News & Features

Flixton Conservative Club has been named CAMRA Greater Manchester Club Of The Year for the second year running. The club which is on the corner of Flixton Road and Chassen Road between Urmston & Flixton has retained the title it first took in 2015, beating off six other private members clubs from across CAMRA Greater Manchester's branches.

The club has been named Club Of The Year by Trafford & Hulme branch for four consecutive years and after winning the regional title, the club will now go forward to be judged against 15 other regional winners for the National Club Of The Year title.

Mystery shopper judges visited all the finalists over the summer, scoring each club on a range of attributes including the range and quality of beer & cider, customer service, warmth of welcome, and value for money. Judges praised Flixton Conservative Club for the devotion of its staff, the wide range of beers on offer and the warm welcome extended to non-member visitors.

Club stewards Nigel and Sharon Porter have transformed the beer range at the club from two real ales when they arrived five years ago to six on the bar at one time and the club is reaping the benefits with membership flourishing. Nigel said "Feedback I get from the committee is that many new members cite the beer as their main reason for joining the club with others stating that they come here because they find it a welcoming, safe and secure place to enjoy a good beer".

When is a keg not a keg? Real ale from key-kegs explained.

Back in April 2015, when delegates at CAMRA’s Members Weekend in Nottingham passed a motion about the labelling of “real ale in a key-keg”, many commentators saw it as a major step in CAMRA modernising and recognising what is popularly known as “craft keg”.

In fact, while the motion was the first to be passed by CAMRA’s highest body to positively recognise the sector, it actually came four years after CAMRA’s Technical Advisory Group first recognised that key-kegs can contain beer meeting CAMRA’s definition of real ale, a decision which followed trials held at The Great British Beer Festival. Even in a hall full of CAMRA activists in Nottingham, it was clear that many were unaware of CAMRA’s position nor what key-kegs are all about.

When CAMRA was established in 1971 it fought against a sweeping trend for what came to be known as “real-ale” being replaced by bland “keg” beers. Forty-four years later the word keg still has massive negative connotations for many CAMRA members with any beers associated with the “k” word being dismissed as “fizz”. However, what those pioneering members were really fighting against wasn’t the physical containers the beer was served from, it was the product in them which was made with low quality ingredients and universally filtered & pasteurised, killing so much of the flavour in the process.

On Saturday 30th July, Trafford & Hulme will team up with our neighbours in North Cheshire branch and Halton & Chester branch for a trip to explore the pubs of Huddersfield.

Details of the trip are:

10.11 DEPART Manchester Piccadilly. Arriving at Huddersfield at 10.46

11.00 WOOD ST CRAFT BEER HOUSE (WAS HDM BEER SHOP) : 4 changing (opens at 11.00)

Nearby VULCAN ? (opens at 09.00)

12.00 STAR (1 regular + 9 guest)

13.30 RAT & RATCHET (6 regular + 6 guest)

15.15 GROVE (4 regular + 15 guest

Optional stops:
COMMERCIAL (Sam Smiths - opens at 11.00)
BAR MAROX - New micro bar which opens at 16:00

17.00 SPORTSMAN (STATION) : 1 regular + 7 changing -

OPTIONAL - MAGIC ROCK BREWERY TAP

18.15 KING’S HEAD (STATION) : 4 regular + 6 guest

19.30 DEPART Huddersfield : Arrive Manchester Piccadilly 20.05

19.49 OPTIONAL - STALYBRIDGE STATION BUFFET BAR
20.50 Depart Stalybridge;  Arrive Manchester Piccadilly 21.05

Brewster Erin Guy has left her position as head brewer at the Joseph Holt owned Bootleg Brewery. She has joined the team at Stretford’s Sip Club, looking after everything to do with their beer offering, including brewing their own beer exclusively for the Sip Club. The first Sip ale was brewed on the pilot kit at Manchester’s Beer Nouveau in late June and went on sale at the Barton Road bar in July.

Further changes at the Sip Club have seen the bar relocated to make better use of the available space. A new full height window has been added where the bar used to be to improve ventilation. Changes are also planned to the cask cooling system to improve the quality of the real ale offering.

Over the road from the Sip Club, The Robin Hood is planning “Robinfest” , a live music and beer festival to take place over the Augusts bank holiday weekend. Further details will be available on their Facebook page