Download - Rhythm & Booze - Issue 17
rhythm and boozePassionate About Proper Pubs - Issue 17 - January/February 2013
The festivities are over for
another year, the decorations
are back in the loft and the
shops already have their
Valentine’s and Easter wares
on display. Actually, you have
to admire them for that, for as
the economic recession shows
no signs of abating, you have
to be the ‘early bird’ to stand
any chance of prosperity. So
what now for our pubs and
brewing industry?
Many of you will have
rediscovered the warm
friendliness of a back street
local during the festive
period, or partied ‘til the wee
hours at one of the larger
venues, perhaps while
enjoying some excellent live
music from one of the city’s
many talented bands.
Remember just how much
nicer that pint of cask ale
tasted; instead of a cold can of
fizzy pop you bought from a
supermarket. Remember how
much fun you had chatting
with friends old & new
instead of watching
EastEnders. Remember how
much better the live band you
saw sounded, compared to the
dross offered up on X Factor.
But will you remember to
continue supporting your
local pub, or do you just
presume it will still be there
next December?
According to CAMRA, pubs
are now closing at the rate
of 16 per week, with rural
outlets and small community
pubs the worst hit. As our
blinkered politicians continue
to hit the industry hard with
punitive taxes in their war
against binge drinking, the
innocent drinkers are the ones
being punished, and so it is
easy to understand why the
majority of people choose to
drink at home these days. And
therein lies the problem – far
too much drinking in an
unregulated environment,
when even minors of 13 and
14 have easy access to Mum
& Dad’s drinks cabinet.
There are now more
breweries operating in this
country (over 1,000) than at
any time since before the war,
all competing to supply our
ever dwindling pub market,
yet the big players in the
game – the global giants like
Carlsberg, Heineken, InBev
and Coors – continue to
supply the supermarkets with
canned beer at about a quarter
of the cost they charge their
own pubs.
Let’s look at the worst side
of things. Amid a Siberian
Winter and with rapidly rising
energy prices; an increase in
beer prices (due to the poor
malt and hop harvest last
year), another budget in
March (most probably another
duty increase), then even by
charging well over £3 a pint,
the landlord of your local will
still struggle to make a decent
wage, and that’s why so many
pubs go to the wall.
So fresh thinking is what we
need, and perhaps a lower rate
of VAT for the on trade would
help for starters. A rate set at
just 5% would allow beer
prices to drop by around 50p
a pint, and allow landlords
to compete with supermarkets
for once. They still couldn’t
match them for price, but if
you remember just how much
fun you had at the pub; the
excellent value meal you ate,
the friends you chatted with,
old Fred who played you at
dominos while sat by a
roaring fire. For many people
who live on their own, the
pub provides them with the
friendly community centre
they need. And just where are
we going to find the next Phil
Taylor or Ronnie O’Sullivan?
If you consider the whole
package a visit to the pub
can entail, then perhaps, just
perhaps, a few more of you
might make that effort to visit
your friendly local more
often. Then, there might just
be a few pubs left in which to
celebrate again next year.Bram is the landlord of
the Hand & Heart, the only
surviving pub in Millfield.
Happy New Year?
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Thanks for a brilliant2012, here’s to aneven better 2013.- The Destructors and Rowdy Farrago Records
The Surrealist Sportsman’s ClubIn this issue, David ‘Dai’Roll turns his attention to Pool and Billiards.Locally, the most famous
billiards player would have
been Mary Queen of Scots,
who after her execution (in
February 1587) was wrapped
in the cloth from her table
and so deserves to be the first
person to be inducted into the
Surrealist Sports’ Club Hall
of Fame.
English billiards, which
started around 1800, is played
on a snooker-sized table with
three snooker-sized balls – a
white, a white with a spot and
a red – and so the game can
be found in snooker halls.
Many purpose-built Burton’s
shops had a snooker hall
above them (as a way of
attracting customers to the
menswear stores, I suppose)
as can be seen in
Peterborough above what
is now Linens Direct on
Bridge Street.
Eight-ball pool, the form
most commonly played in
pubs, was developed around
1900 and is played with seven
coloured balls (numbered 1
to 7), seven striped balls
(numbered 9 to 15), the black
8 ball and a white cue ball.
The table is smaller than
snooker, making the game
popular in bars where the
larger table would take up too
much room. The balls are
racked in a triangle before the
break occurs.
There are several different
versions of the rules,
depending on which playing
association might be
followed, along with ad-hoc
rules found at the individual
venues. A major impetus for
the game in Britain was
Paul Newman’s 1961 film
The Hustler.
