A more than adequate replacement

Wigan Central

I'd been arranging a trip for some friends to the CAMRA Bolton Beer Festival this Saturday when someone pointed out to me that there is a problem with the trains that weekend. When I checked the train times on National Rail Enquiries about 10 days ago, no problems were reported.

Looking again yesterday, I see that the trains will be going past Bolton to Manchester, after which you need to get off and catch the train back to Bolton, thus adding an hour to the 45-minute journey - each way. Needless to say, I've called that trip off as I've no wish to spend 3.5 hours travelling to and from a beer festival that's less than 30 miles away.

Instead I've suggested we go to the excellent Wigan Central, Wigan CAMRA's Pub of the Year and a finalist in the CAMRA National Pub of the Year competition, which should be good. A more than satisfactory replacement trip, I feel.

I wrote about this pub in our local paper (and on this blog) in May 2016.

30th Wigan Beer Festival

The Wigan pieman celebrates his 30th

I returned to Southport yesterday after working for two days at the 30th Wigan Beer Festival. My first task was on the judging panel to help choose the beers of the festival, and then I was mainly on the doors. As always, I enjoyed my time volunteering there.

The funny thing about working at a beer festival is that you seem to end up drinking rather less than you might expect, considering the amount of time you're in there, mainly because the beer is an adjunct to the task you've been assigned.

How busy you are varies, sometimes with extreme peaks and troughs. On the admissions door at Wigan, we had periods of relative quiet punctuated by frantic activity each time the bus came in from Wigan town centre. As the festival venue, a sports hall, is more than a mile from Wigan town centre, the local bus preservation trust provides a free bus service to and from the festival (voluntary donations are encouraged towards their costs).

I think I've commented before that Wigan seems to attract a more diverse range of drinkers than most festivals I've been to, with groups of young women coming in without males in tow, which I've found to be less common elsewhere. Okay, the gender balance is still skewed towards men, but it's still noticeably different. Contrary to some people's expectations, they don't all gravitate towards the cider and perry bar. The DW Stadium is just across the road, so we had a large number of rugby fans, male and female, both before and after the match to add to the mix.

I didn't get to try very many beers, but of those I did try, I found that Waimea, a 5.2% single hop IPA from Manchester's Blackjack Brewery particularly suited me. I don't know how it's pronounced, but my guess is 'why me'.

I find the Wigan festival is a very friendly one, both the other volunteers and the public. Looking forward to next year already.

Wigan Central - Wigan CAMRA's Pub of the Year

Wigan Central -
click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Last Saturday, I joined the Southport and West Lancs CAMRA pub crawl of Wigan. We were shown around by Ken and Carol Worthington of Wigan CAMRA. There are some really good pubs there, and we ended up in Wigan Central where we were made welcome by Jo Whalley and her enthusiastic and helpful team. I've written this for the CAMRA page in the Southport Visiter:

Just yards from both of Wigan's railway stations is Wigan Central, situated in railway arches. This bar aims to provide good beers and ciders “from across the region and beyond”. Named after a long-closed railway station, it is decorated in British Railways livery and along one wall there are train seats with overhead luggage racks. Electronic screens show the train arrivals and departures in the nearby stations. Another similar screen shows which beers are likely to depart soon as the casks run out, and what their replacement new arrivals will be.

The Beer Library

Seven real ales and four craft ciders are always available. When we visited, the beers were: Brass Castle Brewery Loco Stock Bitter, Deep Vale American Pale Ale, Prospect Nutty Slack, Prospect Totem, Seven Brothers Stout Porter, Torrside Brewing Katakana and Vocation Brewery Bread & Butter, and while we were there, a couple of these ran out and were replaced by different beers. The Beer Library gives drinkers a choice of more than 120 bottled beers. All of our party were very happy with the choice and quality of our drinks, as you'd expect in CAMRA Wigan Branch's Pub of the Year for 2016.

The new second room

They have just taken over a second arch, and this opened last weekend. This too is in a railway style, but also has a stage for the live music they put in every Sunday from 2.30pm. Other regular events are a quiz every Monday and a beer club on the last Tuesday of each month. Children and dogs are welcome, and they offer free WiFi.

Opening hours:
Monday to Thursday 12:00 to 23:00; Friday 12:00 to midnight;
Saturday 11:00 to midnight; Sunday 12:00 to 22:30.
You'll find it at: Arch No. 1, Queen Street, Wigan, WN3 4DY.
Tel: 01942 246425.
Website: www.wigancentral.bar. They are also on Facebook.

