Cornish Brewery in Trouble

The shock news of the New Year was the sudden announcement, on 5 January, that Cornwall's oldest commercial brewery had been taken into administration.  Redruth Brewery called in the recovery and insolvency specialists Begbies Traynor, who have been given a period of just 8 weeks to produce a report and trading plan for the creditors, who will then decide whether it has a viable future.

It is understood that the brewery has suffered trading difficulties for some time.  Founded in 1742, it expanded quickly during the years of prosperity, becoming the well-known Devenish Brewery and taking over a number of smaller operations along the way.  By the 1970s it was one of the country's largest regional brewers together with its sister operation in Weymouth, and owned a tied estate of nearly 400 pubs.  However, the predatory asset-stripper Michael Cannon targeted Devenish, whose control had progressively been weakened by national brewer Whitbread buying enough shares to gain a seat on the Board (remember the 'Whitbread Umbrella, which was supposed to prevent this sort of thing?  Ho, ho bleedin' ho!), and bought the operation to get his hands on the valuable pub estate, effectively leaving the brewery to swing in the wind.  A management buyout was short-lived, and eventually in 1995 the company, now called Redruth Brewery, was taken over by a Hong Kong based food operation called Dransfield Group.  They put the brewery to work bottling and kegging other people's beers, although some brewing continued in house.  Real ale suffered, naturally, and has been low-key for some years, with only two ales, Cornish Original and Rebellion, appearing sporadically and in pitifully small quantities considering the size of the brewing plant.  Sales and distribution problems meant it was difficult to find in the county, especially as they had lost their tied estate with guaranteed outlets, and for a time even these two beers vanished from the scene.

Ironically, these traditional ales have enjoyed a revival of late and are reported to be selling well in various places.  However, it will not be enough to save the company, and its survival as a local brewery must now be in some doubt.  We shall see, no doubt, in March.

Whither Wetherspoons?

Contrary to earlier reports, seemingly based on widespread rumour, that J D Wetherspoon were thinking of selling two of their three new Cornish pubs, it turns out that there are no such plans and the real-ale based pub company is set to stay in the county.

Only 10 or so months ago the Tremenheere on Market Jew Street  opened on the same day in March as the Packet Station on Falmouth's Moor.  The Penzance pub was created by the knocking together of four shops, while the old Market on the Moor which JDW had bought proved to have concrete 'cancer' and had to be demolished.  So the Packet Station is a brand new building, purpose-built for the job.  Stories that the two pubs were to be sold have now been  firmly denied.

A Wetherspoon's press officer told 'One & Ale': 'It's just not true that we are planning to pull out of Falmouth or Penzance.  Indeed, we are showing our commitment to Cornwall by investing in a fourth pub, this time in Bodmin'.  The third is the Towyn Blystra in Newquay.

Planning permission has now been granted for the company to convert Julian Foye's furniture shop in Fore Street, Bodmin, and the pub should be open for operation some time this year.

The chain are apparently still interested in coming to Truro, which might be a more sensible outlet for them.  The original thought of the West Briton offices on the Lemon Quay piazza seems unlikely to develop, although Wetherspoons on being asked directly about it said the idea was 'interesting', but did not expand any further.  We shall, of course, post any developments here as they come to light.

Cornish Brewery News

Odd goings-on with Ring O'Bells brewery are being reported.  It appears that the drinks distributors Jolly's are now the only source of supply for the ales, and are demanding cash on delivery as well.  We are trying to find out more, but speculation as to the reasons is rife.  Someone owes someone else money, say some; others think that the brewery is simply taking advantage of the Jolly's distribution network to shift its beer around without incurring the cost of running its own delivery system.  Whatever the reason, you'll have to deal with Jolly's now if you want to by some Drekly.

Skinner's Brewery in Truro have got their new site on Newham Road now fully functioning.  The new shop opened in time for Christmas, and though small, offers an impressive range of brewery merchandise and all of Skinner's bottled beer range, as well as an interesting selection of bottle-conditioned beers from other national and foreign breweries.  The shop opens Monday to Saturday, 10.00 to 17.30.  Meanwhile, expansion continues, with the purchase of two more fermenters to instal in the brewhouse.  This will be the first stage in a move into keg lager, but the plant looks likely to handle a keg version of Pennycomequick Stout as well, to rival Guinness in some of the local pubs.

St. Austell Brewery are reporting great success in their national marketing of Tribute and HSD, which are now turning up all over the country.  Head brewer Roger Ryman said, "I am delighted that it seems so popular out there.  My main concern is that it is still served in proper condition and tastes as good as it does in Cornwall.  If CAMRA members can feed back any information on their travels, I'd be very grateful".  Certainly our roaming drinker Lizard has reported finding the stuff in such divers locations as Cambridge, Lichfield and even in the mid-Welsh hills in a remote spot called Rhandirmwyn!  There is a reverse flow as well: the brewery are offering their free trade customers real ales from a monthly guest list, offering brews from such as Hall & Woodhouse, Robinson's, Jennings and Elgood's breweries.