While researching this
article I discovered that there
is a version of billiards known
as Artistic Billiards that is
based around a series of trick
shots (and features in the
background of a painting by
Paul Gauguin). Being a
Surrealist I started to wonder
what artistic styles could be
played as billiards? Cubism
with blocks replacing the
balls? Dada with found items
of rubbish glued to the table?
Abstract Impressionism with
the necessary route of the ball
following a line on a Jackson
Pollack painting?
Our best wishes go to Scott
Anderson of the Crown in
Great Casterton (and who
plays for the Whittle Way
Muppets of Stanground) who
will be playing in the
England team at the Under-21
European Championships in
Blackpool in February. If you
know of any pub forthcoming
pub tournaments, get in touch
by dropping an email to
nMobile disco forparties, weddings etc
nExperienced, reliable DJ with an extensive
selection of musicand lights
nReasonable rates
nCall David on07946 817123
www.ministryofbrown.co.uk
Pub ScrawlThe fabulous Sophie Snell is
the storyteller at this year’s Whittlesea Straw Bear
Festival. She will be at the
Queen’s Street Methodist/
United Reform church on
Saturday 12 January between
12.30pm and 3.15pm. I’ve
seen her before and am
looking forward to seeing
her again.
If you’ve never been to the
Straw Bear Festival it is a bit
like a cross between a
maypole dance and The
Wicker Man. There are lots
of Morris dancing (and other
styles of folk dance),
musicians randomly cropping
up in pubs, lots of drinking
(pubs probably take more than
on New Year’s Eve) plus the
storytelling and poetry. You’ll
find Poets United performing
at Whittlesey Library between
12.30 and 1.30pm, and then
3.30 to 4.30pm.
On Saturday 9 February
children’s author Claire
O’Brien will be talking about
her book Cordelia Codd: Not
Just the Blues and about her
life as a writer. Claire will
be at Bretton Library (10.30-
11.30am), Orton Library (12-
1pm) and the Central Library
(2-3pm). Suitable for ages 8-
12, tickets are £1 each.
John Clare Cottage in
Helpston will be hosting
another of its author talks on
Wednesday 20 February with
Suzi Hamilton. Her book
Notice Me! is a memoir of her
childhood in the care of the
Barnardo’s organisation.
Tickets are £6 and include
a glass of wine and light
refreshments. The talk starts
at 7pm, contact Clare Cottage
on (01733) 253330 to reserve
your ticket.
The leading independent
publisher with an
international reputation for
high quality, Sawtry-based
Dedalus Books has released
its third book relating to
alcohol. The Dedalus Book of
Vodka by Geoffrey Elborn
looks at the history of the
spirit from the Middle Ages to
the present day and follows on
from the publisher’s books on
Absinth and on Gin. All
should be able to be ordered
through bookshops.
Over in Oundle, things are
changing for the Literary
Festival. While the KidLit
stream will remain a week of
packed events in March,
they’re going to be spreading
the adult events throughout
the year. We’ll try to keep you
up to date with who is doing
what, when and where, but for
full details go to the website
at www.oundlelitfest.org.uk
The 25th King’s Lynn
Fiction Festival will be held
over the weekend of 8-10
March. With guest speakers
including Robert Edric
(Devil’s Beat), Rachel Hore
(A Gathering Storm) and Liz
Jensen (The Uninvited),
further information can be
found at lynnlitfests.com
Cardinal Cox is Poet-in-
Residence of St John the
Baptist church. In 2012 he
appeared on Radio
Cambridgeshire a handful
of times and was a finalist
at the Peterborough Poet
Laureate 2012 competition.
The Cardinal’s Calendar
9 January/13 February – Pint of Poetry, Dash of Drama If you
want to read, it is best to get there about 8pm as it can get quite busy,
and the entertainment starts around 8.30pm.
5 March – Poets United meet at the PCVS building on Lincoln
Road (opposite Geneva Bar) For full details ring Viv on 01733
340560.
30 January/27 February – Stamford’s Pint of Poetry takes place
from 8pm at the cellar bar at the Arts Centre on St Mary’s Street.
Storyteller Sophie Snell will
be appearing at this year’s
Whittlesea Straw Bear Festival.
The price of tickets aside, the
thing that really rankles with
me about rail travel is the lack
of decent facilities at many of
our railway stations. Until
very recently, London King’s
Cross was one such place;
with few seats, let alone the
chance of finding a good pint.
With the opening of its
Western Concourse last
March, the station now has a
decent quality pub in the
shape of The Parcel Yard on
the first floor. Built, as the
name suggests, in the station’s
former sorting office, this
Fuller’s pub is a world away
from the now-closed Duke of
York on platform 8.
