Opinion
Topical articles and pieces from a personal point of view.
Hard cheese for UK brewers
I arrived at Round Corner Brewing in Melton Mowbray on the day another small independent brewery had pulled down the shutters. Northern Alchemy in New...
Beer’s man of letters
Martyn Cornell, beer writer and acclaimed brewing historian, has died suddenly at the age of 72 on the eve of the publication of his major study of th...
In a gadda da vida
As I write these words, the sky outside my window is the most vivid shade of blue. There is a handful of the laziest, fluffy clouds you can imagine fl...
Standing up for what’s right
Introduced in May 1988 by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, Section 28 is a piece of legislation that is now, thankfully, consigned to the...
Make mine mixed on VE day
It’s good news for our beleaguered pubs that they will be able to stay open until one in the morning on 8 May as the country celebrates VE Day – the 8...
Generation game
A couple of weeks ago my phone pinged as a press release dropped into my inbox. It told me the story of Steve Birch, the head brewer of Mauldons brewe...
Jay Rayner’s wrong on pubs
While it might lack the same grandeur shared by some of the buildings along Liverpool’s Dale Street, there’s a faded elegance to the exterior of the S...
You always hurt the one you love
The prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, told the Daily Mirror he supported their campaign to save the country’s pubs as he recognised they were at the h...
Wheeling out the sexist tropes
As some of you will know, I’ve just finished writing a book on beer festivals (available through CAMRA Books from 8 May). As a result, I’m naturally a...
Missed opportunity
Heineken returning its cherished Beamish Irish stout to British pubs is unlikely to come as a surprise to anyone not living under a rock at the moment...
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