Local breweries winning awards

I always like seeing our local breweries win awards, so I'm particularly pleased that three local breweries have won awards at SIBA’s North West Independent Beer Awards 2016 held in Bolton this month.

Southport Brewery won:

• Gold for bottled Dark Night, a mild.
• Silver for bottled Golden Sands, a golden ale.
• Bronze for cask Golden Sands.

Liverpool Organic Brewery won:

• Silver in the bottled premium strong beers category for Imperial Russian Stout.
• Bronze in the pale ale category for Cascade.

Formby's Red Star Brewery won: 

• Gold in the bottled porter category for Partisan.

The full results are here. Well done to all concerned. The only one I haven't had here is the Imperial Russian Stout: I must keep an eye out for it.

Historical fact: Southport Brewery's Dark Night was named after the tragic Mexico lifeboat disaster of 1886 which happened locally.

SIBA is the Society of Independent Brewers.

Never say never

I've just come across an article in the Liverpool Echo on-line about breweries in Merseyside. They list nineteen, and I have to say I didn't realise there were that many; there's even a couple I hadn't heard of before. I must keep my ear closer to the ground.

Here in Southport, there are three: Southport Brewery, a veteran now of 11 years; Parker Brewery in Banks just outside the Southport boundary, but proclaiming its Southport credentials; and the newest, 3 Potts, which is a near neighbour of Southport Brewery. Other breweries nearby include Burscough Brewery in West Lancs, Neptune Brewery in Maghull, Red Star Brewery in Formby, and Rock The Boat Brewery in Little Crosby. More details of these and other Merseyside breweries can be found in the Echo's article.

The most interesting point about all of this is that before 2003, none of these breweries existed at all. After the old Higsons Brewery in Liverpool was closed by Whitbread in 1990, Merseyside and the surrounding areas didn't have a single brewery, and I certainly recall the Liverpool CAMRA branch mourning the loss of all its breweries in a city that had once proudly had quite a few. Although some of us tend to think we know about this subject, none of us ever anticipated the resurgence that has occurred.

I've had beers from most of the breweries listed in the article, and haven't been disappointed. Some aren't entirely to my taste, but that's not the same as saying they're no good. In contrast, some of the old regionals and locally based nationals that we had, such as Matthew Brown, Greenall Whitley and Tetley Walker produced at best mediocre beer, and at worst unpleasant slop (Higsons was the honourable exception). Such an accusation cannot be aimed at these newer breweries, whether you like their products or not.

As for all our previous mourning over the passing of the era of brewing in and around Merseyside, never say never.

The one odd note in the article is that it states that the owners of Cains say they hope to be brewing again within two years. My message to them would be: either seriously get your act together or don't bother. Cains beers became utter rubbish before the company went bankrupt for the second time. While they were thereby destroying any remaining brand loyalty, far superior competitors appeared on the scene. My view is that in the changed beer scene in Merseyside, they'd have a hard job re-establishing themselves.

Local breweries win awards

Red Star is a new brewery in Formby, between Liverpool and Southport. It's a 10 barrel microbrewery and has been producing cask ales for about six months. I first tried their beers three months ago in the Corner Post, a micropub in Crosby, and more recently in the Guest House, Southport. I've liked all their beers that I've tried so far.

I'm pleased to learn that they won a gold in the Speciality Beer cask category at the SIBA (Society of Independent Brewers) annual beer competition. The successful beer was their Weißbier, a naturally cloudy Belgian-style wheat beer; I've yet to see this, but I'll keep an eye out for it.

Southport Brewery won gold for the bottled version of their Dark Night Mild and bronze for the bottled version of their Shrimper. I've enjoyed both of these in draught form.

Well done to all concerned.

A dissatisfied customer

I expect CAMRA Southport and West Lancs Branch is rather upset by the letter in our local paper, The Southport Visiter, stating that, far from being the success that a branch spokesperson had asserted, the Southport Beer Festival was in fact a disappointment: there weren't enough tables, the beer choice didn't impress him, and people had to dodge discarded food and plates. He said he spoke to 20 or 30 people who felt as he did. The gentleman concerned is entitled to his opinion, of course, but in my view, he has been rather harsh. I attended the festival twice: I was a floor walker for the Friday evening session, and was a punter on Saturday afternoon.

