In the first week of May, following years of campaigning by CAMRA, the Government announced a long-awaited consultation on their plans to reform the big pub companies. These big pubcos are making life tough for their pubs and hard working licensees by taking excessive profits from pubs – so licensees and pub goers alike suffer.
Now is the time to push the government to act decisively. Visit “Fair Deal for your Local” for more information or follow the direct links below:
Please support this campaign - you only have until 14th June 2013 to tell the government what you think. You don‘t have to be a CAMRA member to act!
The Keighley and Craven Branch Pub of the Season for Summer 2013 will be awarded to the Kings Arms in Silsden. A bustling community pub, the Kings has something for everyone. Two regular LocAle beers are complemented by four rotating guest beers and a traditional cider. The presentation will be made to Lisa, Francis and their team of efficient staff on Tuesday 25th June.
Skipton Beer Festival 2013, which was held last weekend, broke all records. Over 2250 customers attended the event and drank it dry, with every last drop of real ale gone when the festival closed at 8 p.m. on Saturday. First beer to run out was Mainline IPA from the recently opened Settle Brewery. Beer of the Festival as decided by customer votes was Drop Hammer, a strong dark beer from the Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds. More details will appear on the Skipton Beer Festival web-site in the near future.
The Keighley and Craven Branch Pub of the Season for Spring 2013 has been won by The Narrow Boat. This is the eighth time this popular Skipton pub has won the award, a record for the branch. The presentation took place on Tuesday 26th March.
Long-standing licensee of the Helwith Bridge Inn, Ribblesdale, Colin Hall, retired from the pub on the 24th March 2013. Colin has been at the pub for well over 10 years and has featured in the last 12 editions of the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Keighley and Craven CAMRA presented Colin with a one off award for outstanding service to real ale on 16th March (see photo). New licensees are Paul and Carol Smith.
The twin Yorkshire Dales settlements of Settle and Giggleswick not only boast 8 establishments selling real ale on hand-pump, they now also have two breweries, making them an ideal destination for real ale enthusiasts. Add in a scenic railway line and some spectacular walking and you have the makings of a great day out or weekend away. To help you enjoy this exciting destination we have put together a leaflet guide to the pubs. Settle and Giggleswick straddle the river Ribble and are well-served by the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle railway and the Leeds-Lancaster line, times available from the National Rail web-site. Click here to download a copy of the leaflet. Leaflets to other parts of the branch area are also available by clicking here.
Make a note in your diaries that kipton Beer Festival 2013 takes place from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th April. The festival, our seventh, will again be held in the Town Hall at the top of the main street opposite the church. Visit the Skipton Beer Festival web-site for more information.
Improved pub awards are coming thick and fast! The Castle, next to Skipton parish church, has also been nominated for such an award. Also now featuring six handpumps, the Castle has come on leaps and bounds since Calvin Dow took over in June 2010 and is deservedly popular. An award will be presented on December 11th. Read more.
The transformation of the Turkey at Goose Eye near Keighley by Mark and Heather Shelley has earned it an “Improved Pub” award from Keighley and Craven CAMRA. 5 Goose Eye beers are served in good condition (as they should be in the village of the same name) alongside a couple of beers from other local brewer Timothy Taylor. The award was presented on Tuesday 20th November 2012. Click here for the full article from Alesman, Winter 2012.
CAMRA members have been keeping an eye on the the Talbot in the centre of Settle since it re-opened back in the spring following a closure of nearly a year. With up to six beers normally available, all consistently kept, members of Keighley and Craven CAMRA voted to present Rosie and Russell, the licensees, with an “Improved Real Ale Pub” award. The presentation took place on the 30th October 2012. Click here for the full article from Alesman, Winter 2012.
The Keighley and Craven Branch Pub of the Season for Autumn 2012 has been won by The Swan, Addingham. An unspoilt multi-room pub on the centre of the village, the Swan boasts six handpumps and offers a range of interesting beers with regular live music sessions to match. For other news from Addingham, check out the “Addingham Together” article, from Alesman Autumn 2012.
The introduction of up to three real ales at the Dickie Bird in Thwaites Brow, Keighley and their subsequent consistent quality has prompted Keighley and Craven CAMRA to present Colin and Bev, the licensees with an “Improved Real Ale Pub” award. The presentation took place on the 19th September 2012. Read more.
