October 2026.Morley. West Yorkshire.
There’s currently a lot of discussion on CAMRA’s Discourse about choosing Beer Guide entries. As usual Will Larter and Paul Mudge have a lot of sense to say on these weighty matters.
I always reckon the GBG gets it right the vast majority of the time, and on the few occasions a pub you think a pub should be in the Guide, and isn’t, there’s often a reasonable explanation.
So, for example, the Coopers Tavern in Burton has had a change of management, Sheffield’s Fargate opened less than a year ago, and Rye’s Ypres Castle has limited opening hours (discuss).
And then there’s brewery taps, where you might hope to get the freshest beer. Sometimes in, often not.
Richard had recommended the Truth Hurts tap 8 years ago and as it’s on the descent to Morley station I popped in for a quick half of the weak one but ended up with a pint of their Jen & Berry’s pastry stout (“Good choice, love that one !”).
£3.50 for a thick glass of (EXCELLENT) chewy milk stout in a classy bar with Wham! your soundtrack.
Baylis & Harding handwash! Told you it was posh.
A girl kisses her embarrassed boyfriend, there’s love and laughter and lager (Veltins).
It’s a gem.
The Miners Fisheries looked good too. How did I resist that ?
A steep descent to the station platform, past the memorial to the 1872 mining disaster.
And on the way home, I get chatting to two CAMRA folk from Leicester (Martin & Liam, I think) who have been on a pub crawl of Leeds.
Yes, they let me take a picture of their map. Leicester folk really are lovely.
Often wondered about this ‘change of management’ business. I emailed CAMRA about this back in 2013, when there was a bit of a hoo-hah about a local pub being dropped from the Guide. I received a reply from Emma Haines saying ‘There isn’t an actual rule that a pub should be deleted from the Guide on change of licensee’. Has this changed. After all, it is the Good Beer Guide not the Good Landlord Guide.
Tim in Belper
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There is no rule but a lot of branches have said they want to see if the new landlord maintains the standards of the departing one, as cellar management and ability to keep beer throughput up clearly affects beer quality.
Some will give the benefit of the doubt to a new landlord with a strong reputation e.g. one moving around Wetherspoons estate.
And different rules apply entirely to the Famous Five ever presents !
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Presumably if rules for the infamous “churn” (BRAPA’s term, not mine) had been applied, in strict observance of CAMRA’s guidelines, there wouldn’t be a “Famous Five”!
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Correct, though I think the Queen’s Head, Square & Compass and Roscoe Head have been in the same family ownership for most of that time.
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Paul, I think the “churn” was only used by certain branches in the belief that it was treating pubs fairly.
The Landlord was drinking well in my nearest of ‘the Famous Five’ last Sunday lunchtime.
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That sounds right.
Some branches are quite open about rotating entries, and a fair few appear in the Guide after a coach trip to less visited pubs.
As I always say on Discourse I think we (CAMRA) get it right the vast majority of the time.
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I’m guessing that pub was either the Dead Poets or Holly Bush !
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It was always a guideline, never a rule, and it made some sense when a licensee would have a pub for decades but that of course all changed with the chaos caused by the 1989 Beer Beer Orders.
.
“Leicester folk really are lovely” and get about a bit. Last Wednesday lunchtime a Leicestershire man said how good it was that he could get to Stafford and back for £6.30 – free on his bus pass to Nuneaton than a London NorthWestern return with his railcard. I replied that it works well for me in reverse for Atherstone.
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