Yikes! It seems Churchills pub here in the island's premier town will be the venue for an interesting social experiment this Saturday - a cider festival/comedy music gig! The guzzlefest is courtesy of those splendid chaps at Thanet CAMRA, who organise the wobbly knees-up at the Mike and Bernie Winter Gardens each Easter, while the gigglefest will be provided by Ramsgate's new purveyors of comedy and music, Tropical Robots.Tropical Robots are promising 'an eccentric Birmingham 8 piece' called Misty's Big Adventure, featuring a 7 foot, rubber clad dancer called Erotic Volvo. Just the ticket after you've knocked back the 50 ciders and perries, and 'cider-related food' that'll be on offer!
Click here to go to Cider Festival website
Click here to go to Tropical Robots MySpace
Click here to go to Misty's Big Adventure MySpace
This article has been approved by the Politburo.
24 comments:
I'm shocked that Pete is allowing them over the threshold. I was in there on Friday sampling his extensive range of impeccably kept real ales and he told me that CAMRA has taken him out of their guide. Apparently they have some stupid rule about not allowing a pub to be in their guide for the first year after a new landlord takes over. So, when the beer was rubbish they were happy to include it in the guide, but when it was dramatically improved they took the pub. Some guide that must be.
Why is it a stupid rule?
You don't appear to give any valid reason for your statement.
The rule is a little more involved than you describe and only really applies if the new landlord/manager has not previously been included in the guide.
I'd say it's a reasonable rule which gives a chance for a landlord/manager to be assesed before recommending them to the public, as this is a 'guide' and not just a list of pubs. Or do you really think their recommendation should be based on a couple of quick swigs of the beer they are offering?
FYI, their previous problem with their beer was due to a technical fault that was misdiagnosed by a company which was employed to correct it.
Thanet CAMRA was in liason with Churchill's at the time and efforts were being made to rectify the matter. The problem was resolved in time for last year's guide entry deadline. Had it not been, they most certainly wouldn't have been included.
To clarify your mistake over timing, 5:16, the quality of their ales was brought back to a high standard several months before new management took over, and has been maintained since. Not, as you imply, corrected by the new management.
The reason that we're being 'allowed over the threshold' is because all of this was discussed with management at Churchill's and the situation fully understood by all involved. Hopefully this explanation will go some way towards extending that understanding to those who weren't involved in those discussions.
So, in summary, yes it's a good guide. A guide which has been developed over the last three and a half decades, in an effort to provide an informed overview of public houses that a dedicated group of people have assesed and found worthy of recommendation to others.
To break any of the rules that have been developed to keep this guide as objective as possible would negate that objectivity and make the whole thing farcical, surely.
The Guide is as sucessful and popular as it is because of these rules and guidelines, not despite them!
Look forward to seeing you and your friends at the weekend to celebrate the recent apple and pear harvest, where we'd be happy to debate any issues that you may still have.
Who knows, you may even feel that you'd like to become more involved?
"To clarify your mistake over timing, 5:16, the quality of their ales was brought back to a high standard several months before new management took over, and has been maintained since."
No mistake matey. The beer was a disaster until Pete took over. I think it's a bit arrogant for CAMRA to be telling the regulars when things got better. And for the record, it's a free country and I still think it's a stupid rule.
I think they're right about that dood. The beer did get a lot better quite a while before Pete took over. Looks like you're the one being arrogant.
I've also, as well as my friends, had a few dodgy pints since. One that I had last weekend smelled like pond water and was flat as a pancake.
To be honest, I'd rather drink up the road in the arty. Better company, better beer and only half the staff are brain-dead numptys rather than all of them!
I saw someone a couple of weeks ago get a pint plonked in front of them in chuchills that looked like it had strings of snot in it. You should have seen the look on the blokes face, it was a picture. The girl that served him was oblivious that there was any problem.
That was the last time I drank there.
I prefer Stella.
"I saw someone a couple of weeks ago get a pint plonked in front of them in chuchills that looked like it had strings of snot in it."
I those clever CAMRA chappies had it all sorted out? I'd better steer well clear of that place. Nothing slides down the palkate worse than a string of snot.
Unless it happens on a regular basis, I saw that string of snot pint too.
It was a simple mistake on the barstaff's behalf when she drew the first pint straight from a cask in the cellar and took it to a customer. Often, the first pint will have sediment that has settled onto the tap. It was simply rectified by throwing it away and pouring another one.
Still shouldn't have happened though!
Can reporting the facts as observed be arrogant? For the sake of truth, hopefully not!
It's a shame that you feel that way 5:16, as we simply see ourselves as a group of like-minded people who, feeling a little pressured into drinking sub-standard beer over the years, have committed ourselves to campaigning for something better.
We work hard to demonstrate this to people who, we feel, have had the wool pulled over their eyes with marketing 'tricks' to make them drink mass produced products, by putting together the Easter Beer Festival, and now a cider festival.
All of this work is voluntary, though a great deal of reward is gained from positive feed-back an the indication that popular opinion is being swayed towards 'choosing' a far superior (and mostly cheaper) product.
