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'Use it or lose it' appeal for Hucknall pubs as new Covid freedoms kick into gear

A 'use it or lose it' appeal has been launched in a bid to support Hucknall and Bulwell's pubs as the Dispatch district fights to recover from the pandemic.

By The Newsroom
Tuesday, 20th July 2021, 9:40 am

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted on all aspects of the economy and perhaps none more so that the hospitality sector.

Whilst initiative such as the furlough scheme have been a boon, Nottingham's Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) says the only sustainable way to save our pubs is for the public to start using them again. Now, with many of the Covid-19 regulations previously put into place having been suspended by the government from Monday (July 19), pubs can open to capacity.

And Nottingham CAMRA, which has always championed local pubs, serving real ales and, is backing this with the re-launch of its its 'Back to the Pub' campaign and promotion. The organisation's secretary, Hucknall's Andrew Ludlow, said "Local pubs and local breweries have experienced a very difficult time, and we feel that it is important to do all we can to help get them back on their feet and to avoid more pub closures. "It is great to see so many of the Hucknall and Bulwell pubs joining the promotion"

Damien O'Connor, of Damo's Bar on Annesley Road in Hucknall, said: "We have always been a promoter of using local pubs and businesses. More so now since Coronavirus. "With shops and businesses being forced to close with restrictions last year it's been brilliant to see the local community support shops, bars and businesses throughout Hucknall." From now and throughout August, pubs displaying the 'Support your local pub' poster (see attached) will be part of the campaign/promotion.

To participate in this promotion pub goers only need to visit eight different pubs to receive a free pint of beer or cider at the 2021 Robin Hood Beer & Cider Festival and also be entered into a raffle to win prizes. Entry forms are available in participating pubs and from the Nottingham CAMRA website

Hucknall (nearly) post-Covid 2021

From the Real Ale Guru to Head of CAMRA in less than 24 hours!

Hucknall head of Nottingham CAMRA calls on us all to support our pubs

The secretary of Nottingham CAMRA (Campaign For Real Ale) has urged people to return to our pubs and help them recover after a desperate year.

By John Smith : Friday, 16th April 2021, 3:28 pm

Andrew Ludlow, who is from Hucknall, said he has been enjoying being able to enjoy a pint in a pub garden again after pubs were allowed to re-open, albeit to only serve outdoors for the next few weeks, as lockdown restrictions were further eased. But after what has been a very tough year for pubs and the hospitality industry as a whole, Andrew says pubs need our support more than ever. He said: "It's been a incredible year, one tends to forget just how important pubs are at the heart of communities and how difficult it has been for them to have survived this last year. It's a bit like a spring opening now in that we're hoping that improvements with the number of Covid infections going down will allow pubs to fully re-open soon."

The pub industry is worth £22 billion each year to the UK economy and Andrew says that while the smaller pubs are the ones most at risk, the larger chain pubs also have reason to be concerned. He continued: "Where you have a large stock of pubs and you've lost a small fortune in revenue, you're looking to recover that money as quickly as possible and one of the ways in doing that is selling off pubs in areas to be redeveloped for things like housing, it's a quick fix. It's only now we're starting to see the seeds of this. In Nottingham, for example, the Nottingham Legend has recently come up to be demolished and turned into student accommodation on the grounds it's not viable. Well if you've been shut for half a year, you're hardly likely to prove you were viable in the last 12 months."

The future of British pubs has been under the microscope for some time, long before the pandemic brought it into sharp focus. And Andrew says CAMRA now is calling on local and national government to give the pub industry the support and backing it urgently needs.

He said: "I think it's essential that the local councils take note of the situation in the hospitality sector and give them as much freedom as possible for opening premises' and spaces as possible. I'm very pleased to see a lot of that has happened with pubs being able to extend beer gardens into car parks. On a longer term, and on the financial side, some sort of reflection on business rates needs to take place and, at national Government level, VAT changes long term to encourage pubs, which are a huge employer of local people, to keep going. I am confident pubs like CAMRA pubs can can survive because they're very much community based and led. They're only difficulty will be is that some of them have lost up to £100,000 already and making up that shortfall and the loss will take years and some people simply haven't got that much time left in the industry. So I think we'll see some changes but a good percentage of the real ale pubs should survive and it's really now up to the public to back their pubs and get back to their local."

Eric Jackson

Taste the difference: National beers vs local Nottingham brews – which is better?

Nottingham beer aficionados have the chance to put their taste buds to the test to see if they recognise the difference between local ales and national brews.

The Robin Hood (and) Little John pub, in Arnold, is holding a blind test for ale fans.

The aim is to put Nottingham’s growing reputation for good brews to the test by inviting people to pick out five locally-brewed favourites from a selection of ten anonymous beers.

The ten beers are numbered at the bar and drinkers will receive a token for each beer they try. The tokens will then be placed into ballot boxes, one for each beer, to decide which is the most – and least – popular.

Landlord David Pears said: “We want to try and change people’s perspectives of the big breweries. They know the household beers are everywhere, they know what Greene King IPA and Doom Bar are like. But do they really when it’s not on show?

“If people taste it and say: ‘Oh, that’s really nice,’ they might be like when they find out what they’ve tried: ‘I don’t usually like it.’ It’s to give people an interesting scope of both sides.”

The five national beers in the ten are Green King’s IPA, Spitfire, Bombardier, Doom Bar and Bass, which will compete against ales from Lincoln Green, Castle Rock, Welbeck Abbey, Nottingham Brewery and Totally Brewed.

The tokens across three days will be counted and the result of the most popular beer will be announced on the pub’s Facebook page on Sunday.

David said: “It’s to see what people’s reactions are. It could be that they are totally shocked that Bombardier’s beer comes out on top or not surprised at all.”

Seventeen committee members of the Nottingham branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) will be attending tonight to see if they, too, can determine what they’re drinking.

Andrew Ludlow, secretary of CAMRA, went to the pub this afternoon to sample three of the pub’s mystery ales.

The first he tried was a pale ale, which he struggled to identify.

Andrew said: “That is a lovely, pale beer – part of what I would call a new style of beer. Castle Rock has produced beers like Harvest Pale. I’ve got a feeling it could be Marion, by Lincoln Green Brewing Company, even though I find that normally a bit sharp. I don’t think it’s the Nottingham EPA.”

The second, though, another ale light in colour, saw Andrew more assured of his decision.

He said: “That one, I think, is Nottingham EPA. It’s very slightly stronger in taste, you can taste the hops more. EPA is as it’s described: Extra Pale Ale. It tends to have that extra bite to it. It’s a 4.2 per cent beer ABV.”

The third brew, meanwhile, slightly darker and bitter, was a “traditional beer”, according to Andrew.

He added: “It’s beautifully balanced, lots of hops in there. It could be a national brew. The only thing is that national brands have a tendency to be well-rounded beers with a good, solid taste. This has got a touch of extra in it. It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s one of the others. Welbeck brewery do a Henrietta drop, it could be this one. The chances of me getting them right, however, are not overly good.”

So was Andrew right? David’s not telling. It’s important no-one gets tipped off to make the vote count, he says.

The Macro vs Micro event launches tonight (Thursday, November 17) and runs until Saturday (November 19) between 7pm to 11pm. Pints cost £3.30, but the ales can be tasted in halves and thirds.

Any connoisseur who can guess all ten ales will win a gallon of beer.