The next morning we chose the riverside walk along the Nene as our route back to the town centre and station. Unfortunately due to a closed footbridge we had to retrace most of our steps and so saw rather more of the river and its environs than we expected. The two miles became three and a half. This just served to build up our thirst and upon arriving at London’s Euston station, we made for the Bree Louise. This pub, with its tremendous range of ales, some served by gravity, others by handpump is definitely to be recommended, particularly as it offers 40p off a pint to card carrying CAMRA members. Thirsts slaked, we made our various ways back to Hastings and Eastbourne and the joys of Sunday replacement bus travel.

Thanks go to the CAMRA brewery liaison officer for Frog Island, James Addington, who set up our meeting in the Malt Shovel and congratulations to all at the brewery for the award. After our inaugural presentation trip to Burnley’s Moorhouse brewery last year and this year’s trip, we look forward to the Eastbourne festival punters voting for a beer from a brewery such as Orkney or Isle of Mull!

Peter Adams.

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Northampton

Last October the beer drinkers at the Eastbourne beer festival voted for Frog Island’s ‘Croak and Stagger’ as their beer of the festival from outside Sussex. At the end of February, seven members of South East Sussex Branch of CAMRA made the train journey to Northampton to present the trophy in person.

 

Arriving Saturday lunchtime, the first thing we noticed about the town was a horrible smell. This turned out to be caused by the Carlsberg factory, a 1970 concrete structure, sadly built on the site of the real ale Phipps brewery, bought up and closed by Watneys in the late sixties. Our first destination was a pub just across the road, the Malt Shovel, which as well as being the tap for Great Oakley Brewery, serves Frog Island beer and an impressive range of ales from other places. In here the factory was quickly forgotten as branch chairman, Peter Page-Mitchell, presented the trophy to Bruce Littler of Frog Island, (pictured behind the bar of the Malt Shovel).

After some excellent ale and lunch, we made the two mile journey to our hotel, some on foot, some by taxi. In the late afternoon and evening, we set about researching the Good Beer Guide pubs of Northampton. We were not disappointed, visiting all of those within walking distance of the town centre, sampling an excellent range of beer styles from a wide range of breweries.