• Not enough tables. The hall is small and space is limited; when the festival is busy, there simply isn't the space to provide as much seating as they'd ideally like to. There isn't another venue in or near the town centre that is suitable, available and affordable.
• The beer choice didn't impress him. The festival had beers from many local microbreweries that you may not readily come across in Southport pubs, such as: 3 Potts (Southport); Big Clock (Accrington); Burscough (Burscough); Connoiseur (St Helens); Problem Child (Parbold); Red Star (Formby); Parker (Banks); Third Eye (Eccleston); Melwood (Knowsley); Rock The Boat (Crosby).There were also beers from more established small breweries, such as Bank Top, Southport, Prospect, Liverpool Organic and Liverpool Craft. The original point of beer festivals was to introduce people to beers they don't usually come across, and in this respect I regard the festival as a success. I also approve of supporting local microbreweries. But, whatever beers you put on, you won't please everyone.
• Loads of dissatisfied customers. Did he really spend all the time it would have taken to conduct market research on 30 people at the beer festival? Or has he exaggerated ever so slightly? As a floor walker on the Friday evening, I spoke to a lot of people, rather more - I suspect - than the letter writer. I didn't hear a bad word about the festival; nor did I on the Saturday as a customer. 
• On neither day did I see discarded food lying around in any great quantities.

To be fair to the writer, he did give his name and address. I am unimpressed when people write scathing letters to the papers (or, for that matter, put highly critical comments on blogs) and then hide behind anonymity. I am not, however, convinced that his views are as representative as he would like to claim.

In general, I appreciate the efforts of the volunteers on the festival committee who put in a lot of work in their own time for no reward to provide a significant local event which this year supported our local breweries, quite a few of which are very new. That work deserves a better acknowledgement than the letter in the Visiter would suggest.

New Café Bar: the Barrel House

A few days ago, I went into Southport's newest bar: the Barrel House, which opened on 24 May at 42 Liverpool Road in Birkdale village. It has been converted from an old newsagent's because of the new Sainsbury's that has opened across the road; the owners felt that if they couldn't compete, they'd change their business. And what a change!

Although it is very small, you don't feel hemmed in: it has stripped wooden floors, wooden topped tables, a light, fern-patterned wallpaper, and a couple of tables in the windows that look out onto the street. At the far end is a bar with two handpumps and three beer fonts. When I went in, the real ales were Robinson's Trooper and Southport Sandgrounder; these change but always include one from Southport Brewery. I had both and they were nicely kept. The fonts sold Krusovice lager, Symonds cider and Theakstons smooth bitter. They also had a range of 10 red, white and rosé wines, some spirits, plus a choice of various teas and coffees. I believe food is planned too.

To one side there were shelves and beer fridges containing more than 140 bottled beers from the UK and the continent, and I was told by Martin, the owner, that the range is increasing all the time. One interesting bottle was Barbarian Bitter (4.2%) from the new Parker Brewery in Formby - I'll do a separate post about Parker.

As it happened there were several people I knew when I wandered in, and so had a very convivial evening; it wasn't busy, but that's not so surprising on a Monday. I’m not sure what you’d call the Barrel House - mini café bar would seem to be most appropriate - but it's certainly a welcome addition to the limited real ale scene in Birkdale. Opening hours are 10am to 10pm.

Oh, and they still sell newspapers!

This is part of a series of articles that I am writing for the CAMRA column in our local paper, the Southport Visiter. Previous reviews are here.

Review of my ale and music year

Around this time of year, bloggers tend to do a review of the year. I don't feel able to speak generally about the whole country on the enormous subjects of music and ale, so I've decided to write a short review of my personal year.

Best Folk Club: Southport's Bothy, which is one of the oldest folk clubs on the country, continues to provide, within the limits of what a voluntary, non-profit making organisation can, an excellent range of guests withing the folk scene, using the broadest definition of that term. Traditional singers, singer-songwriters, old established favourites and rising young stars make up the guest nights. In between guest nights, there are singers nights when anyone can get up to play a couple of songs and tunes: the quality of singers nights is such that some people prefer them to the guest nights. The format hasn't altered since the club was founded in 1965, and it has clearly passed the test of time.

Favourite pub: this has to be the Guest House in Union Street, Southport. Despite being a pubco tenancy, Gail the licensee consistently has up to 11 real ales on, which usually constitute a mixture of microbrewery offerings alongside more familiar regionals. This does mean that occasionally the selection is not especially exciting for lovers of microbrewery beers, but generally I'm more than happy with what's on offer; I don't know of any tenancy that can provide such a range. The pub itself is just over 100 years old, largely unaltered with wood-panelled walls and it hosts acoustic music nights on the first and third Mondays of each month.

