40 Years at The Victoria, Durham
CAMRA Durham members gathered at Durham's Victoria Inn recently to celebrate a milestone in the pub world. Michael Webster first stepped behind the bar in 1975, and forty years on, not much has changed at the Vic. There are now five handpumps and even more whisky and whiskey, but the building, the roaring fires, and the atmosphere thankfully remain unchanged.
Here's to the next forty years!
Spennymoor FC and The Salvin Arms
A FOOTBALL club’s plan to reopen a disused pub as a clubhouse and community hub by Christmas has been put back until the New Year.
Spennymoor Town FC wants to take over the Salvin Arms pub, on King Street, which went into liquidation earlier this year, and rename it Moors Bar.
Full story:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/14138135.Spennymoor_Town_FC_s_club...
Latest Pub News from our branch area
The Colliery at High Jobs Hill near Crook has reopened and is now called the Copper Mine with three handpulls, two usually in use.
Durham City's first micropub, the Station House has opened at the foot of Station Bank.
The Woodman Inn, Durham has had a refurbishment and is now a serving light bite menu as well
Rather belatedly we have discovered the Durham Amateur Rowing Clubhouse serves real ale and similarly Masonic Hall in Chester -le-Street, Details being collected for Whatpub.
Marquis of Granby, Framwellgate Moor
Marquis of Granby, Framwellgate Moor - no real ale.
10 December 2015. All 4 Sam Smiths Old Brewery Bitter hand pumps had been removed earlier in the day and replaced with keg Old Brewery Bitter. Landlord said decision made in the spring but only just implemented. Ironically, real ale OBB had improved in quality since new landlord/landlady been in position (after decision to remove hand pumps); they are trying to get hand pumps reinstalled.
(Branch Update: We understand that this decision was taken due to the Brewery Representative deciding that the beer was below par during spot tastings during the previous tenancy. Although the Brewery Representative has since acknowledged that the beer quality had improved under the current tenants, it was not possible for them to stop the beer cancellation. The current tenants hope that they may be able to see real ale return, although they do not expect this until sometime in the next year once the beer lines have been replaced.)
POTY and COTY Nominations
It will soon be time for us to choose which of the pubs and clubs in our branch area should hold the titles Pubs and Clubs for the year – our winners will then go forward to the North East Regional Pub and Club of the Year competitions.
Durham CAMRA has five categories for these awards: Town Pub of the Year, Country Pub of the Year, Club of the Year, Town Cider Pub of the Year and Country Cider Pub of the Year. Throughout 2015, the holders of these titles have been, respectively:-
Ye Old Elm Tree, Durham City
The Surtees Arms, Ferryhill Station
Chester-le-Street Cricket Club
The John Duck, Durham City, and
The Black Lion, Wolsingham
Ye Old Elm Tree went on to be voted runner-up in the regional completion and will be presented with its regional runner-up certificate on the evening of Tuesday 24th November – why not come along and join in the celebrations?
You can find a list of other recent winners athttp://www.camradurham.org.uk/awards/
We would like all of our branch members to have a say in who should get the awards in 2016 so we are extending this invitation to you all, in the first instance, to nominate what you consider to be Durham CAMRA’s best pubs (town and county), club and cider pubs (town and country), so that a short list can be drawn up for the final voting to select the winners.
There are no rigid criteria as to which establishments can be nominated other than they must be in our branch area and must serve real ale and, for cider pubs, there must be a commitment to provide real cider on a regular basis. You may, however, want to consider such things as atmosphere, decor, range and quality of ales/ciders, events held, customer service, community focus, etc. ‘Town’ to include Bishop Auckland, Chester-le-Street, Consett, Durham City, Ferryhill, Peterlee, Seaham, Sedgefield and Spennymoor.
So, if you have a favourite pub, club, or cider pub that you think deserves to have the title of Pub/Club of the Year, then please let us know by sending your nominations to pubsgroup@camradurham.org.uk by the end of December. If you have the time, please include the reasons why you think so. You can, of course, nominate in any or all of the five categories.
To make a nomination you must be CAMRA member from the Durham branch area - please include your membership number in the email.. This will be used for verification purposes only and your selections will not be disclosed.
To encourage members to submit nominations beer-related prizes will be awarded to three lucky members who take part, drawn at random after the closing date.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope to receive your nomination(s) shortly,