Pub People Christmas Ale is a Cracker!!

Hats off, Christmas that is!.....to the clever brewers at Nottingham's Castle Rock Brewery for producing Little Saint Nick!.......our Christmas beer for this year.......now on sale at 27 Pub People pubs, it has been an overwhelming success........the customer feedback has been excellent and pubs are placing their 3rd and 4th orders.......we have it on sale at the Lion today.......a brown best bitter, smooth on the palate with floral notes..4.7% abv

Our Christmas Craft Fair is this Saturday morning, here at the pub.....click on the website for all the info.... www.thelionatbasford.co.uk  Lots of last minute and unusual gifts, alongside mince pies and mulled wines.

News Years Eve Tickets are going fast...£3 gets a brilliant party evening with Shades of Blue.........we are still taking Christmas bookings....this year we have done more than ever so book your office party and ask about food options........which could include our festive burger, Santa Baby!...a pulled turkey burger

The Lion has had a new fount installed which will allow us to rotate guest keg craft beers......we will be focusing initially on locally produced craft beers.......from Castle Rock, Black Iris, Nottingham, Navigation, Derby, Thornbridge..........this will be replicated at the Bunkers Hill before Christmas.

See you at the Lion for Friday teatime beers
John and Josie
Live music tonight, Sat and Sun lunchtime

New Years Eve Tickets Now On Sale!!!

New Years Eve Tickets Now On Sale!!!

Call into the Lion and get your tickets for NYE.......£3 in advance and £5 on the door.....for a fantastic evening with Shades of Blue on December 31st........lots of cask ales, ciders and mulled wines....roaring logs fires and a brilliant party atmosphere.........between now and then make sure you try our Christmas Beers....Little Saint Nick and Bar Humbug


Christmas Fair Announcement

You may know that every year we have a mega Christmas Fair here at The Lion and earlier this week we sent all the detail off to our print shop so expect lots of posters and flyers around the pub next week. It is to take place on Saturday 13th December from 12noon.

Highlights definitely include a vinyl fair, organised buy our flippin' excellent (See what we did there) chef Paul, craft gift stalls- perfect to pick something up for her indoors fellas- as well as loads of games, raffles and tombolas. We'll also have a face painting lady here so you can bring the little ones too. We will also be unveiling our Spiced Mulled Cider that day and will have our Christmas burger "Santa Baby" available, an amazing pulled turkey burger served with melted brie and cranberry sauce mmmmm.


Black Iris 'Brewery Tap' Coming Soon

As some of you may be aware, the lads from Black Iris Brewery have set up shop in a unit just down the road from us. Situated directly opposite Shipstone Street Tram Stop they've been busy for a couple of months now getting set up and we can almost smell the first brew!! We can reveal that we will have one cask line and one keg 'craft' line dedicated to Black Iris, both of which will be rotating through their brand new range. As well as the dedicated lines we are flexible enough to be able to feature more of course... we have 11 to choose from!!! We'll let you know when the keg is installed but we have word that we will have their first official brew from the new digs in the next week or so- keep your eyes on our Facebook and Twitter for news as it happens.



Rock 'n' Roll Christmas Burger Co.

If you haven't yet sorted out your Christmas get-together with the lads from work, the girls in the office, your best pals, family or whoever, our Christmas Rock 'n Roll Burger Co. menu is still available to book. you can view the menu online here, the response has been overwhelming and we're well impressed with the amount of bookings we've had so far but there's still time as it's available until Christmas Eve ;)


See you this evening!

John, Josie & Team Lion x

Little Saint Nick Official Launch

This evening sees the official launch of Little Saint Nick, a 4.7% Christmas ale brewed exclusively for us and other Pub People pubs by Castle Rock Brewery. The ale will be our main Christmas beer throughout December and with Castle Rock being our featured Brewery of the Month we'll be showcasing some of our favourites from the recently rebranded range.

Arrive from 4.30 to meet some of the Castle Rock team, as well as the bosses, and sample Little Saint Nick direct from the barrel. We're going all out and making the standard Friday teatime buffet extra special too so there's every reason to coax your colleagues into a cheeky payday Christmas beer.

Not only all of that but you may have seen on our Facebook and Twitter feed that we put our Christmas tree up yesterday! She's an absolute beauty and we've put her up especially to coincide with the launch of Little Saint Nick- the rest of the decs will go up on Monday!


Christmas Fair Announcement

You may know that every year we have a mega Christmas Fair here at The Lion and earlier this week we sent all the detail off to our print shop so expect lots of posters and flyers around the pub next week. It is to take place on Saturday 13th December from 12noon.

Highlights definitely include a vinyl fair, organised by our flippin' excellent (See what we did there) chef Paul, craft gift stalls- perfect to pick something up for her indoors fellas- as well as loads of games, raffles and tombolas. We'll also have a face painting lady here so you can bring the little ones too. We will also be unveiling our Spiced Mulled Cider that day and will have our Christmas burger "Santa Baby" available, an amazing pulled turkey burger served with melted brie and cranberry sauce mmmmm.


Black Iris 'Brewery Tap' Coming Soon

As some of you may be aware, the lads from Black Iris Brewery have set up shop in a unit just down the road from us. Situated directly opposite Shipstone Street Tram Stop they've been busy for a couple of months now getting set up and we can almost smell the first brew!! We can reveal that we will have one cask line and one keg 'craft' line dedicated to Black Iris, both of which will be rotating through their brand new range. As well as the dedicated lines we are flexible enough to be able to feature more of course... we have 11 to choose from!!! We'll let you know when the keg is installed but we have word that we will have their first official brew from the new digs in the next week or so- keep your eyes on our Facebook and Twitter for news as it happens.