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.

Clock watching

After spending the day at Wigan beer festival recently, I had about half an hour to kill before the last train home, so I decided to cross the road and go to the Berkeley on Wallgate. I strolled to the bar and waited while the barman wandered around collecting glasses. After a minute or two, he approached me.

"We've stopped serving," he said. It was about 10.40pm.
"You close before 11 o' clock?" I asked surprised, as the pub advertises that it's open until 11.00pm during the week.
"I went round and asked everyone and no one wanted any more, so I closed the bar."
I think I just said, "I see", and left. There's little point in doing anything else.

I wrote about early closing last August after a visit at 9.45pm to the Falstaff in Southport where I was told by the barman that the licensee wanted to close at 10.00pm, a full hour early. I walked out and haven't been back there since. Apart from the prospect of a slightly early finish and perhaps a small monetary saving, I don't see what is gained by closing early: if a shop or a café has only a few customers, they don't close early. Annoy customers who roll up later in the evening and the chances are they won't come back, and you'll then lose rather more than small amount of staff wages and electricity costs saved. I'm certain that the Falstaff has in relation to my custom alone.

Not impressed.

Another Wigan Beer Festival over with!

I got back from the Wigan Beer Festival yesterday evening just in time to see Lizzie Nunnery's excellent set at the Bothy Folk Club. Wigan went well. As usual there was a good atmosphere, most of the beer disappeared, and there was a variety of bands on from folk bands playing the kind of well-known folk songs that seem to go down well at festivals (Wild Rover and the like), a rock covers band and a young grungy band with a vocalist clearly into Liam Gallagher.

As I've commented here before, Wigan is quite unusual in that it gets in a lot of young people on the Saturday night sessions, including groups of young women who have not come as partners of beer drinking males, but on their own. You'll therefore be faced with the sight of young women glammed up to the nines, tottering around on high heels clutching a pint glass with real ale or cider. I was on the door for a while, and quite a few of them turned their nose up at the half pint option. "We want pints!" they'd say mock-indignantly. You don't argue with Wigan women.

Several people came up to me and asked, "Are you RedNev?" It was nice that people are reading the blog, but I wondered how they knew it was me. Eventually I twigged: there's a picture of me on this blog - idiot! It was also good to bump into friends whom I don't meet very often nowadays. The beers I had were well-kept, and I heard no complaints from anybody about the others. And for the first year ever since the move to this sports hall, no one said to me that they preferred it in the old venue in Wigan Pier. That's good, because it means that this is now seen as the proper venue for the festival.

I'll check the beers of the festival and publish them below when I find out. While at the festival, I picked details of some beer festivals that, in the next day or so, I'll put on my beer festivals page, which needs updating, as does the events page.

P.S. Beers of the Festival

Light Beer Winners were :
Gold: Castle Rock Sweet Woodruff
Silver: Blakemere Cosmic
Bronze: Abbeydale Dr Mortons 'latest'

Dark Beer Winners :
Gold: Binghams Ginger Doodle Stout
Silver: Blackedge Black Port
Bronze: City of Cambridge Atom Splitter

Wigan Beer Festival 2013

The CAMRA Wigan Beer Festival takes place this coming weekend from 28 February to 2 March. It's free to CAMRA members at all times. As the festival is at Robin Park Sports Centre, opposite the DW (former JJB) Stadium, a special courtesy bus service runs between the festival and the Anvil pub in Wigan town centre, close to both the bus and railway stations. 

Opening times and non-member charges are:

Thursday		17.30 to 23.00		£2.00 all day
Friday		12.00 to 23.00		£1.00 before 17.30 - £3 after
Saturday		11.30 to 23.00		£2.00 all day

Members: don't forget your card.

71 real ales had been confirmed earlier this week. Details of the beer list, cider and perry list, foreign beers, bus times, and everything else you need to know are on the festival website. There is music on most days, but those who prefer quiet sessions should come along on Friday between noon and 5.30 p.m. 

The gangster theme for the pie man logo is to mark the 80th anniversary of the ending in March 1933 of the American Prohibition, a benighted act that did a great deal to develop free enterprise in the USA. Unfortunately it was of the illegal kind; organised crime gained a major hold on the American economy and politics that still hasn't gone away. Oh, the old Law of Unintended Consequences again! British anti-alcohol campaigners, please note.

I'll be working there throughout the festival, so if you see me, come and say hello.

