Ale & Hearty Interview Recruitment

The Ale and Hearty project is looking for more people to interview about the brewing industry in and around Sussex - especially the Lewes area. They are interested in anyone that has worked in and has a good knowledge of the industry or part of it; especially those with a history of hop-picking and/or growing, brewing, recipes, malting, agriculture, administration, the drayman and delivery.

If you fit the bill, or know of someone that does, please get in touch by the following email:
aleandheartylewes@gmail.com

The Shore Inn, East Wittering

On the West Sussex coast, near Chichester Harbour, can be found East Wittering, where the aptly-named Shore Inn is just a stone’s throw from the beach. The Inn comprises both the first built part and the only surviving segment of the Shore Hotel, which was a much larger 1930s building with luxury accommodation, a cocktail bar and facilities for dinner dances. Another long-gone landmark, the Shore Club, stood to the north on what is now the Inn’s car park

The Shore Inn is bustling with customers on my Saturday afternoon summer visit: pool players, seated-at-the-bar locals, fishermen, beach-loving day trippers, those enjoying their retirement, groups of youthful males and females, both young and middle-aged couples, families with children, and fans of real ale such as myself. The Shore Inn is also dog-friendly with several friendly canines to pat including the pub’s own pooch, a Staffie by the name of Rosie (pictured).

The layout of the L-shaped interior cleverly caters for all these sections of the public. The pool table is tucked away unobtrusively behind the servery at the top entrance. Cushioned settles and seating run down the east side wall. There is another spacious seating area in front of the bar at the centre of the pub. A left-side conservatory extension houses a dining area. And beyond there, in the north-west corner, is a self-contained family room. The décor throughout is smart but creates a relaxed and friendly environment with adzed beams, much exposed brickwork and plentiful comfy seating.

There is a good, varied, competitively-priced pub menu using locally sourced ingredients, with a choice of light dishes to substantial mains and delectable puddings. Given its waterfront location the Shore Inn aptly specialises in seafood and fish dishes, freshly chalked up on a blackboard menu. There is a popular ‘Locals Night’ menu on Thursdays, from 5-8pm, followed by a pub quiz. Patrons wishing only to drink are equally well attended to by the very friendly and efficient bar staff. Six hand pumps are offering Sharp’s Cornish Coaster and Doom Bar, Palmers Copper Ale and Dorset Gold, and the LocAle choice, Dark Star Hophead and American Pale Ale.

 

I’ve a pint each of the last three of these. The prices are very fair (£3.30 a pint for the APA, £3.10 for the others), the quality excellent. It is always the mark of a good pub when, if a barrel needs changing – as it did at some point for the Dorset Gold – it is a situation immediately recognised and promptly attended to by the staff, with great care and consideration given to the condition and clarity of the freshly-poured pint, as it was here. I savoured my fourth and final pint of the day from the new barrel of Dorset Gold - a very satisfying conclusion to a most enjoyable visit.

The Shore Inn, Shore Road, East Wittering, West Sussex, PO20 8DZ, Tel. 01243 674454 Twitter:@TheShoreKitchen; Email: shorecatering@gmail.com

North Sussex Branch of CAMRA Mild Day

In conjunction with the CAMRA Mild in May promotion, the North Sussex Branch Mild Day was this year, once again, held at the Swan, West Green, Crawley, on Saturday 11 May. Landlord Rob Brindley did everyone proud as he promoted eleven examples of this beer style at a festival covering the Thursday through to the Sunday. The Swan is an excellent two-bar community pub just a few minutes walk from Crawley railway station and town centre. It has LocAle accreditation and was the local branch 2012 Pub of the Year.

We were spoilt for choice with a mild menu from across the country, namely: Goacher’s Real Mild (3.4%, Kent); Tring Mansion Mild (3.7%, Herts.); Green Jack Albion Mild (3.8%, Suffolk); Pilgrim Moild (3.8%, Surrey); Ramsgate Gadds’ Old School Mild (4.0%, Kent); Lytham Twilight (4.0%, Lancs.); Nelson Dover Patrol (4.4%, Kent); Kissingate Gardenia Mild (4.5%, West Sussex); Nottingham Centurion ND (4.9%, Notts.); Milestone Sherwood Ruby Mild (5.6%, Notts.); and Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby (6.0%, West Mids.).

