26-May-2006 Cumbrian Times - Beating Last Orders
STILL GOING STRONG: Regulars enjoying drinks and food at The Old Crown in Hesket Newmarket this week. Landlord Lou Hogg says success is down to the reception, atmosphere, food and beer
It's a world of roaring log fires, real ale and good grub, drawing satisfied customers from near and far - Cumbria's best pubs are among the finest in the country. In the Lake District beautiful surroundings attract tourists and locals to good food and good beer, often made nearby at one of the increasing number of microbreweries.
The county is one of the UK's top regions for pub grub. The new edition of Camra's Good Pub Food lists a dozen inns across the county.
The Kirkstile Inn at Loweswater has just been named the best in the Border TV region and the Old Crown at Hesket Newmarket is one of only three to receive the Community Pub Award in another new pub guide.
But before we raise a glass to the good health and long life of the Cumbrian pub, we must consider some sobering statistics.
According to Camra (the Campaign for Real Ale) more than 3,000 pubs have closed around the UK in the past decade. In north Cumbria about 25 pubs - that's 10 per cent of the total - have called last orders for the final time since the turn of the decade.
Most of these have been either in Carlisle, where many new bars have sprung up in the city centre, or in remote communities far removed from the tourist hotspots of the Lakes.
Against this backdrop, star performers such as the Old Crown and the Kirkstile look like the jewels in a fading crown. So is the glass half full or half empty?
The British Beer and Pub Association represents about 34,000 of the UK's 60,000 pubs. Lee Le Clercq, the association's north of England secretary, told The Cumberland News that changing drinking habits had hit many pubs hard.
"Pubs are in decline because people are drinking at home more," he said. "The 2004 Household Survey showed that drinking in pubs fell by five per cent in the previous year. At the same time home consumption increased by nine per cent.
"Pubs in rural areas like Cumbria have also been hit by drink-driving laws. These destination pubs, which people have to travel to, had to decide whether they go for food or whether they close. Many of those that have been able to diversify have done very well. But those that lacked the ambience to do that have gone the other way.
LANERCOST: The Abbey Bridge Hotel
"Then we have community pubs in the suburbs, a bit like the Rovers Return. These have been around for a long time, serving their local community well. These are the pubs that are really going to suffer when the smoking ban comes in, although the smoking legislation will be good news for food pubs."
Phil Tuer, pub liaison officer for Camra's Solway branch, agrees that changing lifestyles have affected pubs in a variety of ways. "People are happy to stay at home and drink wine. Working men's clubs have suffered big style. In Carlisle several have closed down and a lot are struggling. Traditional working men's pubs are dying.
"I used to work in Workington, near the steelworks. At the end of a shift hundreds of men used to go to the pub and sink a few pints. Then there's the fact that the majority of employers will not let their staff drink at lunch time any more. When I was at school in Carlisle several teachers used to go to the Central Plaza at lunch time."
Making a pub work is not an exact science. Phil says the factors which determine success cannot always be controlled by the landlord. "Lots of little things make a different as to whether a pub survives and thrives or whether it closes or declines. The Boardroom next to Carlisle Cathedral used to be thriving all the time. There used to be a bus stop outside but when the city centre was pedestrianised a lot of people started going to the Howard Arms, where a bus stop is outside."
But some things seem to be prerequisites for a pub in the 21st century to have any chance of success. Lou Hogg, landlord of the Old Crown at Hesket Newmarket, said a successful village pub needs four things to sustain it.
CASTLE CARROCK: Duke of Cumberland
TALKIN: Hare and Hounds
FAUGH: String of Horses
It's about the reception you get when you come in. It's about the atmosphere, and the food and the beer. It's a combination of all four.
"My background is in manufacturing. When nothing's going right, at five o'clock you say: 'Let's go for a pint'. The reception you get when you walk through the door can do one of two things. It can make you think It's been a bad day' or 'It hasn't been so bad'."