Instead of vinegary beer, it
offers an extensive range of
the brewer’s ales including
Chiswick Bitter, which at
£3.55 a pint is respectable for
both a railway station and
‘that’ London. Split into
several rooms with windows
overlooking the suburban and
main line platforms, the pub’s
menu of gastro-type dishes,
makes it perfect for people
looking for fine dining as
much as it does those killing
time before their train.Hatfield…
Until recently, the only thing
that the front of Hatfield
(Hertfordshire) station offered
real ale fans, travelling on the
East Coast Main Line, was a
fast bus link to St Albans. But
the former Hatfield Arms
(once described as looking
‘like something the cat
brought up’), on the opposite
side of the Great North Road,
has been refurbished and
renamed The Great Northern.
Not only will you find plenty
of photographs relating to
Taking The Lo
the former railway company
and its locomotives, there’s a
menu offering traditional pub
grub and hand pumps serving
several Greene King ales
along with Sharp’s Doom Bar.…and the north
Although Wakefield, West
Yorkshire is known for its
‘Westgate Run’, where
revellers attempt to visit as
many of the chain pubs along
Westgate, the city has plenty
of good quality ale houses.
One of these is Henry
Boon’s, which can be found
just past the viaduct to the
right of the entrance into
Wakefield Westgate station.
Not only does it sell
reasonably priced pub grub,
it’s fantastic ale selection is
bolstered somewhat by being
the brewery tap for H.B.
Clark, which is at the rear of
the pub.
Further north is York,
another major station which
until recently was notorious
for having a poor pub on
site. Although Coopers is
still there, it’s been usurped
following the opening of The
York Tap on platform 3.
Like its sister pubs at
Euston and Sheffield stations,
The York Tap makes use of
classic railway architecture, in
this case the former North
Eastern Railway tea rooms,
which until recently was home
to the York Model Railway.
Fully restored to its former
glory, it serves 32 draft beers,
ciders and ales, not forgetting
a selection of unusually filled
pork pies.
n Do you know of a good pub close to a railway station?
If so, drop us an email at
ong Way Home
Clockwise from left: Henry Boon’s (and H.B. Clark’s brewery) in
Wakefield, West Yorkshire; The Parcel Yard at London King’s Cross;
the interior of The York Tap, which has seen the Great Eastern
Railway’s former tearooms restored to their full glory, and The Great
Northern, Hatfield in Hertfordshire.
N O F O O L SN O F O O L S
H O R D E S . . . .H O R D E S . . . .««« just «««
The last Sunday in October,
at the Bushfield Leisure
Centre in Orton Golday,
saw several actors from
the fondly remembered TV
comedy Only Fools and
Horses gather to meet their
fans. I’ve been to a few of
these TV-themed conventions
in the past and wondered how
this might compare.
In a side room photos could
be taken with look-alikes of
Del and Uncle Albert in a
recreation of the Peckham
flat (though there was a
punter who looked just as
much like Sir David Jason as
the official look-alike). There
was a third person there in a
camouflage jacket, but as his
similarity to Rodney was only
slight he wasn’t advertised as
a look-alike. This room also
housed a yellow Reliant
Robin (suitably painted) and
trailer that can be hired for
funerals from the firm Only
Fools and Hearses.
The main room had several
stalls selling all sorts of
memorabilia including
board games, mugs, t-shirts,
dressing gowns (in the style
of Del’s sheepskin coat),
bottles of Peckham Spring
Water and even inflatable
dolls in the joke style of one
particular episode. This room
also had an exhibition of
props includes a number of
coats that had been worn in
the show.
The main thing in the room
though was the very long
queue to get autographs from
the actors (who this year
included Paul Barber, also
from the movie The Long
Good Friday). The standard
admission price of £5 entitled
you to two free autographs
from each actor, which is
actually a very good bargain.
Obviously they’d be selling
photos of themselves, but you
could buy a calendar from one
of the stalls and get them to
sign that. However, at one
point I did overhear two
people saying that this year’s
convention was better than
last as they’d only had to
queue three and a half hours
for their autographs. To one
side of the queue there was a
largish video screen showing
episodes, presumably to
amuse the crowd while they
waited, and between episodes
an organiser would stand up
to sell off a limited number of
mugs, CDs or other items.
Now I might have liked a
chance to see episodes of
some of the foreign re-makes
(I believe the series has been
re-made in both Holland and
Portugal) to compare. Or
even, if they could get hold
of it (though that is unlikely),
the American pilot with
Christopher Lloyd in the Del
Boy role. Perhaps they did,
but not when I was there.
Also, from other TV events,
I like it when an actor gives
a short talk about their career
and an impromptu rendition
of the theme on the spoons
(or some such). This though
would have been impossible
here as that would have
delayed the autograph hungry
crowd even more.