As we supped our mild ales we were treated to a entertaining and informative talk by Dave Roberts (pictured) of the Pilgrim Brewery, Reigate, Surrey, whose own (3.8%) Moild was represented at the festival. Dave, armed with a copy of The Brewer’s Art, and against a backdrop of blue, fluttering Milds in May pennants, took us through the history of mild ale in his own delightfully animated and inimitable style. In spite of the inclement weather, the day was a great success and very well attended. If you are a mild fan and have not previously attended the North Sussex Mild Day, do give it a try next year. You will not be disappointed.

The Last of the Locomotive Inn, Littlehampton - Once a “House” of Repute in Sussex

The Locomotive Inn, as its name suggests, was next to the town’s railway station in Terminus Road and served for much of its life as a station hotel. It first appeared in the 1874 Kelly’s Post Office Directory, run by one Thomas Crawford, although it may have existed earlier; for the same licensee is listed in 1870 as running an unnamed beerhouse in Ferry Road, which seems to have been a previous or alternative name for Terminus Road.

Directories record the next two licensees to have been William Knight (1878 - 1890) and Miss Fanny Stoner (1895) before the arrival of the long-serving Edward John Huntley. Unless Huntley had a similar named son or brother, he seems to have been the licensee from 1895 to at least 1938 (the last directory available in the local library) oddly punctuated by the appearance in 1930 of Hugh P. Goodwin.

The in-house KTB publication of c. 1932 describes the Locomotive as “a rebuilt house with a distinctive design of its own carried out by the architects, Messrs. Clayton & Black – a simple and restrained design but one which nevertheless makes the house stand out from amid its surroundings as a piece of very good building. The finely panelled oak doors are details worthy of note.”

In KTB parlance, “simple and restrained design” is a synonym for neo-Georgian, and one might easily mistake the rebuilt Locomotive for one of John Leopold Denman’s trademark Brighton pubs. Indeed, a 1970s Brighton Polytechnic student dissertation on Denman erroneously attributes to him the Greyhound, Brighton, when it was, in fact, another Clayton & Black design in the neo-Georgian mould.

The rebuild of the Locomotive most likely took place in the second half of the 1920s, when Edward John Huntley was the landlord. The only picture I can find of its previous incarnation as a Victorian building is from 1920, as apposite background to a derailed locomotive engine. The Inn was finally demolished in June 2013 after having stood closed for about eight years.

Thanks to my friend Tony Wakeford for these photos of the exposed cellar after the pub was razed to the ground.

17th Worthing Beer Festival, 18th-19th October 2013

Worthing Beer Festival’s relocation to St. Paul’s has proved an overwhelming success, with space for an increasing number of beers, record attendances and a wider choice of food. This year, as well as a Beer of the Festival, a new award will be introduced for Sussex Beer of the Festival. Our regional bar will feature beers from Cumbria, and there will again be two further bars showcasing the best breweries of Sussex and other parts of the UK. A total of over 75 beers plus extra ciders and perries will be available. The infamous charity auction will again take place at around 9pm Friday evening.

Owing to public demand, the festival opening time has been brought forward to 11am for both days, 18th and 19th October. Full opening times: Friday 11am-3.30pm (£3.50) & 5.30-11pm (£5); Saturday 11am-11pm or until the beer runs out (£5). Tickets will be on sale at the Selden Arms, Worthing; Gardeners Arms, Sompting; Henty Arms, Ferring; Crabtree, Lancing; Duke of Wellington, Shoreham-by-Sea; and the Evening Star, Brighton. Tickets will be available on the door subject to availability.

Postal applications to: The Treasurer, The Boathouse, Shopsdam Road, Lancing, BN15 8ES; please make cheques payable to “Arun & Adur CAMRA”. Friday evening and Saturday sessions sell out very quickly, so advance booking is advised. Tickets will be on sale also at the festival venue: St. Paul’s, Chapel Road, Worthing, West Sussex, BN11 1EE (opposite the Town Hall and the Post Office, and an easy walk from Worthing Central station).


For more information: http://www.aaa-camra.org.uk/wbf/17.htm


About the Festival Poster Artwork

After all the positive feedback and comment from the use of the painting of Lydia Cattermole for last year’s advertising, we once again decided to promote the Worthing aspect of our beer festival. A couple of old photographs were trialled, but licensing costs proved prohibitive. While searching for out-of-copyright images in Kim’s book shop, a comment made about a set of vintage-style prints that were already being considered - as they perfectly reflected the image we wished to project - led to contact being made with the artist Chris Gibson. Chris was commissioned to produce a graphic of our venue, St Paul’s. A number of alternatives were supplied and we finally settled for the superb art work that we are using throughout this year’s festival.

