Welcome to the web site of the Herefordshire Branch of The Campaign for Real Ale, the UK's only consumer group dedicated to independent breweries, traditional pubs and real ale. The branch area is the County of Herefordshire.

COMMUNITY PUB THREATENED

Faced with the devastating news that their pub is to close, a community in Hereford has turned to CAMRA for help. It was announced on January 20th that the Broadleys, one of 200 pubs sold by Marstons to NewRiver Retail, is to be converted to a Co-op convenience store. The Broadleys is one of only four pubs, two of which can hardly be described as community pubs, serving a population of over 16,000 in the south of the city of Hereford – an area already well endowed with convenience stores. Its closure would leave many of those people nearly a mile from any pub at all. This would impact particularly on the less mobile and the elderly - i.e. the most vulnerable people in our community.

The Broadleys is one of the most important community pubs in the city - over 150 people are members of various sports and games sides based at the pub, including a full football team; six darts teams; a pool team; a poker club, and a quoits team. It is also a key venue for private parties (including christenings, weddings and wakes) and has other events including live music once a month. The Broadleys is the heartbeat of the local communities of Redhill, Hinton and Bullingham that rely on it as a meeting place - especially as another pub, the Gamecock, was converted into a TESCO Express store in 2011.

A packed public meeting at the Broadleys, called by Herefordshire CAMRA, was stunned to learn that a loophole in the planning system allowed for the conversion of the pub to a convenience store without the need for planning consent - in other words the community were to be denied a voice on the future of THEIR pub. The meeting resolved to fight the proposal and a petition has been organised asking the Council to use a legal mechanism available to them, requiring the owners to seek full planning permission for change of use. After only 48 hours there were already over 400 names on the petition.

Another question asked was how do the Co-op reconcile this attack on a local community with their claimed business ethics - "The Co-operative has always had a purpose beyond profit, and corporate social responsibility has been embedded in our approach to business since our formation over 150 years ago"

Coincidentally, German TV company ARD was filming pubs in the UK when events took off at the Broadleys, providing just the story they were looking for. The photo shows the crew filming landlady Tina Carey, and on the panel (l to r) are Mark Haslam of Herefordshire CAMRA; Hereford MP, Jesse Norman; Herefordshire Councillor, Paul Rone and longstanding Broadleys regular, Dave Preedy. A short version of the program may be viewed here, and a subsequentl appearance on BBC’s Midlands Today, may be viewed here.

ANOTHER BEER ON THE WYE SUCCESS!

Hereford’s annual celebration of real ale, cider and perry, is held on one of the most attractive of sites adjacent to Hereford Rowing Club – just a short walk from the city centre. Now in its tenth year the 2014 event was yet another great success. For more go to the Beer on the Wye Page

Beer in Hand Wins Pub of the Year

The Beer in Hand in Hereford has been voted Pub of the Year for 2014 by Herefordshire CAMRA.

Runner-up and Herefordshire Country Pub of the Year was the Bridge Inn, Kentchurch.

See Pub News

The Thrill of the Chase

The Winter 2014 Pub of the Season is the Chase Inn, Upper Colwall (pictured).

See Pub News

Other recent Pubs of the Season have been:

Have you protected your local yet?

Don’t wait for your local pub to join the thirty or so pubs around the country each month, and become the victim of the likes of Tesco or some greedy developer. Go to Save your local

SUN REMEMBERS FLOSSIE!

Plaque recognises oldest landlady in Britain

Herefordshire CAMRA teamed up with Gary Seymour and Nick Davies, owners of the famous Sun Inn at Leintwardine, to honour Flossie Lane who ran this parlour pub for 74 years. A commemorative plaque was unveiled in September 2012 during the pub's Flossie Day celebrations. For more on this story visit BBC Hereford & Worcester website

HEREFORDSHIRE'S FIRST COMMUNITY PUB

At an extraordinary public meeting organised by Dilwyn Parish Council on the 22nd February, 2012 parishioners voted three to one for the council to proceed and seek a loan, with the aim of purchasing the Crown Inn. Fed up with the uncertainty created by a succession of leaseholders, interspersed by short periods of closure, the community are hoped this initiative will secure some much-needed stability of the pub.

By 5th May, the pub had reopened after about eighty villagers carried out a thorough clean-up of the building. Two years on, the Crown is trading well, having just held its third annual beer festival.