious phenomenon: the renaming of a pub while changing nothing else about it except perhaps the colour of the paintwork. The New Holly (Forton) has been renamed the Holly tout court and the Penny Street Bridge (Lancaster) has been renamed Toll House Inn. Can anyone offer an explanation?
The CAMRA discount in the Smugglers is hard to find any more, since the pub’s closed.
PUB & BREWERY NEWSYour local update
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THE ROYAL HOTEL
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Heysham Pub ‘of Community Value’
The Royal Hotel in Heysham has been recognised by Lancaster City Council
as an “Asset of Community Value” (ACV). This designation, made under the Localism Act 2011, provides a measure of protection from changes of use. The pub was nominated by the Lunesdale Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
The branch’s Pubs Officer, Lawrence Bland, said, “We are delighted that the Council has recognised that this pub is a real community asset. Pubs have been closing recently at a frightening rate and we hope that the ACV designation
will put a brake on this. We would like to see a lot more community pubs included in this scheme. Anyone who thinks their local should be an ACV is invited to contact us.”
Any property may be nominated as an Asset of Community Value, but in practice the great majority of nominations, both locally and nationally, have been of pubs. An ACV designation offers two main protections:
1. Under current planning rules, a pub can be converted to a shop or a restaurant without planning permission, but if it is an ACV, permission is required.
2. If the property is put up for sale, the sale can be delayed by up to six months to allow the local people to organise a buyout.
The next pub the branch nominates will probably be the Smugglers Den in Morecambe, which is currently closed.
Call 01524 220 230or visit www.lunesdaledrinker.com
Reach 6000+ real ale drinkersand pubgoersThe Lunesdale Drinker is the only local magazine to reach more than 6000 discerning real ale drinkers and pubgoers in North Lancashire. Best of all, advertising costs as little as £3.45 per week.
Smugglers Den, Morecambe
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With temperatures in West Lancashire pushing 17 degrees C, The Welsh
Rarebit and I thought it prudent, for health and safety reasons, to seek solace on the terrasse at The Court Leet, Wetherspoons new-ish pub in the town centre. As we luxuriated on the “authentic-look” Astroturf with our pints of Burscough Priory Gold (3.8%, £2.10) we got into conversation with two Scousers.
We couldn’t have planned for the Paris attacks, but me and the Welsh Rarebit were in Brussels right at the height of the state of emergency after the fascist nutcases ran amok. A few months ago a friend had suggested a dancey weekend a friend of his was running, which would be mercifully free of Northern Soul and thankfully full of Modern Soul and house music, with the usual alcoholic attractions of Belgium.
It’s the first time I’ve been on a dancefloor whilst outside, through the square window, soldiers and police are walking around brandishing yard-long guns. But we carried on dancing, despite the cancellation of the Saturday night on the orders of the police.
On the first night, without it being arranged, we were taken under the wing of one of the DJs, Willy, for whom the word “connoisseur” was invented, someone deeply knowledgeable about both soul music and Belgian beer, and who introduced me to many beers, amongst which was the first ever Swiss lambic, and who was to be our guide for the rest of the weekend.
On the Saturday night, we had been invited to join the DJs and the organisers for a meal, but we were the only ones that made it to the judurically becalmed
suburb where it was to take place. The patron, talkative almost to the point of irritation, presented us with the amuse-gueules he’d made to welcome our party: little balls of something I hope never to eat again -- foie gras.
Afterwards, we went for a couple of drinks in an old bar in the Place de la Chapelle where Magritte used to drink. I was listening to a woman who was speaking slowly and in straightforward French to her friends - although I don’t know what made one of the latter scowl and wring out the briefest of replies, when, concerned that we were crowding them on the long table, I said “Pardon, ça ne vous derange pas si nous nous asseyons ici? On peut bouger si vous preférez.” But manners are difficult to get right à etranger, and perhaps to a Belgian that sounds like “You’re taking up all the room. Budge up, can you?” Anyone who could tell me what was wrong with that, please do.
Willy rang to say he could pick us up in half an hour and take us to a bar outside the police cordon where some of his friends would be. It was but half past ten, we were in Brussels, yet the Welsh Rarebit didn’t want to come along, so she walked back to the flat, on the one night when a woman could walk home alone at night unworried.
We got a taxi to some bar in St Gilles, where we sat talking and drinking with a couple of his friends and some other people who just happened to be there. The Welsh Rarebit was delighted to see me at dawn, merrily pissed, and gave me the warm welcome home for which her sex is famous when faced with a drunken man clattering noisily in at 7.30am talking
Tadeusz Szczepanski travels to Brussels
TADDY’S TRAVELS
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about Swiss beer. Central Brussels opened a little on
Sunday, but the club was only just outside the cordon, and only a dozen or so people made it in, but those inside danced to some great music. Willy turned up with a bottle of Gueuze Tilquin à l’ancienne, the only Walloon gueuze. He’d cleared it in advance with the bar owner. We made V-signs to whoever was responsible for the perturbations. I wouldn’t have said it to their faces, but I thought that some members of the Belgian armed forces, with their balaclavas and camouflage gear, look a bit like lads out on a fancy dress night.
