Guest Columns

Battle royal over iconic Art Deco pub

For six years, Friends of the Iron Duke have campaigned to save the closed Art Deco listed building and to reopen it as a pub. The local council and its preservation trust have refused to put the pub out for tender and have now reached an agreement with a company called Zak's to turn the site into an American-style burger restaurant. Caroline Jones of Friends of the Iron Duke tells the story...
Added: Thursday, June 15th 2023
CAMRA: reach out to young drinkers

Ash Corbett-Collins, CAMRA's Young Members Coordinator, says it is vital that the Campaign attracts the thousands of young beer lovers who are not yet members. They are needed to strengthen the Campaign at all levels and support beer festivals and other activities that attempt to attract drinkers
Added: Wednesday, April 18th 2018
Time to kick sexism out of beer

Brewers are still using sexist images to sell beer, says Katie Wiles -- and it demeans women drinkers. Recent examples (left) are from Robinson's and Moorhouse's while an Italian beer has caused an uproar with a crude label suggesting a woman drinker is performing fellatio. And an Irish brewery is using a sexist image for its Dublin Blonde Lager.
Added: Thursday, October 26th 2017
Cheers! Ladies really love beer

Writer Katie Wiles challenges the myth that women don't like beer. She talks to a number of women drinkers who say they prefer flavour-rich beer to wine and they enjoy drinking in pubs, which are no longer a male preserve. And, Katie argues, there's no such thing as a "woman's palate"!
Added: Monday, September 25th 2017
Nunny: time to stop knocking cask ale

Paul Nunny of Cask Marque says it's time drinkers stopped knocking cask beer and spoke up about its values and success. He adds that both price and quality need to be addressed and points out that while cask beer is usually the cheapest beer on the bar it's a premium product.
Added: Thursday, January 26th 2017
Come to Milan: City of Beer!

The second Milano Beer Week will be held in the Italian city from 21-27 September, Maurizio Maestrelli reports. It will showcase beers from the hundreds of craft breweries operating in Italy as well as beers from Britain, the United States and many European countries. It will prove that beer is now firmly rooted in Italy's quest for good food and drink
Added: Sunday, August 23rd 2015
A beer I brewed with grave misgivings

Dave Bailey, who runs Hardknott Brewery in Cumbria, describes the thought that went into brewing Nuclear Sunset on the 70th anniversary of the dropping of the A-bomb on Hiroshima in Japan. Dave's brewery is close to Sellafield in Cumbria and he is acutely aware of the strong feelings aroused by proponents and opponents of the nuclear industry
Added: Wednesday, August 5th 2015
It's Magna Carta time for British beer
Time for brewers to kill sexist images

The Campaign for Real Ale's annual conference this weekend won't debate sexism in the brewing industry. Beer writer Melissa Cole argues CAMRA is dodging the issue and urges all organisers of beer festivals and other consumer events to say "No" to the likes of Top Totty
Added: Wednesday, April 15th 2015
Time to put beer on the top table

Jane Peyton calls on the government to promote our national drink by making it available at parliamentary and embassy dinners and events. The French, she says, wouldn't serve imported wine at official functions yet all too often British government event serve wine rather than home-grown beer. Sign her petition!
Added: Thursday, October 30th 2014