The 2013 edition of CAMRA‘s Good Beer Guide was launched in mid-September. Featuring the best 4500 pubs in the country, the Guide is fully revised and reviewed each year by CAMRA‘s 130,000 members. Within the Keighley and Craven area 18 pubs are listed, ranging from town-centre locals in Keighley to up-market inns in the Dales. To buy a copy on-line, click here.
The Keighley and Craven Branch Pub of the Season for Summer 2012 has been won by Thirteen Café Bar in Settle. With its narrow frontage, this haven for real ale drinkers is easily missed but well worth a visit. Very handy for the station, it serves 3 cask beers, all from LocAle breweries. The picture shows owners Christine and Robert outside Thirteen just after the presentation.
Spring 2012 has seen several interesting developments on the Keighley and Craven pub scene, with several pubs changing hands, changing owners and/or re-opening after periods of closure.
Just before Easter, the Talbot in Settle, which had been closed for nearly a year, re-opened as a free house. The pub was bought last summer by the Palmer family, who have run the CAMRA Good Beer Guide listed Maypole in Long Preston for the last 30 years. Over the autumn and winter substantial improvements have been made to the pub, including putting the cellar back into its original location and moving the bar. Offering 6 cask beers, the Talbot is run by Rosie and Russell. Robert and Elspeth Palmer continue to run the Maypole. The picture show Will Palmer at the bar in the Talbot.
In remote Littondale, the Queens in Litton has re-opened under new ownership after a short closure. The bar has been spruced up and work is on-going to bring the left-hand room back into use - a wood-burning stove has been installed to make this room cosier. Managed by Emily who used to work at Thirteen in Settle, the Queens is open all day from about 12 in summer with food being served luchtimes and evenings - booking advisable. No beer is being brewed at the moment but three hand-pumps were dispensing Goose Eye Chinook and Thwaites Original and Wainwrights on Sunday 1st July.
In Upper Wharfedale, the Buck in Buckden re-opened in time for Buckden Gala in mid June. Run by Michelle and Kevin Edwards, the Buck sells a good range of cask beers, with 5 being available on 24th June: Theakston Best Bitter, Copper Dragon Best Bitter, Black Sheep Best Bitter and Riggwelter and Deuchars IPA. Michelle and Kevin have years of experience in the trade, having previously run pubs in Leeds and Huddersfield as well as further afield. The kitchen has been refurbished and food is now available 12-2.30 and will also be available 6-8.30 during the week and all day Saturday and Sunday from July. The letting rooms are also being refurbished and Kevin hopes to be doing Bed and Breakfast again by August. The Buck is open 5-11 on Mondays, 12-3 and 5-11 Tuesday to Thursday and 12-11 Friday to Sunday.
Back in Riddlesden, Keighley, the Willow Tree had been closed for even longer and threatened with a change of use planning application (which was rejected). This re-opened in late May. Initially two cask beers are on offer.
Other pubs ‘on the up’ are the Percy Vear‘s Real Ale House in Keighley (formerly the Friendly), the Dickie Bird (formerly the Druids) at Thwaites Brow, Keighley and the Nightingale (formerly the Eastburn Inn) at Eastburn, near Airedale Hospital.
Bought in April by Halifax-based Cask Taverns, the Percy Vear has been fully re-furbished without actually closing. At least 4 cask beers are now usually available, including Timothy Taylor Golden Best, a house beer (brewed by Empire Brewery) and Saltaire Blonde. Percy Vear was a famous boxer from Keighley in the 1930s.
Both the Dickie Bird and the Nightingale are run by locally-based Mood Pubs. The Dickie Bird is very much a community-focused pub, with at least 2 cask beers available, whilst the emphasis at the Nightingale is on food. Beers at the Nightingale are from Theakston, although Goose Eye Chinook is also regularly available.
Whilst on the subject of good news, the Royal Shepherd in Skipton has also re-opened after a short period of closure.
Pub of the Year 2012
The Phil Booth and the staff at the Boltmakers Arms were awarded Keighley and Craven Pub of the Year 2012 by Branch Chair Colleen Holiday. The Boltmakers, one of Keighley‘s smallest pubs, is famed the length and breadth of the UK for the quality of its Timothy Taylor beers.
Pub of the Season Summer 2012