Willy was talking about how the French view the Belgians. I could see a paralled. “The English,” I said, “behave like imperialists.” We couldn’t help but hear a loudly-spoken man with a London accent at the bar, doing an occasional single clap that is an act of attention-seeking passed off as an access of aesthetic pleasure. “He’s a Cockney,” I said to Willy. “Yes, I know,” he replied. “He’s behaving like one too.”
As if on cue, I noticed a fly about to land in the ointment. Our Southern friend
was earwigging the Welsh Rarebit, doing that tilting, one-sided form of shouting which some men of as conversation. He was complaining to her about the couple who were sat in the corner quietly using the wifi. I went to rescue her and he asked me whether I thought that most people in Brussels look like criminals. “Bear in mind, mate, that you’re saying that whilst wearing a pork pie hat and talking in a Cockney accent.” He didn’t understand, so I had to simplify it for him. “No, I don’t, to be honest” and he walked away. My eyes went from three o’clock to nine, at the Welsh Rarebit and Willy, and everyone understood.
At the Eurostar terminal on the way back, we got talking to a couple from Essex about beer. They’d been on the lash in Nuremberg and he opened a bottle of Dutch dubbel for us to share. On the train we opened our stash of Moinette, Mort Subite (a jam of melted strawberry penny chews, but the Welsh Rarebit likes it) and a couple of Floreffe. Back home, dramatic pictures of Brussels were in all the papers. “If only they drank,” I thought, “they wouldn’t cause us all these endless problems.”
Westmorland CAMRA POTY 2011
Traditional Real Ales
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Our booted but definitely not suited gang head up to the flood plain by Lawrence Bland
HIKE & A PINT
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The planned hike from Arkholme to Hornby had to be cancelled. After
a week or so of rain, the River Lune was in flood, and the path along the river an impassable swamp. With heavy rain forecast all day, an alternative was undertaken.
We took the bus to Heysham, starting at the Duke of Rothesay, where a Dragon Slayer was sampled -- not too exciting a brew – before catching the bus back to the Strawberry Gardens, where we had Twickenham ‘Grandstand‘, again not great.
The rain had stopped by now, so we started the hike, along Knowlys Road, looked at ‘Turner’s view’, down to the shore and walked back to Morecambe, blown along by a strong gale. A short shower forced the party into Davy Jones Locker, where the beer was getting slightly better with a York ‘All Seeing Rye’. Next to the Ranch House, with live music, a packed pub and better beer, with Northallerton ‘Yorkshire Gold‘, Burscough ‘Mug Billy‘, being amongst the beers sampled. The Ranch House will close in January, with Rob moving to the Imperial.
Another bus along the promenade took us to the Morecambe Hotel, which full of diners, and where we had Cross Bay ‘Sunshine’. Then to Hest Bank, walking up to the pub and a Moorhouse’s ‘Blond Witch’. Another bus to the Royal at Bolton-le-Sands, another pub full of diners and drinkers with a good choice of beers. I had a York ‘Mostly Ghostly’, ‘rich, red & hot’, a strong chilly beer, and surprisingly good, before we returned to Lancaster.
Davey Jones Locker, Morecambe
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24 St George’s Quay, Lancaster01524 388808
Traditional Pub, Boasting 6 Guest Ales
Catering for party bookings on request
Large South-Facing Beer Garden
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18 | Issue29
HOW TO ORDER
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19Issue29 |
HOW TO ORDER
Post: Complete the form on this page and send to: CAMRA, 230 Hatfield Road, St Albans AL1 4LW Phone: To order by credit card please phone 01727 867201 during office hours* Online: Please visit www.camra.org.uk/shop*
Your details (please complete in BLOCK CAPITALS)
I wish to buy the 2016 Good Beer Guide for £11 (CAMRA Members only) plus p&p
I wish to buy the 2016 Good Beer Guide for £15.99 plus p&p
Postal Charges†
EU £7.50Rest of the World £10.00
*Further discounts available by phone or visit www.camra.org.uk/gbg †Please note postal charges stated apply to orders for one copy of the Good Beer Guide 2016 only. Full details available at
www.camra.org.uk/shop
The Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) best-selling beer and pub guide is back for 2016.
Fully updated with the input of CAMRA’s 170,000 plus members, the Guide is indispensable for beer and pub lovers young and old. Buying the book directly from CAMRA helps us campaign to support and protect real ale, real cider & real perry, and pubs & pub-goers.
UK £2.50
Please charge my Credit/Debit card. Please note that we are unable to accept payment via American Express.
I wish to pay by cheque (payable to CAMRA). Please remember to add postal charges to all orders
Name
Address
Phone Number CAMRA Membership Number
Postcode
Card Number
Expiry Date
Name of cardholder Signature
GOOD BEER GUIDE 2016...AVAILABLE NOW!
CSV Number (last 3 numbers on reverse of card)
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20 | Issue29
Westmorland CAMRA Cider & Perry Pub of the Year 2013/2014Westmorland CAMRA Real Ale Pub of the Year 2014
THE GEORGE & DRAGON HOTEL
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