Anthony John Clarke in concert at the Orwell

Popular singer-songwriter Anthony John Clarke is playing a fundraising concert for the Wigan Diggers' Festival in the top function room (lift available) of the Orwell, Wigan Pier, 4 Wallgate, Wigan, WN3 4EU. The supporting acts are Pauline Blackburn, Laura Taylor (poet), Bob Kettle, and Joan Blackburn.

It takes place on Wednesday 27 February; doors open 7.30 p.m. for an 8.00 p.m. start. Tickets are £5, available initially at Wigan Folk Club. Enquiries: 07833 301336.

The Wigan Diggers' Festival celebrates the life and ideas of Wigan born and bred Gerrard Winstanley and the 17th Century Diggers (True Leveller) Movement. It will take place on Saturday 7 September 2013.

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!

Robb Johnson goes to church

The Guardian says that singer-songwriter Robb Johnson is "an English original", and Radio 2's Mike Harding says "he's the real deal when it comes to song writing".

He will be performing the "Ghost of Love" seasonal song suite. You will hear of single mother Mary in "Fairy Tales in Feltham", and encounter the 3 wise social workers. You'll find out what Big Ears and Noddy are up to in "Father Christmas down Hounslow High Street". You will be reminded what this time of year is like for some in "Poundshop Christmas". There is a song to celebrate the mystery and wonder of "Magic Pockets" (and so much more). This will be the only North West performance by this supremely talented songwriter of a very special seasonal show with a difference.

He is appearing on Saturday 8 December at Wigan Parish Church, Crawford Street, Wigan, WN1 1NL. Tickets £10 in advance, £12.50 on the night. Further details/tickets from the event organiser Dave Cartlidge: e-mail dtcartlidge@gmail.com or phone 01942 824291. Real ale pubs close by.

Weekending In Wigan

I've just spent three days working at the Wigan Beer Festival and staying with my friends Ken and Carol, who help organise the event.  I've described this festival in previous years, and while it was run in much the same in the way, it does seem to be getting ever more popular.  One or two people still mourn the loss of the Wigan Pier site, but that venue was perhaps a quarter of the size of this one, and the festival was outgrowing it anyway, even before it was developed and put to different use.

The foreign beer bar was all draught, no bottles at all, and was handed over to the young CAMRA members to organise and run, as was the cider bar.  As Ken says, they are the future.  The foreign beer bar manager told me on Friday that he estimated that sales were up by 40% on the previous year.

Something always goes wrong.  At a peak moment on Saturday when the Wigan Athletic match across the road had just finished and the festival was filling up with thirsty football fans, the glass washing machine decided to give up the ghost, and a queue quickly backed up.  Fortunately there was another one in the centre's bar, which was brought into use after we reminded them that CAMRA had paid for the use of a glass washing machine, but for a short while the well-oiled machine came off its wheels.

What strikes me about Wigan is how many groups of young women, many very stylishly dressed for a night out, roll up in groups.  They aren't there with boyfriends and they aren't CAMRA members; often they know little about what's on sale, but they're prepared to give it a go.  I was asked a few times whether we had anything a bit like Fosters or Carling.  I just offer them a sample of a light-coloured beer which isn't too dry or hoppy; ones with a citrus tinge usually seem to do the trick.  All right, they won't go from there to seek out obscure microbreweries, and will probably revert to their usual drinks later, but on the other hand, they'll know that they can actually enjoy certain real ales.  And as they looked as though they having a good time, I expect they'll be back next year.  If they'd had to queue for hours for advance tickets on a cold winter's morning in - say, off the top of my head - November, none of them would have been there.  Wigan festival has a better gender balance than any other festival I've been to, and it's a fact that where the young women go, the young lads are likely to follow.  Advance ticketing would kill all that at a stroke: Wigan has no tickets, and yet one employee of the centre estimated that there were perhaps 1400 people there on Friday evening, proving that ticketless mass attendance can be achieved.

All in all, another successful festival at Wigan, which is definitely one of my personal favourites.

Wigan Beer Festival, 1 - 3 March ~ beer list

Robin Park Indoor Sports Centre, 

Loire Drive, Wigan, WN5 0UH.

For details of opening hours, prices*, and the CAMRA bus service between the town centre and the festival, see the website.

* CAMRA members get in free at all times; bring your membership card.

I enjoy this festival so much that I'll be working there throughout. Here's a link to the final beer list, which should help you build up that necessary thirst ...