Favourite pub in Liverpool is harder: the Ship and Mitre on Dale Street has an excellent range but suffers from a ill-judged 1960s refurbishment, while the Lion on Moorfields also has a good range and is an attractive mini-gin palace as well. The former pub hosts the Woody Guthrie Folk Club (last Thursday of the month), while the latter has my acoustic song session on the 2nd Thursday of the month.

Favourite beers: around the 4% mark, I'd mention Southport Golden Sands (4.0%) and Liverpool Organic 24 Carat Gold (4.2%). My favourite strong beer has to be Liverpool Organic Shipwreck, a 6.5% IPA. Honourable mentions go to two Wigan breweries: Prospect for consistently good beer and Allgates for its significant improvement. The formerly good Cains of Liverpool continues to be disappointing.

Best Beer Festival: for my money, the Wigan Beer Festival. Although it's in a sports hall with less atmosphere than the now redeveloped Wigan Pier venue, it makes up in so many other ways: much more extensive and interesting range of beers than before, ample seating for all, regular courtesy bus between the festival and the town centre, and it's friendly to boot. To any who still miss the old venue: the festival was outgrowing Wigan Pier even before it moved, and would have no chance of fitting in there now even if it were available. The National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester and the Southport Beer Festival also worth visiting.

Favourite Music Festival: this has to be Whitby Folk Week. I've been going since 1988 (with one year missed since). The setting of a beautiful old fishing town is unique with a good range of guests and events in various venues across the town, pub sessions for songs and tunes all over the town, frequent folk dancing in the streets, plus for me the annual Lunchtime Legends gig in the Elsinore, which has been a fixture of the folk week fringe since 1992. Also extremely good was Fairport Convention's Cropredy Festival, which had a completely different character: a big stage in a field with a succession of acts invited by Fairport throughout the weekend. Their big-name guests this year included Squeeze, Joan Armatrading, Bellowhead, Richard Thompson, The Saw Doctors, Dennis Locorriere, Big Country, Ashley Hutchings Morris On, and Richard Digance, plus a load of newer artists, most of whom I hadn't heard of but who were all pretty good.

Best non-folk gig: rock band Karnataka whom I saw in St Helens. Hint of progressive and hint of Goth, but mainly themselves. If you recall All About Eve, Karnataka are vaguely in that style. A seasoned band with good material and a lead singer, Hayley Griffiths, who has a beautiful voice.

Biggest disappointment of the year: being put on tablets in April for four weeks with no drinking for a month. During this period, I went to stay with my friend Geoff in London, but the expected pub crawls didn't materialise and the trip to Fullers Brewery was interesting but lost something with me on the wagon. I also opted out of a Wigan beer festival helpers' trip to Ulverston Brewery during this period, and I cut short my attendance at a friend's stag night once I'd had my fill of pub coffee.

Best apocalypse: 21 December, which was when the Mayans had supposedly foretold our doom.

Favourite blog: after this one? Too close to call!

All the best for 2013!

Beer range in Baron's Bar

I'd heard various reports that the beer range in the Baron's Bar (in the Scarisbrick Hotel on Lord Street, Southport) had diminished from nine to 2 or 3 after the takeover of the hotel by Britannia Hotels, so I decided to check this CAMRA award-winning bar for myself.  I went in yesterday afternoon and found every one of the 10 handpumps in operation.  The beers served were:

Flag and Turret (the house beer); Fullers ESB; Spitfire; Tetley Bitter; Black Sheep; Bishops Finger; Hobgoblin; Pedigree; and Old Hooky.  The 10th handpump as usual served Weston's Old Rosie cider.  For interest, the Fullers ESB, a 5.5% beer, was £2.60 a pint, rather less than the £3.70 I paid in London six months ago.

This range seems to concentrate on regional brewers rather than microbrewers, and can therefore be seen to be less imaginative; it'd be a pity if the Baron's stopped selling the local Southport beers altogether, but perhaps I'm drawing too many conclusions from one visit.  The good news is that all the handpumps are operating; a few more visits will show us whether in future the range will consist only of "the usual suspects", although if we're honest, a lot of real ale drinkers would be quite satisfied with the choice available yesterday. 

