tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post7133859512293582788..comments2024-03-28T17:11:52.333+00:00Comments on The Pub Curmudgeon: Handing back the keysCurmudgeonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-43574711355184378812012-08-27T19:16:43.772+01:002012-08-27T19:16:43.772+01:00"Cask beer" was only ever a proxy for &q..."Cask beer" was only ever a proxy for "distinctive, traditional British beer", even though in the 1970s (and for a long time afterwards) it was a pretty good proxy.<br /><br />I agree there remains a strong element of conservationism/conservatism within CAMRA, which occasionally surfaces in the letters page of <i>What's Brewing</i>, but seems increasingly at variance with the activities and policy stances of the activists.<br /><br />To a very large extent, the demand for cask beer is now satisfied by market forces which it certainly wasn't in the corporatist days of the 1970s. The threat is not that people will drink keg, but that people increasingly will not drink in pubs at all, and it is that to which the leadership takes an extremely blinkered view.<br /><br />I know very well that a lot of what I once cherished in pubs has gone forever, but much of what is left will be gone too unless people make a stand over it. And, even if they fail, at least they will have tried.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-32234946134917979052012-08-27T18:35:20.508+01:002012-08-27T18:35:20.508+01:00I continue to believe passionately in what CAMRA w...<i>I continue to believe passionately in what CAMRA was originally set up to defend (this is emphatically a conservative/preservationist position, not a libertarian one). I have not left it; it has left me.</i><br /><br />I think there's still a pretty strong conservationist core to CAMRA. The culture and mood of the organisation has changed, largely because of the passage of time - Protz still writes in the old <i>I suppose you young people won't remember Trubsock's Best...</i> style, but it doesn't work so well now that most members genuinely are too young to remember the beers CAMRA was set up to save, and frankly don't care. But CAMRA is still fundamentally about saving cask beer - and restoring it to the predominance it had in British drinking culture 50 years ago - and the job is far from done.<br /><br />I'd turn your statement on its head - to the extent that you've started to want some Libertarianism with your conservat[ion]ism, you've set yourself on a divergent course from CAMRA's current policy-makers, most if not all of whom are equally passionately committed to the survival/revival of cask beer. (Even if they're also mistaken about the smoking ban and horribly wrong about minimum pricing.)Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07009879034507926661noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-18170370237577628822012-08-22T22:33:38.263+01:002012-08-22T22:33:38.263+01:00@Cookie: that's effectively the intention - ju...@Cookie: that's effectively the intention - just regard it as a beer club rather than a body that actually campaigns for anything.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-7804264883356213592012-08-22T22:15:48.145+01:002012-08-22T22:15:48.145+01:00I too resigned from the committee of my local bran...I too resigned from the committee of my local branch. After 25 years service I decided I'd had enough, especially of GBG surveys and selection meetings, pub of the year contests, regional meetings, price surveys, notifying "What's Brewing" about branch socials, taking and producing minutes of meetings, writing copy and editing a local news-magazine, chasing advertising for the same, and all the other activities I'd given my time for over the past quarter of a century!<br /><br />Now I can just turn up to those meetings that take ny fancy, rather than feel obliged to go along to every single one. I can enjoy the benefits of being a CAMRA member, but let others do most of the work. This may sound selfish, but there does come a time when one has to step back and reflect on things, before moving on and letting other people have a go.<br /><br />Good luck to you Peter, I'm sure you'll be sorely missed by your local branch, but please continue with your various blogs, whilst at the same time enjoying, like myself, the benefits of being an ordinary member of CAMRA.Paul Baileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09678639237696546268noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-38866389374435072382012-08-22T18:14:04.571+01:002012-08-22T18:14:04.571+01:00I don't know why you let it it bother you. It&...I don't know why you let it it bother you. It's just a beer club for going out and getting pissed and pretending your a more discerning sort of piss head than the rest.<br /><br />It really doesn't matter what mad policies the slightly weird fat jabbas with the CAMRA t shirts that live with their mums think up because it amounts to the sum total of buggar all.<br /><br />The world will turn regardless of whether CAMRA support or fight the prohibitionists.<br /><br />Just enjoy the piss up for what it is. Best foot forward casketeers.