Agreed, we live in a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Though that opinion will often be meaningless to anyone else, and not really worth stating, unless it's accompanied by some kind of explanation or practical demonstration.
Would you care to share with everyone why you feel that this guide rule is stupid?
Anyhow, we have a busy day ahead and sincerely hope that you will pop along to make it worthwhile for us and have a good time for yourself.
In my opinion, the rule is stupid because it means that the CAMRA guide book can omit to list a Public House which was previously included, and where the quality of beer has actually improved. I hope the motion to get rid of this stupid rule will be passed. I am a member of CAMRA and so, I am somewhat offended to be told that my views don't count.
CAMRA is an organization that points people in the direction of a decent pint of beer. It shouldn't be in the business of rubbishing other people's opinions.
Bloody hell mate, you do go on don't you!
Sounds to me like what these camera people say makes sense. All you seem to be doing is picking holes in everything they say.
You finally give a reason (albeit a piss-poor one) for your initial statement and then slate them for saying it doesn't count, even though you've only just given it.
People like you would be offended if someone offered you their place in a queue!
Idiot!
To be honest, even though I don't drink beer, I'm thinking of joining them just to cut down on the ratio of berks like you.
Oh dear, someone's throwing his toys out of the pram.
i thought the cider festival was well put together i had some nice samples and i don't reallly like cider. That band mistys big adventure were bloody amazing.Best band that i've ever seen down at Churchills
Rich P
Do they really think they can throw us off the scent by spelling CAMRA as camera? I know a beardy-weirdy when I see one and it doesn't get much weirder than omitting Churchills from a Good Beer Guide. Repent, ye bearded freaks.
Dear 5:16, this appears to be getting us nowhere. If you have a complaint or suggestion for improvement, do come along to our next branch meeting (click on the name for our site link, for details) where we can work towards better explaining or resolving matters.
As a CAMRA member you've taken the first step towards an active role in campaigning, why not take it one step further.
I'm afraid you may be in for a disappointment with the beards, as only one of us has one and it's not a particularly good one, at that.
Thanks for the kind words Rich P. Quite a few people commented that, though they didn't normally drink cider, they enjoyed what they drank.
It doesn't have to be a load of B*lmers, does it? :-)
It was a typo pal, that's all.
But it does highlight what I said about you picking holes in everything someone says.
It's quite obvious that you do so because your argument is so weak that all you can do is try and distract away from it, rather than defend it.
And to quote one of your pathetic arguments, "It's a free country and I still think you're an idiot".
"As a CAMRA member you've taken the first step towards an active role in campaigning, why not take it one step further."
I've been a CAMRA member (off and on)for thirty years sonny. Don't patronise me.
Here we go then. I had a feeling this was working towards the 'pensioner can't be wrong' speech!
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't it the elders who believed the Earth was flat, and young blood that demonstrated it wasn't?
Pull your head out of your backside, wrinkly, and try to stick to the point!
In the meantime I'll ammend my previous statement to 'old idiot'.
At eighteen years old he told his parents that he was now an adult and they couldn't tell him what to do. He was leaving their pathetic shack to live in a shiny new apartment overlooking the river. They couldn't tell him not to take out an endowment, they couldn't warn him against having twenty credit cards and they couldn't tell him not to buy BMW on H.P. Most of all, they couldn't tell him what constituted a decent pint of beer. He knew it all and those old idiots knew nothing.
When the crash came and he found himself on the streets the kid knew exactly who to blame:
"It's you wrinkly old idiots who have stolen my money and ruined the economy" he said.
His parents sighed:
"He may be old enough to drink beer, but how long will it be until he grows up?" they mused.
"Not until Churchills is restored to the Good Beer Guide," came a voice from the heavens.
It does seem as if the beardies who have been posting on behalf of CAMRA are a bit far up their own *rseh*les. Churchills serves a fabulous range of well-kept real ales and is serving wonderful food as well. It clearly deserves to be in the guide.
They aren't lying. They aren't beardies:
http://www.thanet-camra.org.uk/
I would whole heartedly disagree 8:58. I haven't had a decent pint in Churchills since Sarah left, and the food has been rubbish since they sacked her weedy, blubbering ex-boyfriend.
The place has gone to the dogs!
Oh dear. I thought those clever CAMRA chappies said it had all been sorted out.
"..the quality of their ales was brought back to a high standard several months before new management took over, and has been maintained since."
Hard to believe there's a Sarah fan though. Shouldn't you be down Miles's?
You lot talk some old crap, don't you!
The only thing that makes that place, has ever made that place, is the people that drink there.
They've never had the first clue as to what they're doing behind the bar, whoever has been pretending to be in charge.
Camra say what they say, I assume, because they care about something, even if they don't really understand it. Hats off to the weirdos for that.
The brain-dead zombie that started this thread off seems to be saying what he/she says just to irritate and for no other reason. Get a life saddo!
As for everyone else, if indeed there is anyone else, I've been watching this pointless thread grow like a little tumor. How bored are you, for God's sake?
That'll be my take on things!
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