Local drinkers' concerns about the Baron's Bar after the takeover have been added to by Greene King's planned conversion of the Freshfield to a Hungry Horse (see post of 31 August), which will almost certainly mean the loss of the great range of beers that that pub currently offers; real ale fans have been worried we might be losing two good local real ale venues.  It just shows the truth of the cliché that you can't take anything for granted.

One other piece of news is that the Scarisbrick's new management have confirmed that they will honour the booking for the Sandgrounder Beer Festival (22 - 24 September) to take place in the hotel.

Our local beer

Paul Bardsley of Southport Brewery with a pint of Golden Sands

Over the last couple of days, I've been drinking our local Southport beers.  Breweries often have a house style, and brew their different beers within that style - Phoenix Brewery of Heywood is a good example.  The Southport beers tend to be golden in colour, dry and hoppy.  Golden Sands (4.0%) was the Champion Best Bitter at the Great British Beer Festival in 2009 and Sandgrounder (3.8%) has recently been on sale in Parliament.  On Friday I was drinking the Sandgrounder, although I don't tend to go for beers under 4%, and last night I finished the day of with a couple of pints of Natterjack (4.3%).

During yesterday afternoon, some of us from the local CAMRA branch took a group from the Chester branch around several of our good pubs:  the Baron's Bar, the Guest House, The Windmill, the Lakeside Inn (our pub of the year) and the Mason's.  The last was serving Robinson's Dizzy Blonde, which I prefer to the bitter, Unicorn; the pub is also very convenient for the station.  What surprised me during the chat was hearing some of our branch telling our guests that the only place you can get Southport beers regularly was the Baron's Bar.  I did of course put them right, as the Guest House usually has them on too, even though it is a tied house unlike the Baron's, and has frequently sold them ever since the brewery was launched in 2004.  I'd expect local CAMRA members to know better, but there you go.

The Southport press gets in a tizzy every so often, and did so again recently, because most local pubs can't put on the locally brewed beers owing to PubCo restrictions.  MPs can have our local award-winning Southport beers, the argument went recently, but not drinkers in Southport itself.  May I respectfully suggest to our local papers that the next time they decide to run that that story, they phone up a few of the PubCos concerned and ask them why not?  Spend half an hour or so on a little bit of investigative journalism?  Tell them that Southport beers usually sell well wherever they are put on, then print their excuses?  It might make interesting reading.  Besides, I really do doubt the PubCos subscribe to our local papers, so they won't actually see you fulminating against them.

While I'm waiting for pigs to fly, I'll just remind myself that we do have some very good beers brewed locally.  I think the Natterjack is my favourite, but they're all good.

Sandgrounder in Parliament

I've just noticed from our local free paper that the Southport Brewery has been asked to send some of its Sandgrounder Bitter (3.8%) to the Strangers Bar in the Houses of Parliament.  It was Southport MP, John Pugh, who suggested that the bar put it on as a guest ale; it's good to see our representative pushing local products, especially as Southport beers tend to be sold mostly around this area and are not usually seen in London.

My own visits to the Strangers Bar were years ago when I was taken there for a pint by whichever MP I had been lobbying - the late Eric Heffer on one memorable occasion.  I forget what the beers were, but they weren't real ales in those days.  However, I was slightly surprised on one visit when my MP host took me for a cup of tea, nice though it was to drink tea on the terrace with its wonderful view of the London waterfront.  And it was a nice sunny day.

Well done Southport Brewery.  Fingers crossed for a repeat order.

'Sandgrounder' is the local term for a native of Southport. Coming from Liverpool, I don't qualify.

LocAle - what is it?

LocAle is a CAMRA accreditation scheme to promote pubs that sell locally brewed real ale. At the CAMRA AGM in 2008 in Cardiff, the scheme was launched nationally at a seminar (or 'workshop' as we must now ludicrously call them) that I attended.   The theory goes like this: the scheme builds on a growing consumer demand for quality local produce and an increased awareness of green issues. Everyone benefits from local pubs stocking locally brewed real ale because:

• Public houses, as stocking local real ales can increase pub visits.
• Customers who enjoy greater beer choice and diversity.
• Local brewers who gain from increased sales.
• The local economy because more money is spent and retained locally.
• The environment due to fewer ‘beer miles' resulting in less road congestion and pollution, i.e. reduced carbon dray print.
• Tourism, due to an increased sense of local identity and pride - let's celebrate what makes our locality different.