I hope the convention re-
turns to Peterborough in the
future (perhaps alternating
with events in the north so
that fans there get a chance to
attend) and will look out for
information on the Fan Club’s
website at www.ofah.net.T.V. Jones
Hand & Heart12 Highbury Street. Peterborough PE1 3BE
01733 564653
A traditional back-street pub withup to six real ales at any time
nReal open coal fire in the bar
nTraditional pub games
nTraditional cider and perry available
nCAMRA Cambridgeshire Pub of the Year 2010
nCAMRA Gold Award Winner 2010
nLocAle Accredited
nListed in the CAMRA 2012 Good Beer Guide
nCheck our Facebook page ‘Friends of the Hand & Heart’for updates on beer festivals and live music
Attending the convention were Ben Smith (Damien), Paul Barber (Denzil), John Challis (Boycie), Denis
Lill (Alan Parry), Steven Woodcock (Jevon), Gwyneth Strong (Cassandra) and Sue Holderness (Marlene).
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LISTINGSBlue Bell Inn
Welland Road, Dogsthorpe
Peterborough PE1 3SA
01733 554890
January
04 - Unity Reggae Vibes
12 - Porky Pig
19 - Zeb Rootz
26 - The Mistreated
The Cherry Tree
9 Oundle Road, Woodston
Peterborough PE2 9PB
01733 564531
January
25 - Maxwell Hammer &
Smith
26 - Zeb Rootz
February
02 - Frankly My Dear
09 - Nightshade
15 - Let There B/DC
22 - Spare Parts
Cock Inn, 1305 Lincoln
Road, Werrington
Peterborough
PE4 6LW
01733 322006
January
05 - Frankly My Dear
12 - Retrolux
18 - The Mistreated
26 - The Limit
February
02 - Let There B/DC
The Hand & Heart
12 Highbury Street
Peterborough PE1 3BE
01733 564653
January
03 - Open Mic Night
12 - Shane ‘Elvis’ Poole
& guests
17 - Captain Backwash &
The Barley Boy Rafter
Raisers
February
07 - Open Mic Night
14 - Eric & his Organ
21 - Captain Backwash &
The Barley Boy Rafter
Raisers
The Ostrich Inn, 17 North
Street, Peterborough
PE1 2RA
01733 746370
January
04 - Glass Heart
05 - Little Dave Band
11 - The Wash
12 - The 707
18 - Faster Muttley
19 - Wild Honey
25 - Rufus
26 - Miscellaneous
February
01 - Frankly My Dear
02 - Grumpy Old Men
08 - Beats Working
09 - Solitaire & The Gypsy
Messiahs
15 - Retrolux
16 - The Influence
22 - The Mistreated
23 - Vintage Stuff
Traditional Irish Music every
Sunday (4-7pm)
Don’t Forget:
Local CAMRA members
can now receive £20 of
discounts throughout the
year on presentation of their
membership cards.
The Prince of Wales
Feathers, 38 Peterborough
Road, Castor, Peterborough
PE5 7AL
01733 380222
January
12 - Karaoke
February
23 - The Mistreated
The Woolpack, 29 North
Street, Stanground,
Peterborough PE2 8HR
01733 753544
January
13 - Jeff the Chef (4pm)
All listings given in good
faith, Rhythm & Booze cannot
be held responsible for any
discrepancy.
Rhythm & Booze, Issue 17 - Jan/Feb 2013. All written material, unless otherwise stated, © Simon Stabler
ATTENTION PUBS AND PROMOTERS. All events are listed freeof charge, to ensure inclusion in the March/April issue, please [email protected] before 7 February 2013.
The Palmerston Arms82 Oundle Road, Peterborough
PE2 9PA Tel: 01733 565865
Burns’ Week Beer Festival(21st-27th January)
Celebrate the Bard’s birthdaywith ales from Scottish brewers
and whiskys selected by theScotch Malt Whisky Society.
Burns’ Night (25th
January) will bemarked in a traditional manner.
Lazy SundaysEnjoy Peterborough’s finest acoustic
acts, every Sunday from 3pm.
For more live music and events,please see our Facebook page
O p e n i n g T i m e s : Monday - Thursday 15.00 - 23.00
Friday and Saturday 12.00 - 00.00 Sunday 12.00 - 23.30
The WoolpackNorth Street, Stanground,
Peterborough PE2 8JF (01733) 753544
Stanground's Best Kept Secret- A 15 minute walk from the centre of town
Live Music with Jeff the Chef- Sunday 13th January (4pm)
n Open all day, every day
n Up to four real ales available
n Food served Tuesday to Sunday lunchtimesand Monday to Saturday evenings
n Quiz on Sunday evenings with cash prizes
Have a drink on us...Get a free glass of wine each when orderingtwo or moreselected mainmeals in January.