<br /><br />Cooking Lagerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02830924433230427226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-75992073977452738632012-08-21T15:09:21.569+01:002012-08-21T15:09:21.569+01:00How is Berlin treating the smoker now Joe ? Last I...How is Berlin treating the smoker now Joe ? Last I heard Germany was a jumble of enforcement, repeal and indifference.Martin, Cambridgenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-37434120147607593102012-08-20T19:27:51.136+01:002012-08-20T19:27:51.136+01:00CAMRA are NOT neutral on the smoking ban, they sup...CAMRA are NOT neutral on the smoking ban, they support it, and decline to take part in any campaigns to amend it. Certainly there was a debate in their paper 'What's Brewing' before the ban, and articles pro and con. I wrote one of those articles, and tried to point out among other things that CAMRA was supposed to support freedom of choice, including the freedom to choose according to a minority taste - such as drinking real ale. There are more smokers than real ale drinkers. Anyway, when the ban was passed, their headline read RELIEF OVER SMOKING BAN. That was when I resigned my life membership. Since then, CAMRA has refused to acknowledge the negative effects of the ban, and tries to argue that the ban is an 'opportunity', and that pubs whose trade has been damaged are 'failing to adapt' - it's their own fault, apparently. It does not surprise me that they are now surrendering to the anti-booze brigade. CAMRA lost the plot some time ago.Joe Jacksonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-73278116536584908962012-08-20T03:13:35.436+01:002012-08-20T03:13:35.436+01:00CAMRA’s depressingly predictable decision not to t...CAMRA’s depressingly predictable decision not to tackle the embryonic anti-drink movement head-on is a sad one. If there’s one lesson that drinkers should learn from the experiences of smokers, it’s that organisation and joining together under a group banner at the outset is crucial if any form of meaningful opposition is to take place against any determined and media-savvy prohibitionist-type movement. CAMRA, with their historical successes in bringing real ale back from the brink of extinction and making it mainstream again and as a well-known and well-established pressure group, would have been the perfect vehicle for such opposition. <br /><br />Their conciliatory forelock-tugging and lily-livered (perhaps not the best phraseology!) response to a monster on the horizon which should look terrifyingly familiar, despite the fact that it’s wearing different clothes, does themselves, and drinkers generally, a huge disservice. <br /><br />I suspect that in time CAMRA, along with all drinkers, will recognise this, but probably only once it is far, far too late.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-90039533592460454292012-08-20T01:15:41.324+01:002012-08-20T01:15:41.324+01:00While I disagree with your views on the smoking ba...While I disagree with your views on the smoking ban, I highly appreciate your work and effort in highlighting the decline of the British pub, and in my opinion you are doing much more good than some of the 'active' Camra members, or the ones that are turning up in St Albans and think that they are making a difference. I don't think that it makes any difference to your work whether you are in Camra or not to be honest, as you are doing a good and visible job whereas I don't think that Camra are getting the same reach as you in regard of declining pubs. I think that you are correct to focus on pubs and their closure rather than silly arguments about beer styles and such, as the pub has evidently been the focus of British social life for a long time, and this whole culture is rapidly disappearing from many communities. <br /><br />Cask ale has been saved, but pubs are in dire need of saving, and while Camra is doing work to highlight this, personally I would like to see 100% of their resources diverted towards this incredibly blatent problem. It doesn't matter how healthy cask ale is if there is nowhere to serve it in. Saga Of Nailshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08891668833405154713noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-60236317434442709122012-08-20T00:40:35.614+01:002012-08-20T00:40:35.614+01:00The way I see it CAMERA are trying to appease thes...The way I see it CAMERA are trying to appease these idiots, they'll all get swept out with the bath water anyway, they need to fight, but they won't. Good riddance to them too I say, it will serve them right for not taking a stand.<br /><br />When there's nothing left all of these idiot supporters of the nanny state will only have themselves to blame.Tonynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-72341889947400374272012-08-19T22:18:59.392+01:002012-08-19T22:18:59.392+01:00this next month or two will see the arrival of the...this next month or two will see the arrival of the 1000th British brewery so to have a pub crawl around pubs selling well regarded family brewers beer does sound a bit dull.cheers johnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-15856150728313233932012-08-19T21:36:10.234+01:002012-08-19T21:36:10.234+01:00Will you still vote for pubs for the Beer Guide, w...<i>Will you still vote for pubs for the Beer Guide, which is the one essential thing that CAMRA branches do ?</i><br /><br />Yes, I've not withdrawn from day-to-day activities, just ceased to hold a position of responsibility. The <i>Opening Times</i> column will continue as long as the editor is happy to print it.<br /><br /><i>By the way - is the SSM website down or has there really been no newsletter (another great thing) for months.</i><br /><br />John Tune, who maintained the website and did the desktop publishing for <i>Opening Times</i>, sadly died around the time of the beer festival. The magazine missed a month but was published again in August, but the domain was registered personally to him and so is proving more difficult to untangle.Curmudgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02558747878308766840noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5623537812609722663.post-81982066594151592722012-08-19T21:31:20.685+01:002012-08-19T21:31:20.685+01:00That's a shame.
Will you still vote for pubs ...That's a shame.<br /><br />Will you still vote for pubs for the Beer Guide, which is the one essential thing that CAMRA branches do ?<br /><br />By the way - is the SSM website down or has there really been no newsletter (another great thing) for months.Martin, Cambridgenoreply@blogger.com