I have noticed that locally produced beers tend to be particular popular: Southport beers always go down well around here and local drinkers are proud of their local brewery. Even some people who don't drink real ale are pleased it's there and doing well ~ local pride isn't dead.

The local CAMRA branch defines LocAle as beer brewed up to 35 miles away from the point of sale. Any pub that always serves beer brewed within that limit is entitled to accreditation, with posters and window stickers to tell customers that they support local breweries. Here are the local pubs accredited so far:

1. Barons Bar (Scarisbrick Hotel), Lord Street, Southport.
2. Formby Conservative Club, Three Tuns Lane, Formby.
3. Guest House, Union Street, Southport.
4. Hop Vine, Liverpool Road North, Burscough.
5. Prince Albert, Wigan Road, Westhead.
6. Scarisbrick Arms, Black a Moor Lane, Downholland.
7. Ship Inn, Rosemary Lane, Haskayne.
8. Slipway, Crabtree Lane, Burscough.
9. Volunteer, Eastbank Street, Southport.

See? In the interests of fairness, I even mentioned the Tory Club on this blog! I've been reliably told it's very nice inside. If more pubs are awarded LocAle, I'll let you know.

The Richmond Pub

I met my friend Steve in Liverpool after we'd both attended the commemoration on 11th November in the Peace Garden in Liverpool. Naturally the word 'pint' sprang to mind. Chatting over a beer in the Ship and Mitre on Dale Street, we found that neither of us had ever been to the Richmond, a real ale pub in the heart of the city centre, so off we went.

The Richmond is on Williamson Street, which is close to Williamson Square. It is a small, narrow pub with an outside seating area where hardy smokers were ensconced. It was advertising beer at £2 a pint, with Everards beacon at £1.60, so definitely worth trying.

The beers on were: Moorhouses Pendlewitch, Draught Bass, Southport Golden Sands, George Wright Drunken Duck and Harviestoun Hoptober Festival. I was pleasantly surprised to see local brews there, including the award-winning Southport beer. Erdinger wheat beer was also on, and the pub boasted a wide choice of Scotch whisky. I thought all of this was quite impressive for such a small pub. As I walked in, I noticed and chatted to some fellow drinkers from Southport who were out on their weekly pub-crawl in Liverpool.

The beers we had were all perfectly fine, including the Everards, and its central location makes it very convenient to drown those city centre shopping blues. Its support of local breweries is a good reason to visit, and the pub advert makes it clear that this is policy, not just a happy chance when we visited.

Another to add to the long list of Liverpool pubs worth visiting.

Beer and music at the Ship Inn

Last night I went to the Ship Inn, Rosemary Lane, Haskayne, for the folk night. The pub is on the Leeds-Liverpool canal and is reputed to be one of the oldest canal-side pubs in the country, dating back to 1787, although it has been extended a few times over the years. It has outside seating areas where you can have a drink and watch the barges go by in summer.

In the singaround, there was as usual a variety of songs and tunes, including songs by Mike Harding, Allan Taylor, Christy Moore, Paul Simon and the Beatles. A couple of hornpipes, one or two Lancashire songs and a gospel song all added to the variety. As it’s a friendly and welcoming singaround, it’s less intimidating for an inexperienced performer than, say, an open mike night. An enjoyable music evening.

There are two George Wright beers brewed specially for the pub: Ship Ahoy, a pleasant light beer, which they’ve had on for a while, and a new porter called Dark Side Of The Ship. Paul said it needs further tweaking, but I found it very drinkable for a dark beer and stuck with it most of the night. Both are 4.1%. The other beer was Southport Carousel (4.0%), completing a good selection. Paul told me the Ship Ahoy is very popular: he sells 5 or 6 nine-gallon casks per week. The pub has a fourth beer on in summer, a changing guest, and they hope to hold a beer festival next year.

As well as the folk night every Thursday, there is an open mike night every Friday, and on 11 November, the Britannia Bluegrass Band played the first of a weekly spot at the pub on Wednesdays.

So there is live music three times per week and at least three good real ales on, plus they also do food. If you like live music and/or real ale, this pub is well worth a visit.
(Postcode: L39 7JP)

I took the picture while on a barge near the Ship to show the surrounding countryside.

Beer festival success ~ but where next year?

