Licensee fumes over real ale omission
A Peterborough licensee is so angry at being left out of Camra's Good Beer Guide he is offering free food and drink to anyone who bins their copy of the book.
Richard Cleaver, licensee of the Bull & Swan Inn in Stamford will give food and drink to the cover price of the guide - £12.99.
Other than offering a free beard trimming and sandal cleaning service, I cannot possibly imagine what it is we have to do to please these people! Richard Cleaver, licensee of the Bull & Swan Inn
Cleaver cannot understand why his pub - which has Cask Marque accreditation and stocks a variety of real ales - is not in the list.
He said: "My wife Anne & I are at a complete loss to understand what could possibly cause us to be excluded, and feel that we are the victims of unfair treatment.
"We stock between five and six cask ales - four are regulars and we have carried ten different guest ales in the last twelve weeks alone.
"Our staff are instructed to allow customers freely to sample the cask ales before they purchase if they wish. Since we took over The Bull & Swan nearly three years ago the sales of cask ale have more than doubled - they now stand at 150 barrels - 5400 gallons - a year.
"If that is not proof that we serve good beer, I can't think what is!
"Other than offering a free beard trimming and sandal cleaning service, I cannot possibly imagine what it is we have to do to please these people!"
"I've been a real ale drinker since I was old enough to drink, and it has always been one of my ambitions to be the landlord of a pub which was listed in the good beer guide."
A spokesman for Camra said: "There are hundreds of new pub entries in the Good Beer Guide 2007 that have all been nominated by local CAMRA members for excellence in the quality of their real ale.
"Mr Cleaver is obviously passionate about his pub so I would suggest that he contact his local branch of CAMRA and if they see fit to nominate him maybe the Bull and Swan will be included in the 2008 edition of Britain's best real ale guide."
