News & Features

Nominations from CAMRA members are required for entrants into the North West Champion Beer of Britain competition.

The winners from this area competition are put forward as finalists to the national Champion Beer of Britain competition at the Great British Beer Festival and the National Winter Ales Festival.

There are 11 categories for the competition Milds; Bitter; Best Bitters; Strong Bitters; Golden Ales; Specialiity Beers; Old Ales and Strong Milds; Porters; Stouts; Barley Wines and Strong Old Ales; and Real Ales in a Bottle and you  can nominate up to five beers, in order of preference, in each.

There are plenty in there to choose from and if you don't want to vote in a particular category, you don't have to.

You ONLY have until the 30 November 2014 to vote, so login to

http://www.cbobvoting.org.uk/login.asp

using your membership number and the password from www.camra.org.uk then select your favourites.

If you change you mind, no problems, you can go back any time before the closing date and update your choices.

Altrincham's Orange Tree re-opened on October 8th. As reported previously, the pub has been taken over by Chris Clish who has overseen the  revival of Chorlton's Beech Inn. Chris has gone into partnership with Gabrielle Burns-Smith, formerly his manager at The Beech Inn and  her partner James Dainty to take the lease of the Enterprise Inns pub. The pub has undergone an extensive refurbishment lasting two  months and is now a much smarter affair than it was previously.

Externally the rather garish orange colour scheme has been replaced with a much more subdued green while internally the is a mix of  stripped brick walls and plain grey plaster. On entering the pub, seven handpumps flank the corner of the bar in front of you. Five  dispense real ale with two given over to cider. Three regular ales are Landlord, Copper Dragon Golden Pippin Thwaites Wainwright while when the branch's Altrincham Market social called on October 17th, the guests were Dorset's Otter Amber & Rudgate Ruby Mild. Gabby told us that their is an eighth  line installed but they are physically struggling to fit the pump in. She also told us that while none was available on our visit, they  will be aiming to have at least one local brew available - beers from Mobberley Fine Ales have been going well and they also had  Beartown in the cellar.

Chorlton-cum-Hardy now has an incredible 25 pubs & bars serving real ale. The latest addition to the area is The Shak which opened in October on the same part of the Wilbraham Road strip as Mono & The Bar. The Shak is a first venture into the bar world for manager &  co-owner Francesca Duffy who has opened the bar with two sleeping partners having come back to the UK after a period living in Dubai.

The bar has been fitted out in a modern style with the walls a mixture of neutral grey / green and stripped wood cladding and panels. A  giant print of a forest scene adorns the wall to the right of the entrance. The bar is to the rear of the raised area which forms the  left hand side of the bar. Although initially opening with two handpumps, a third was added after the success of ale sale on the opening weekend in October.

King George (Hale)

July's closure of the King George on Moss Lane on the Altrincham / Hale border (near to Altrincham FC) was short lived with  new management in the form of Emma & John taking over on 21st July. As well as a brand new menu, other additions to the pub's offer include a regular Wednesday poker night, Thursday quiz and a range of other entertainments include a psychic night on 28th October

Follow events on their facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/100005638157679

Bird I'The Hand (Flixton)

Flixton has a new real ale outlet with new handpumps installed at The Bird I'The Hand on Flixton Road by the new management of Darren Shaw & Chris Gates who took over management of the pub in mid August. They have also launched a facebook page to keep locals updated with events - www.facebook.com/thebirdithhand

Royal Oak (Chorlton)

There is a new (old) name on the real ale scene with three handpumps installed at The Royal Oak. One is a modern illuminated font for Greene King IPA (not surprising as they own the pub) while two traditional pumps were reported vacant when first noticed. It's a couple of years since the Royal Oak last flirted with real ale - something which ultimately proved fruitless with slow sales leading to reports of poor quality and ultimately the removal of the ale. There's new management at the pub since then so we hope that this time they will be more successful at introducing their customers to the great flavours of well kept cask conditioned ale.

Marble Beer House (Chorlton)

Although it was a pioneer of the Chorlton bar scene, in recent times the Marble Beer House has lagged behind as newer bars with kitchens were able to offer a food menu alongside their beers. Now, their sister pub The Marble Arch has come to the rescue with a range of snacks & ploughman's options made at the renowned Rochdale Road pub & restaurant but available at the Beer House. The range includes Marble's own take on the scotch egg served with choice of chutney or piccalilli, pork pies, home made pork scratchings and classic pickled eggs.

Any further information on the pubs above or news of changes at any other pubs can be sent to inventory (at) thcamra.org.uk