Campaign for Real Ale celebrates 50 years in Swale with a trip to a pub
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- 6 min read
Look around any supermarket’s alcohol shelves or visit a local micropub and you will be amazed at the number of excellent beers on offer.
But this didn’t used to be the case.
Back in the mists of time, chaps, and it was usually only chaps, had a grand choice of three. You could down a Watneys Red Barrel, drink a Double Diamond or sink a pint of Worthington E from the Bass Charrington brewery.
And none of them tasted particularly good.
Then something strange happened. A small but vociferous group of drinkers decided they wanted beer with bite. So, they launched the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra).
To some, it was a bit of a joke. The main activists often appeared to have beards and shared a love of sea shanties and folk clubs where singers performed with their finger in their ear.
But slowly the movement gained traction.
One of the first branches was set up in Swale.
Recently, 30 drinkers gathered at the Park Tavern, Sittingbourne, to celebrate 50 years of championing proper beer. It was in that very pub that on February 17, 1976, that members held their first meeting.
The group enjoyed plenty of pints of Master Brew cask ale and Spitfire Amber Ale laid on by the pub’s owners Shepherd Neame, and viewed a display of historic memorabilia.
Exhibits included local press cuttings from the 1970s, Shepherd Neame artefacts, and minutes from early meetings held in another pub, The Fountain, leading up to the group’s formation which came five years after Camra was founded nationally.
Those present included Paul Durkin who was present at the founding meeting 50 years before.
To mark the milestone, current branch chairman Steve Bury presented a Special Award Certificate to Park Tavern landlord Giovanni Demichele, acknowledging its place in the branch’s history.
The certificate now has pride of place on a wall.
Swale Camra’s 50th anniversary co-ordinator John Kent said: “It was a brilliant event. We were very pleased with the turnout. We actually have more members today than we did in 1976.
“We were formed to revive cask ale and get people drinking beer in pubs and we still have the same aim today!”
The branch meets monthly, choosing a different pub each time, and organises outings through the year.
Landlord Giovanni said: “I was delighted to welcome them to the pub for this special celebration. It was great to know they consider my cask ale to be so good!”
Also present was Paul Durkin, one of the branch’s early chairs.
Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP Kevin McKenna, who was there, said afterwards: “I really enjoyed hearing members old and new share memories of early campaigning days, favourite pints and the many pubs the branch has supported over the years. The atmosphere was lively and proud, a real celebration of both heritage and ongoing commitment.”
Also celebrating was former chairman John Sissons, an erstwhile Sheppey mobile DJ and estate agent who is now working at Priory Hill Holiday Park, Leysdown.
He recalled: “When I became involved around 1977 the chairman was Malcolm Burton who lived in Balmoral Road, Gillingham. I seem to recall he was also involved with the Sittingbourne and Kemsley Light Railway.
“Roy Denison was the secretary and Peter West was the treasurer.
“On Sheppey, we had Dave Burnett who lived in Alma Road, Sheerness. His parents ran a shop on one of the camps in Eastchurch. The last I heard of him he was running the Ship and Lobster pub in Denton, Gravesend.
“Paul Durkin was a founder member as were Bob Ferrant and Bob Gates.”
The first time Swale Camra members visited Sheppey was on a cold, Tuesday evening in February. Their first port of call was to the True Briton in Victory Street, Sheerness, which is now a Domino’s pizza parlour.
At the time it was the watering hole favoured by police, who were based in the station opposite, and journalists whose office was round the corner.
The visit gave reporters much to write about, mainly because they didn’t want to miss out on any pints which might be going begging.
One scribe on the Sheerness Times Guardian decided to review a copy of the Swale Camra Good Beer Guide in September 1976.
He/she wrote: “Veteran real beer enthusiasts know where to find their favourite beverage in Sheerness. Most boast they can smell it a mile away.
“But for those with less discerning nostrils, who are growing bored with drinking more bubbles than beer, the recently issued Real Ale Guide from the Swale branch of Camra will be a useful addition to our beer hunting equipment.
“The guide lists all the houses in Swale which serve ‘genuine living beer’ without the modern gremlin of CO2.”
Sheerness pubs to make the book included The Admiral’s Walk in Blue Town; the Blacksmiths Arms in Clyde Street; the Hero of Crimea in Alma Street; The Jolly Sailor in West Street, Blue Town; the True Brit; the Nore in St George’s Avenue, Sheerness, and the British Queen in Minster.
All were Shepherd Neame pubs. There were two exceptions: the Ship-on-Shore in Marine Parade and the Flying Dutchman in Queenborough were Whitbread watering holes.
The first annual meeting of the Swale branch was in the Sun Inn in West Street, Faversham. It reported that in the first year seven pubs had begun serving real ale in the borough.
The good beer guide in those days cost 10p but often drew praise and complaints in equal number as drinkers quibbled over the criteria for including a pub.
In 1987, branch chairman Peter Moyniham, who lived in Marine Parade, Sheerness, was forced to defend the journal.
He wrote: “Might I be permitted to reply to your reviewer’s comments?
“The task of selecting 14 pubs in Swale is complicated by several factors; the need to provide a good geographical spread; the need to avoid picking pubs which all sell the same beer; and to provide a variety of pubs from ‘spit & sawdust’ locals to plush lounge bars.
“It would be easy to select our favourites year after year but to maintain a saleable product, the guide is, after all, the Campaign’s main fundraiser, we have to ring the changes.”
He went on: “Your reviewer disputes the fact that the Royal Fountain Hotel is the top real ale pub in Sheerness. Such judgements are purely subjective. The GBG does not claim to list the ‘best’ pubs. That is for the drinker to decide.
“The Royal Fountain was selected for inclusion partly because it sells Scottish & Newcastle’s cask ales which, being malty and smooth in palate, are at odds with the hoppy local beers such as Shep’s and Fremlin’s bitters and therefore deserve to be encouraged.
“To imply, as your reviewer does in his last paragraph, that his knowledge of local pubs is better than ours is a hollow boast.
“The members of Swale Branch of Camra have been keeping detailed survey records of the 180 or so pubs in our area since our formation almost 11 years ago.”
Ouch!
For its 21st anniversary bash, the group celebrated at the Fountain near Sittingbourne railway station.
Head Brewer at Shepherd Neame Julian Herrington unveiled a plaque outside the pub to commemorate the anniversary while Fountain landlord Ian Parker marked the occasion by adding pump-clips first used by the brewery 21 years before.
Nowadays, drinkers have a huge range of cask-conditioned ales and ciders to draw on including the likes of Timothy Taylor's Landlord (4.3% ABV); Sharp's Doom Bar (4.3% ABV) from Cornwall; Fuller's London Pride (4.7% ABV) and Shep’s various offerings including Spitfire and Bishop’s Finger.
Although many of Sheppey’s much-loved pubs have since bitten the dust, popular micropubs have shot up including The Pilot’s Rest in Sheerness, the Admiral’s Arm in Queenborough and the Island’s first, The Heritage, in a former Post Office at Halfway.
Best to keep drinking. Here’s to another 50 years…
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