Community spirit is the lifeblood of the village pub, and no pub exemplifies this better than the Old Crown. Earlier this month Lou organised a tribute concert for two local men who died in accidents earlier this year: Dr Rupert Bennett, who was killed in a climbing accident, and Pirelli apprentice Joe Austin, who died in a car crash.
The Old Crown is truly a community pub, having been bought by its regulars in 2003 after previous landlord Kim Matthews decided to sell up. The Old Crown is believed to be Britain's first co-operatively owned pub, since 125 of its customers clubbed together to end fears that a major brewery or pub chain might snap it up, or that new owners might remove the beers produced by Hesket Newmarket Brewery, which is next door to the pub.
Lou says: "At the end of the day you're part of the community. I have calls every week from pubs all over the country saying: 'Our village pub might close. What can we do to keep it?' I put them in touch with the chair of our co-operative."
Camra says that the loss of a community pub can have a negative impact on the local economy, community and tourism. Caroline Nodder, editor of trade magazine The Publican, says the "classic, traditional, community pubs" have been hardest hit.
"Overheads are higher than they used to be. The local village pub is not getting regular trade like it used to as in a lot of cases there is not the same community, or people are choosing to go into town more."
The disintegration of traditional communities has affected all kinds of rural businesses. In Cumbria some pubs are aiming for a new lease of life by combining their traditional role with that of other local businesses. Cumbria County Council launched a Pub is the Hub scheme in March. Launched nationally five years ago, the scheme offers grants of up to £25,000 for pubs in a community of fewer than 3,000 people to provide services such as a post office counter or a shop.
CARLISLE: The Prince of Wales
Pub is the Hub's campaign director John Longden said his organisation has identified more than 400 Cumbrian pubs that could take part and six have already signed up.
He said: "The scheme isn't about saving pubs. Pubs will always close. It's a dynamic industry. But there are obvious benefits for pubs. You support your community and your community comes back and supports you."
Keith Norman knows all about the importance of community support. He has been landlord of the Rose and Crown at Low Hesket for five years. Situated on the A6 between Carlisle and Penrith, the pub relies on attracting passing trade and locals. "When you have a high population the dependence on repeat custom isn't so great. But in pubs like this service levels have to be good to keep your locals and to be somewhere you travel to rather than travel past.
"Rural pubs have had to adapt. There's a few still going in what people class as a traditional way - beer, darts, dominoes and fags - but the ones that weren't so viable commercially have gone, although some of it might just be luck.
"As much as anything it's a change in social habits. We get people coming in that, in the past, never would have come in. Ladies in their 60s, 70s and 80s come in for supper or lunch. "
In the end, perhaps even the new breed of family-friendly, good grub pubs are only as good as their beer. The number of small, independent microbreweries in Cumbria has grown from five in 1993 to 20 today. Some are attached to successful pubs, such as the Old Crown and the Kirkstile Inn.
Stephen Walker, chair of Camra's West Cumbria and Western Lakes branch, thinks drinkers have been driven away from pubs by a lack of choice offered by big pub chains, and that microbreweries are a reaction against this.
"People want more choice but the big national breweries have taken over. People have fought back by creating their own breweries. There's been a resurgence of real ale drinking.
"You can't underestimate the importance of a good pint. The Kirkstile Inn is out of the way. You have to drive there but it doesn't seem to be putting people off."
But have pubs changed so much in their efforts to attract families that they are now restaurants that serve beer? "There are some like that," agrees Stephen Walker. "You think 'Should I be here drinking?'"
Things will change even more for Cumbrian pubs next year when the smoking ban is introduced in England. Opinion is divided over what impact this will have, although in Scotland, where a ban came into force two months ago, many pubs have reported increased custom.
Phil Tuer believes that Cumbrian pubs will benefit from a breath of fresh air. "North of the border a lot are saying it hasn't been as disastrous as people thought.
"A lot of people who had stopped going to pubs have started going back.
"I was in Annan for a leaving do a few weeks ago. When I got home my clothes didn't smell and next morning my sinuses weren't blocked.
"It was great. I can't wait for the smoking ban."
CARLISLE: The Maltsters Arms
PITH Beating last orders CumbTimes 20060526.pdf