Based in Chichester, graphic designer Christopher Gibson initially studied art at Worthing Art College in the late 1980s before specializing in graphic design at the London College of Printing and Typography at Brighton University. He has exhibited pastel and watercolour works in the past but it was a love of the classic travel posters of the early-20th century that inspired a set of contemporary prints that were initially exhibited at the Oxmarket Galleries in Chichester. His commissions and prints can be found across Europe and the US. Christopher can be contacted at info@chichestergraphicarts.com; http://www.chichestergraphicarts.com/; 07969 524341.

Ale & Hearty meets the Vintage Mobile Cinema

Ale & Hearty meets the Vintage Mobile Cinema at Harveys Brewery car park, corner of North Court and Harveys Way, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 2JW. Times and dates are 10am-4pm, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th September.

The event is hosted by the Ale & Hearty project, celebrating lost breweries and brewing in the Lewes area, and is part of this year’s Lewes Heritage Open Days. The specially-made film will be around 17.5 minutes long and eulogises about bygone days of hop picking, brewing and local Sussex traditions with vintage footage taken from local sources including Screen Archive South East.

The Vintage Mobile Cinema seats a maximum 22 people per tour/event. It is the only surviving unit from a fleet of seven Ministry of Technology mobile cinemas built in 1967. Meticulously restored to its former glory, it now features state-of-the-art surround sound, HD digital projection and a comfortable climate-controlled environment for the audience.
 

This is a short event; the film will be shown three times every hour for a six-hour period during both days so is suitable for children from the age of 5 years who are easily bored. The cinema itself is a thing of beauty and of interest to everyone. Please note this event takes place outside in a working brewery car park so, although all necessary safety precautions have been taken, parents must be responsible for their children.

Unfortunately, due to the age of the Vintage Mobile Cinema, there is no accessible provision for this event. The nearest municipal access toilet is on Market Lane, Lewes, BN7 2NT. Pay parking and disabled parking is available in the NCP Harveys Way car park, Lewes, BN7 2JW, which is next to the Harveys brewery venue. There is absolutely no parking available in Harveys Brewery car park.

Pedestrians walk along Cliffe High Street, past the Harveys Brewery shop on your left, then take the little ‘twitten’ or alleyway, North Court, just afterwards, also on the left (with Bills restaurant on your right). Go through North Court and walk to the end. To the right there is a municipal car park, to your left is the back entry delivery park for Harveys Brewery for deliveries - the Vintage Mobile Cinema is in there.

http://www.vintagemobilecinema.co.uk/events. No booking is required for this free event.

Beers WithSoul

At WithSoul we have a simple ambition: to sell great pubs remarkable beer.

“WithSoul have been a tremendous find. A fantastic ever-growing list of beers and brewers coupled with an infectious passion for what is going on in the brewing world. I always look forward to what is coming next from them, only wish I had a bigger cellar!” The Stile Bridge (Maidstone and Mid Kent CAMRA Pub of the Year 2012)

Based in Brighton, WithSoul deliver a unique range of cask and craft beer across London, Sussex and Kent. We represent several excellent Sussex breweries, complementing them with some of the best cask ales from around the country and a superb range of English Lager.

Our aim is to offer a balanced portfolio with both familiar local beers and some less familiar, occasionally eclectic offerings, to deliver the vital point of difference and interest our customers need to appeal to the most discerning drinkers.

You could say we are biased, but we believe having familiar and unfamiliar brands together is fundamentally good business sense. In the Cask Report, 75% of cask ale drinkers said they choose a familiar, trusted brand, but 78% also said they like to try new beers. We know that’s more than 100%, but it shows that drinkers want a range of both familiar and unfamiliar beers when deciding what to drink and that is what we endeavour to provide week in, week out.

 “Working with WithSoul has helped us quickly extend our reach beyond the local area. Their excellent sales and customer service leaves us free to focus on what we do best...brewing great beer!” Brighton Bier Co

For more information on WithSoul and our portfolio of beers, please visit http://www.withsoul.co.uk/, call Ollie on 07525 438 486, or email Stephen at stephen@withsoul.co.uk