The Southport beer festival ended on Saturday night practically sold out. Contrary to the Southport Drinker’s predictions, it did not consist solely of lone males morosely sipping solitary pints. There were plenty of young women around for the (I thought happily married) SD to gaze upon. Selling out was a vast improvement on 2008 when some perfectly good beer had to be poured away, the result of a beer festival in the Fylde clashing with ours.

The Southport Brewery’s Golden Sands was voted beer of the festival by the customers. This is yet another award for an excellent local beer.

Our local MP, John Pugh, who is himself a lover of real ale, came along on Thursday to present the CAMRA Branch awards.

Pubs of excellence: Guest House, Union Street; Baron’s Bar, Lord Street; Derby Arms, Aughton; Queens Head, Ormskirk; Sir Henry Segrave, Lord Street.
Best country pub: Ship, Haskayne.
Best community pub: Volunteer, Eastbank Street.
Most innovative licensee: Adrian Davies, Falstaff, King Street.

The big question now is where the next year’s festival will be held, seeing that the Arts Centre is going to be closed for a ridiculous two and a half years by our philistine local council, who are unable to see the damage that completely closing down our town’s cultural facilities for such a long period of time will cause. But the local CAMRA Branch is determined that the festival will go ahead.

PubCos Won't Stock Local Beer

Shock story in local press!!

Southport's Midweek Visiter has published a front page article on how Pub Companies won't allow their pubs to stock the award winning local beer, Golden Sands. It may be the top Best Bitter in the land, but PubCos don't want to know. While I welcome the Visiter publicising this real problem, I was disappointed to see that they hadn't attempted any investigative journalism by phoning a PubCo or two to ask them for an explanation.

But, to be fair, the Visiter did list venues where Southport Brewery beers are often on: the Guest House [Union Street], the Baron's Bar [Lord Street], Southport FC, Southport & Birkdale Cricket Club, Ainsdale Sports Club and Ainsdale Tory Club. You will notice there are more clubs in this list than pubs.

More generally, CAMRA recently exercised its 'super-complainant' status to require the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) urgently to look at practices in the UK pub market that cause high prices, restricted choice and pub closures. CAMRA wants tied pub licensees to be able to sell a guest real ale of their choice, not just those in the PubCos' own portfolio. If this were accepted, local pubs that wanted to sell our local beers would be legally allowed to do so.

Golden Sands at the Guest House

I went to the Guest House last night and saw the prize-winning Golden Sands was on. It is golden as the name suggests and quite a dry-tasting beer ~ definitely moreish. Word has got around about the beer's award at the Great British Beer Festival and it was disappearing quickly. I stuck with it all evening.

I received an e-mail today from Paul Bardsley, owner of Southport Brewery, asking me what he had won; he didn't know as he is New Zealand on holiday. Naturally I told him straight away and forwarded him a link to an article in the Southport Visiter about the award. The article also mentions the Lancashire Heroes off licence on Shakespeare Street run by brother John Bardsley and the new Inn Beer Shop on Lord Street run by another brother, Pete Bardsley. Quite an alcoholic dynasty.

Someone sent me a mistyped e-mail arranging to meet me in the Guest House, so my friend Pete has appropriately photoshopped the pub's sign.

Southport Brewery wins Great British Beer Festival Award

I have just heard that Southport Brewery's Golden Sands has won the Gold in the Best Bitter category at CAMRA's Great British Beer Festival in Earls Court, London, the biggest beer festival in Britain.

This is a fine accolade for a beer that I have loved since I first tasted it. Congratulations to Paul Bardsley for this tremendous achievement. Southport beers just seem to go down well wherever they're sold: for example, Golden Sands was the first to sell out at the Wigan Beer Festival, as I reported in March this year. No holidays for Paul and Elaine for the next few months, I suspect...

Post script: for a complete list all of the winners, go to the CAMRA website.

Falstaff and Golden Sands Mentioned at Westminster

In a debate at Westminster recently, Southport's MP, Dr John Pugh, mentioned the Falstaff Inn and the Southport Brewery's Golden Sands winning of the SIBA North West Champion Beer award. He was calling for the Government to take action over PubCos which are contributing to the large number of pub closures by their restrictive and - frankly - suicidal practices. Click here for a clip of what he said. For the full speech and a transcript, click here. It is good to see that our MP taking this matter seriously, especially as perusal of other beer blogs has convinced me that many MPs don't. But then, why should they bother when we taxpayers subsidise their booze?