#21

Oh, boom!

#22

CAMRA rated each pub on stillness and warmth of ale, median age of customer (with any score below 50 resulting in immediate disqualification), freshness of pickled egg jar and sandle-friendliness of pathway. Additional points were awarded for any pub serving at least two ales with names referencing breasts.

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#23

Usual rotation of Milton ales and the one token lager - about £3.80 a pint. Guests vary according to strength and novelty, rare to see anything over a fiver.

#24

The Chequers (East Anglia winners in that article) is basically this but with a food menu exactly £5 per meal more expensive than it ought to be. Also it’s in the middle of fuck-all nowhere, so is basically useless as a pub except for the stockbrokers who can afford to live nearby and the remaining five old men who refuse to move out of the houses they’ve lived in since they were born.

#25

Dev?

#26

Hopback GFB £3.20
(All ale £2.70 between 6-9 on a Wednesday).

#27

Hmmmm, i mean, i didn’t actually read the article. What delightful people those camra lot are.

#28

Pembury Tavern?

#29

I\ve been to CAMRA beer festivals and the people attending seem to be a reflection of the community in general - white, black, Asian, plenty of young people, as well as the stereotype of older bearded men, plenty of women too. I think the stereotype is probably now some years out of date.

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#30

Blimey. Maybe it’s a north of the river thing. Last one I went to, I think my wife was the only asian person there.

#31

Last one I went to was the East London one. It’s worth the trip across the river.

#32

Haymakers, so very similar.

#33

Cambridge beer festival bucks a lot of the stereotypes (and also is huge) but it’s CAMRA in name only - it’s run entirely by local volunteers, a good deal of whom aren’t even CAMRA members.

#34

Been off the booze for a few months now, but £4.40 (Kronenbourg) in the nearest pub (but not the one I’d call my “local”) Pub next to work is £2.90 (Carlsberg). The “local”'s “local” ales were £3.50 last time I went in (Summer Lightning, and whatever Red Cat have pumped out lately).

#35

Which pubs?

#36

Rising Sun, C/Common and Phoenix, Twyford. One near work is a Spoons Greene King

#37

£3.40-ish?

#38

Beamish - €4.20.

This is annoying as it was (and still is) €3.30 in my previous local. Fuck moving house.

#39

£2.60 for Calsberg in the student union bar, thank you very much

#40

Sadly this is the opposite of my experiences at CAMRA events where the vast majority of patrons are white men fifty-plus.

The craft ale festivals have a much wider demographic of people, i find. The last one i went to i’d estimate women made up roughly 40% and the average age was under thirty.

I like both, but there are elements of both i dislike, too. I’m very suspicious of the gentrification of ale and the very sharp price rises. Craft ale bars have essentially normalised a pint costing £5 or £6, but the best keg beer leaves the best cask beer flagging (though my heart’s still with cask).

At the same time, it’s sad to me that CAMRA would champion a bang average pint of, say, Landlord or Doom Bar over a quality modern keg ale, there are fringe elements to the membership that i don’t like, and a general curmudgeony attitude to bar staff, young people and well, any sort of progress.

Dunno, basically. A slightly warm pint of cask ale is one of life’s great pleasures, but i kind of think CAMRA has ran its course and missed the boat in terms of expanding, but, y’know, the gentrification of beer’s fucking ultimate tory.

Sorry for the rant.

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