ReARM Readers Offer ~ Wigan Beer Festival

The Wigan Beer Festival is becoming one of the main festivals in the North West.  It takes place this year from Thursday 1st to Saturday 3rd March in the Robin Park Indoor Sports Centre, Loire Drive, Wigan, WN5 0UH.  Full details on the Branch website here.  CAMRA members get in free throughout the festival, but once again, readers of this blog who aren't members can also get on free on Thursday evening with the leaflet below - just click on it, print it off and present it to the door staff at the festival to get free entry.  I'll be working at most of the festival, so I might see you there.


Right click on leaflet.
Select "open link in new window".
Print.

Wigan Real Ale Pub Map

I've just been sent a link by Ken Worthington of Wigan CAMRA to an interactive map he's put together of real ale pubs in Wigan town centre ~ you can see it here.  I like Wigan pubs and have visited many of those listed; Wigan is of course convenient for many towns, including Southport where I live, with train routes in all directions.  Pictured is the Swan and Railway, close to both railway stations.

There are 18 pubs listed at the moment and Ken tells me the map's still being developed.  If you click on a pub name in the list to the left of the map, you are given the location and details of that pub.  I've saved the link in both my beer links list and on my pub crawl page.

The Pitmen Poets, Wigan

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

Friday the 14th October will see a rare line-up of four of the North East's most popular folk singers and song writers for a special concert to celebrate the coal mining traditions of their region.  Billy Mitchell, Bob Fox, Benny Graham and Jez Lowe, under the collective name of the Pitmen Poets, will be playing at Wigan Parish Church from 8pm (there's no support act) with doors at 7.15 pm.  I'm posting this more in advance than I usually would as I've been told tickets are going fast.  They cost £15 in advance and £17 on the night. Phone 01942 824291 or e-mail for tickets and further details.

The church is on Crawford St, Wigan, WN1 1NL, about 5 minutes' walk from the railway stations and close to the bus station. I understand wine is available in the venue, and I know that there are several good real ale pubs just a few minutes' walk away (click here).

When Jones's ale was new, me boys ...

A new brewery near Wigan: Jones Brewery, set up by Neil Jones, who's had 20 years experience of the brewing industry.  Ken Worthington of Wigan CAMRA told me about this, and I get the impression they knew nothing about it until it was up and running.  The brewery is in Haigh (pronounced 'hay', I believe), which is North West of Wigan.  I hadn't heard of Haigh, but it does look very small; it doesn't even appear in my road atlas.

Their normal range consists of a dark bitter, a stout and a pale ale, with a seasonal winter warmer and the intention to brew other seasonal beers.  I'm looking forward to trying their beers out, perhaps on one of my visits to Wigan.

The title of this post is explained here!

Chris While, Kellie While & Julie Matthews in Wigan

On Friday 17 June, there is a special fundraising concert at Wigan Parish Church:  a concert featuring Chris While, Kellie While, Julie Matthews, with support from Ruth Angell and Becky Mills.  Chris, Kellie and Julie are talents in their own right and have performed solo, in duos with each other, and have all been in the Albion Band, although not at the same time.  They have appeared at the Bothy Folk Club in Southport, and I recall getting them all to play for nothing at the Bold Arms Beer Festival in Churchtown many years ago.  I doubt I could pull that off now; not with their current standing in the acoustic music world, which is well-deserved as they are all formidable singing and songwriting talents.

Tickets:  £15 in advance; £17 on the night.  All profits to DIAS (Wigan Womens Refuge) and Manchester Domestic Violence Helpline. Contact 01942 824291 for tickets and further details.

The church is on Crawford St, Wigan, WN1 1NL, about 5 minutes' walk from the railway stations.  I understand wine is available in the venue, and I know that there several good real ale pubs only a couple of minutes' walk away.

Demo and a few pints

"By the time we got to Piccadilly, we were half a million strong..." as Joni Mitchell didn't quite sing. Unfortunately Chris and I had to leave the big demo there, as we couldn't get to Hyde Park and then return in time to catch our train back to the north. However we did get to Euston with over 30 minutes to spare, so we went into the Britannia in the station which had four real ales on: Fullers ESB and London Pride, Speckled Hen and I forget the fourth. ESB it was, but at an eye-watering £3.70 a pint. It was served in a special pint glass, which looked a bit like an oversized brandy glass, but okay when you got used to it. Full-flavoured and bitter without being astringent, it went down a treat. Pity we can't get it in Southport.