The Driftwood Spars Brewery has stopped dry-hopping its Cuckoo Ale, which has reportedly improved the flavour.  Meanwhile, CAMRA Kernow's brewery liaison officer for Ventonwyn/Wooden Hand reports gloomily that the brewery looks like packing up again.  Brewing has been sporadic, with only one ale (Woody Bitter) being produced, and this was very hard to find even when available.  Keltek Brewery continues to be very busy, and has just brewed again its Christmas Noggin, popular last year at 10%abv.  The brewery is also busy bottling the Spingo range for the Blue Anchor in Helston, as well as bottling for other brewers in the county and beyond.

Cornish Pub News

West Cornwall

Shorts....... Remember the Vicarage in Stithians?  Closed in the autumn with hazy plans for its redevelopment - health spa was among the suggestions for its future use - it is now no more, having suddenly been demolished at the end of January.  The site is to have 6 new houses built on it......  A number of west Cornwall's pubs have come on to the market recently.  A report recently received has it that the Seven Stones, on St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly is up for sale.  This once-soulless place was bought and turned around in fine style by landlords Julia and John Metcalf some three years ago, and has always served a decent pint or two since.  Let's hope it doesn't fall into the hands of Tresco Estates.....  Talking of them, landlord Robin Lawson of the New Inn on Tresco had a 'Friendly Isles' experience with a difference recently when he tried to intervene in a 'domestic' between a couple who were staying their.  It seems Robin came off worse, suffering a broken arm and shoulder!....   The Mexico Inn, a flagship pub in CAMRA's eyes since it has supported local breweries for several years now, remains on the 'for sale' lists, following an nearly agreed sale falling through just before Xmas.....  The leases of the Miners Arms, Redruth (no real ale), and the Red Jackets, Camborne (likewise) are still up for grabs, having been on offer for a month or two now....

Mid-Cornwall

East Cornwall

Awaiting new reports.

North Cornwall

Awaiting new reports.

(Sources: CAMRA members, Cornwall24, the West Briton and allied papers, pub gossip, Scilly locals and Lizard's beer-stained notebook)

Pubs Diary

Welcome to our feature, the Cornish Pubs Diary. The idea is that anything to do with the promotion of real ale by our local landlords will warrant an entry here. Events will mostly take the form of beer festivals no doubt, but with a growing fund of experience in this field and their growing popularity, we feel that some central listing is useful - which also helps landlords to avoid clashes! Do let us know of any planned real ale events at your local boozer. For further details of pub festivals, go to our beer festival page.

Cornish Ale Guide On Sale

This is the definitive guide to real ale in Cornwall - and it is on sale now, with recent updates included.

Members of Cornwall CAMRA spent no less than 12 months researching every one (we hope) of the county's pubs, sampling the ale, and writing about it in order to bring you the most comprehensive guide to date. Every known real ale pub has been listed in standard Good Beer Guide format, and the ones which don't have any also get a mention, so that you don't have to waste time going through the door (and in the hope that they may change their policy in future).  AND we are not standing still.  Research is continuous, so every so often we can bring the listings up to date.

Because we are such a large county, the Guide has been divided into 5 geographical areas for convenience - north, east, mid-Cornwall, west, and Scilly. This keeps nearby pubs grouped together in the book and should make it easier to refer to. Street maps are provided for the bigger towns, and all of Cornwall's 13 breweries - including the newest on the Isles of Scilly - are listed with a description of the beers they produce.

Due to the lack of public transport in some areas, willing driving partners and the foot & mouth epidemic (one of our busiest researchers is a ministry vet!), as well as everyone being volunteers with other jobs to do, it took us longer than anticipated to get the thing published. However, the means are now in place to update it easily, and we are now able quickly to produce updated editions from time to time.

Want a copy? Of course you do. It is available by post to UK CAMRA members for £5.00 including the stamp (quote your membership number) or £5.61 to non-CAMRA members. Send cheques made payable to Cornwall CAMRA to editor Steve Willmott - see Contacts list for address details. Or we'll take €10.

One & Ale - the Cornwall CAMRA Newsletter

In common with the other branches of CAMRA, the Cornwall branch produces its own hard-copy newsletter, One & Ale. It appears about 5 times a year, at slightly irregular intervals because it may be timed to coincide with the major events such as the local beer festivals. It is aimed both at the branch membership, who are widely scattered around the county and each get a copy through the post, and non-members who may pick it up to read in selected pubs.

One & Ale contains news of breweries, brews and pubs in the county, as well as views and reports of pub crawls and the like written by the branch members. As a free publication, its only source of funding is its advertising income, which is of course to an extent dependent on how interesting the contents are. We are always looking for reports or articles from CAMRA members, and new contributors are especially welcome. Copy should be submitted to Steve Willmott, who is also the Editor and Distribution Manager (see Contacts page). If it is a word processor file and sent on a floppy disk, it's even more welcome!

The views expressed in these pages are of course those of the authors, and not necessarily of CAMRA Ltd or the Cornwall Branch of CAMRA.