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.
SUCCESS ON THE WYE
Hereford’s annual celebration of real ale, cider and perry, Beer on the Wye, held in July, was another outstanding success, and was Highly Commended in the Visit Herefordshire tourism awards for 2016. For the story go to the Beer on the Wye Page
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.
Chase Inn Pub of the Year
The Chase Inn at Upper Colwall in the Malvern Hills has been voted Pub of the Year for 2015 by Herefordshire CAMRA.
Runner-up and Herefordshire Town Pub of the Year was the Prince of Wales, Ledbury.
See Pub News
Talbot Autumn Celebration
The Autumn 2016 Pub of the Season is the Talbot Hotel in Ledbury (pictured).
See Pub News
Other recent Pubs of the Season have been:
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