I had to change trains at Wigan, but we decided to have a couple of pints first. The John Bull Chop House, down a narrow alley off Market Place, is a local rock pub.  "Get It On" by T-Rex was playing on the juke box while we ordered our Thwaites Bomber, which was fine. Then to the Moon Under Water where I bought two Elgoods Thin Ice, using one Wetherspoons coupon for 50p off. The barmaid gave me the wrong change, so I began to point this out, but she and a colleague both cut me off, saying, "It's gone through the till and that's what came up." I replied, "Okay, but I thought you'd given me too much change." I went back and checked and she had.  Well, I tried...

Chris left to go home at this point so I went to have a pint in the Boulevard, a cellar bar that sometimes puts on live music.  After that, I caught my train to finish the night off in the Guest House in Southport with 3Bs Brewery Doff Cocker.  I was one of the last to drink up, and the landlady shouted at me: "Neville, you've still got a full pint!" 

"No, I haven't," I replied, "It's a short measure!"  But I drank up quickly anyway.  After a day of marching, and good beer in three towns, I had no trouble getting to sleep last night.

Wigan Beers of the Festival - corrected

Wigan Beer Festival chooses two beers of the festival - one light and one dark.  This year's festival took place from 3 to 5 March, and here are the festival beers as chosen by the customers:

• Light beer:  Blue Ball American IPA.
• Dark beer:  Prospect Pickaxe.

Blue Ball is from Runcorn, and Prospect from Standish.

P.S. 25 March:  I've corrected the info above after receiving an e-mail saying I'd been misinformed about the light ale winner.  Dark Star American IPA, which I was told was the light ale winner, wasn't even at the festival!

Triumph of the Pieman!

Before opening on Thursday

I arrived home just before midnight last night after another successful Wigan Beer Festival. I've worked at Wigan for many years now and have always enjoyed the friendly atmosphere.  The beer, as is usual with beer festivals, was in good condition, but when I'm working at a festival, I tend not to experiment very much - you are, after all, there to do a job.  In my case, I spent some time behind the bar, and on the doors. 

On Thursday, I was asked to help judge beers in the golden ales category of the regional bout of the Champion Beer of Britain competition.  I was sitting next to the Mayor of Wigan, Michael Winstanley, who joined CAMRA at last year's festival.  He was very cheerful and told me that not all his civic duties were as pleasant as this one, which I can well believe.  I gave him a copy of Ale & Hearty, our Southport CAMRA mag, so no doubt his joy will now be boundless.  A surprisingly varied bag of golden ales were served up to us, anonymised of course, and the results were:

A few hours later

1. Cumbrian Legendary Ale Loweswater Gold.
2. Southport Golden Sands.
3. George Wright Pure Blonde.

I was interested to see that my own first and second was the same as the final result.

I was struck by the number of young people present compared to some other festivals, including the presence of several all-women groups.  I didn't ask them, but I suspect that if they'd had to queue for tickets on a cold winter morning three months earlier, they wouldn't have been there.  Some went for the cider and perry bar or the foreign beers, but quite a fewwere trying the ales.

Beer running low on Saturday night

There was some good music on: jazz, rockabilly and a rock covers band on Saturday, and there was a Northern Soul night on Friday when I wasn't there.  Unfortunately the sound quality of the venue isn't good, but there's nothing that can be done about that, and it didn't seem to hinder the pleasure of those who wanted to listen.

On Saturday, some of my friends rolled up, so I spent a while having a chat to them.  By the evening the beer was running very low, although the festival didn't actually run out; I had been wondering whether it might.

As I reached Wigan Wallgate Station to catch the last train to Southport, there was a group of three policemen standing at the entrance.  As I approached, they looked me up and down and one said: "Wigan Beer Festival?" "Yes," I replied. "Thought so - I could tell by your nose!" at which the other two cracked up.

Told you - Wigan's friendly.

Wigan Beer Festival - ReARM readers' offer

After extensive negotiations over several months (okay, a five minute chat in the Lion Tavern in Liverpool), I have negotiated free entry for ReARM readers to the Wigan Beer Festival on Thursday.  Just click on the flyer below to enlarge it in a new window, print it off and present it at the door of the Wigan Beer Festival on Thursday evening to get in for nothing at all.  You will have to buy your own beer - my negotiation skills are good, but not that good.

I'm working there on Thursday, so I hope to see you there.  I'm also there on Saturday. Cheers!