Beer Tax e-petition reaches landmark 100,000 signatures!

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, was recently  delighted to celebrate with other members of the beer and pub industry as the Government e-petition calling on the abandonment of the beer duty escalator has exceeded the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a Parliamentary debate.

The petition is only the 12^th Government e-petition - out of over 16,000 submitted - to have ever reached the 100,000 landmark.

The beer duty escalator, introduced by the last Government in 2008, and continued by the coalition, has successively penalised Britain’s beer drinkers by automatically increasing duty levels by 2% above inflation every year.

• As a result, tax on beer has increased by over 40% since 2008, with a third of every pub pint now being swallowed in tax. Over 4,500 pubs have also closed over this same period.
  
  
• CAMRA has invested significant resources into campaigning against the beer duty escalator, and major breakthroughs in the lead up to the petition securing 100,000 signatures included over 15,000 beer drinkers adding their names to it over the course of the Great British Beer Festival, held at London’s Olympia at the beginning of August (7^th-11^th).

With a Parliamentary debate now in prospect, CAMRA is ramping up the pressure on Government by announcing it is to hold a Mass Parliamentary Lobby in Westminster on Wednesday December 12^th, with over 1,000 people expected to attend from all corners of the UK to voice their discontent at punitive tax increases on Britain’s National Drink.

Attendees will be asking to speak to their respective local MPs, and seeking their support to protect the nation’s historic beer and pub industry.

Colin Valentine, CAMRA National Chairman, said:

‘CAMRA’s next step is not to rest on our laurels but to maintain the impetus with our Mass Parliamentary Lobby, which will reinforce to MPs the groundswell of support for this campaign. With all the battering it has taken, the beer and pub sector still manages to contribute over £21 billion a year to the UK’s GDP, and supports one million jobs, so it’s about time the Government honoured its pledge to be “pub friendly*”

What makes a perfect pub?

This debate has raged for many a year and in all likelihood will remain as such for evermore … not least as it comes down to p[personal choice!

However, there are certain factors such as a mixture of good ale, lager, wine and food.

In addition there is the opportunity for engaging and sympathetic conversation, hospitality and lighting.

Despite the recent economic gloom there are plenty of pubs still surviving and – in some case – thriving!

• The pub remains as an affordable luxury.
• You can eat good food for the fraction of the price you’d pay in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
• You can enjoy a pint or two in the company of like-minded souls, or maybe just spend some quiet time in the corner, pint or single malt to hand, perusing the paper and listening to the gentle ebb and flow of conversation.

One debate best joined in the conviviality of the pub is considering exactly what it is that constitutes a good one. In 1946, George Orwell entered the fray with his marvellously prescient essay “The Moon Under Water”. For him, the perfect London pub had to include draught stout, simple but filling food, a well-sized garden, Victorian decor, and no radio or piano to spoil the prospect of stimulating conversation. His perfect pub didn’t exist (though he knew of several that were close) but he wasn’t the first – or the last – to play this peculiar pub game.

This country has a wonderful variety of pubs:

Town pubs, city pubs, suburban pubs, seaside pubs, village pubs, in-the-middle-of-nowhere pubs including pubs on a roundabout! (As in Shepherd & Flock, Farnham) and pubby pubs.

All of which proves that the pub is very much alive and kicking here in Britain.
A feeling Hilaire Belloc drew on marvellously when he wrote the lines: “When you have lost your inns, drown your empty selves, for you will have lost the last of England.” 

I’ll toast to that!

What's the a-peel? Drinking cider can be good for your health!

Drinking cider may be good for your health, according to the results of trials which prove a glass of cider is rich in health improving antioxidants

The old adage an apple a day keeps the doctor away now also applies to a drop of cider, made from fermenting apple juice.

Cider, one of England’s oldest alcoholic drinks, has long been thought to be beneficial to health, but there was never any proof.

Now scientists at Brewing Research International have confirmed high levels of health enhancing antioxidants in cider, on par with red wine, a drink long recognised as having health benefits. 

A half pint of cider delivers the same amount of antioxidants as a glass of red wine.

Commenting on the research work, Dr Caroline Walker, a scientist at Brewing Research International, said: “A diet rich in antioxidants may help to protect against disease, and our research confirms cider has the same levels of antioxidants as red wine.”

It is clear that cider has a good dose of antioxidants, and as nutritionists recommend a healthy diet should include plenty of antioxidants it could well be claimed that a glass of cider a day will keep the doctor away!!.

For those who enjoy a glass of cider it is reassuring to know it may be healthy, too. 

John Thatcher, of Sandford in Somerset, Chairman of the National Association of Cider Makers, said:"I have spent a lifetime making cider, enjoying a regular glass or two, and now I can enjoy it all the more knowing it is helping to keep me healthy".

He added: “We have known for centuries that cider in moderation was good for you and it will be helpful to consumers to have this scientific confirmation.”

Cheers!

A pub sign is a sign of the times …

The purpose of a pub sign is obvious – but its origins less so.

The Romans brought wine to Britain and with it their Taverns (Tabernae)

A Roman tavern was signified by a bunch of vine leaves hung outside which indicated it had wine to sell.

However vine leaves were not readily available in the cold British climate… so and evergreen bush was hung out instead.

Taverns then began to stock local ale as well as the wine – and the first ‘Inns’ were created, which served travellers who used the new network of Roman roads.

‘Alestakes’ were also fast emerging.

If an alestake had an evergreen bush attached to it, this was a sign that the alehouse had wine to sell as well as ale.

• In 1375 alehouses in London were in such proliferation that their alestakes were causing a hazard in the narrow streets – so an order restricted their projection to a maximum of seven feet (2.1 metres).
• In 1393 King Richard II decreed that alehouses must show a sign or have its brew confiscated

Changes in legislation also meant the alestake was no longer required.

Alehouses, taverns (which sold wine) and inns adopted the practice of other trades and displayed a pictorial sign. Oddly they opted for objects totally unrelated to their trade; instead of a tool or product, such as a shoe in the case of the cobbler or a horseshoe by the blacksmith, they chose obscure objects such as the sun or moon, or a swan or eagle.

The hostelry did not assume the name of the sign, but was known as 'the inn at the sign of the sun'. There was little point writing on the signs as few people could read.

 Hostelries set up by the church would have a Christian symbol, the Lamb (Lamb of God), the Cross Keys (St.Peter, keeper of the keys to heaven) or the Bull (connected with Rome and the Pope’s seal). After the Reformation all catholic references were changed or hidden, the Pope’s Head a definite no-no, more likely to be renamed the King’s Head.

By the 17th century 'public houses' were quite numerous and needed to distinguish themselves from one another.

As a consequence their signs were becoming more important and sophisticated.

The purpose of the sign became more than just an indication of the building and its function, it was also a status symbol, the more flamboyant the sign the more impressive the establishment.

During the coaching era of the mid-17th century to the late 18th century, the coaching inns vied for trade, a street on a coaching route might have fifteen or twenty other inns in close proximity, therefore the sign was designed to attract the drivers attention

Some pub signs were attributed to great painters.

One of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Millais is supposed to have painted pub signs.

Pubs signs are a reflection on the long history of the pub and it is a shame that so many are being replaced without reference to the heritage of the pub or its original sign.

However this does reflect the influences on today’s society and the high literacy rate… where many people can now read!