Rock 'n' Roll Christmas Burger Co.

If you haven't yet sorted out your Christmas get-together with the lads from work, the girls in the office, your best pals, family or whoever, our Christmas Rock 'n Roll Burger Co. menu is still available to book. you can view the menu online here, the response has been overwhelming and we're well impressed with the amount of bookings we've had so far but there's still time as it's available until Christmas Eve ;)


See you this evening!

John, Josie & Team Lion x

Pub Co's & Craft Beers....Back to the Future!

Just like the De Lorean.....The Major Pub Co's had a model that seemed perfect for its time and for ever, but it just didn't last the course.........basic design failings and a mismatch in funding.......The Pub Co's have taken longer to unravel than the infamous sports car but it does seem that MPs, rather than the government, have taken the opportunity to finally kick them, for serious misdemeanors which took place 10 years ago.......and with that put their business model under severe scrutiny and pressure.......Enterprise and Punch shares all but collapsed this week, as MP Greg Mulholland, supported by lobbyists, Fair Pint & CAMRA saw through Clause 2 of the Pub Legislation Bill, The Market Rent Only Option in a House of Commons Vote. The Government has been against it.

If the Bill progresses with this clause....best guess 2-4 years.....the landscape for the tenanted pub trade will change.........at a time when both Punch & Enterprise have gone through massive cultural and business practice change....for the better!.........In particular circumstances the pub tenant would be allowed the pay a higher rent for the ability to purchase their drinks products in the free market, rather than being tied to the Pub Co

As we have said many times before in this newsletter, the people to punish were the senior management from those Pub Co Companies and others 10-15 years ago.....if this was the USA, they would be indicted and if convicted, then jailed......by todays Code of Practice standards their methods were underhand, fraudulent and unacceptable during a period when the German and Japanese banks took a financial interest and hold on the pub industry growing both Enterprise and Punch at lightening pace. Hashtag Pyramid scheme.......If CAMRA want a real campaign to get a hold of then this is surely it.

The premise, however, that suddenly the fortunes of tenants will change if they are able to buy beer free of tie is naive. The beer wholesale market and the brewers pricing will shift significantly and the model, as it always does will pressurise the person at the bottom........currently many people(not all)are able to enter the pub trade at low cost......moving into a high quality invested tenanted pubs and if they are good and work hard will earn a reasonable living......will they be millionaires?..no!....but they will get support and guidance from the Pub Co and if they are sensible....then so will the Pub Co and they will make a good living........if they act like idiots (which some do, and then generate negative PR for the Pub Co and the industry, because the media likes that) then the Pub Co will get upset.......I can assure you that the most difficult Pub Cos to deal with are those where the tenant is not tied.....they just collect the agreed rent.....no vested interest in the business and investment in the pubs.....In Nottingham both Enterprise and Punch have spent major money on capital investments and received nil recognition......Old Volunteer, Nags Head, Bridge Sandiacre, Greyhound, Nuthall, Sherwood, Midland Stapleford to name a few.

As with most journeys like this.....there will be unintended consequences and some sage will write "be careful what you wish for!"..............CAMRA will assume that all micro breweries will immediately have a brand new and larger market to target their ales.........This is credible as the Pub Cos priority will be to ring fence secure volume purchases of lagers and bitters through negotiations on capital expenditure on pubs.....to remain tied.....It is feasible they will sacrifice micro brewed beer......it is fiddly for them to deal with and the margins low once SIBA have taken their cut. This may impact on regional brewers however who actually do very well out of the Pub Cos....Pub Cos also resent having to install and maintain beer engines....which micro brewers may have to do in he future, thus creating a quasi tie.

But what of our new friends in the Craft Beer World...........here is the parody......Craft beers will play an important role in the future, but however clever the Pub Cos were at financial engineering, they will struggle to provide a platform to showcase these beers any where near as effectively as the free trade.......in the same way they have toiled with cask.........they cannot pin down enough discount to make margin so the tenant has to buy at an exorbitant rate, nor can they procure the regional and local ranges required......the customers demand will grow for much more localised products rather than the domination of global brands........Pub Cos are too slow to react to these market changes ...and this market is moving very quickly....look at the new operations that have opened in Nottingham recently, Annies, Junkyard, Boilermaker....these operators cannot work with the inflexibility of the Pub Cos.

Whether you agree with the Market Rent Only amendment or not, the balance of power between tenant and pub will change.......now the tenant will have a choice....The Pub Cos will be destableised but will prepare for change.......Who knows what the Future holds?....We need Doc Browns De Lorean time machine!!

Andrew Crawford
Operations Director
Pub People Co

Craft Beers Are About To Boom!

We have been learning about craft beers at the Lion and Bunkers Hill for well over 12 months.............there is no doubt, they are picking up in popularity.

 

There has been so much debate over what craft beers are and their relationship with cask ales. CAMRA in particular seem a little confused about whether they embrace them or disown them.........as though they were an embarrassing relative!......Our advert in CAMRA's Nottingham Drinker for craft beers was refused, as was Nottingham Brewery's......yet in the latest edition of CAMRA's What's Brewing, there is a leaflet specifically for for craft beer.......so what is the policy?....and what is the problem?

 

The Craft Beer producers, I suspect are not bothered about CAMRA....and so, it seems, are the cask ale micro brewers...with several already producing their own craft beers........Nottingham, Thornbridge, Navigation, Oakham, Adnams et al all have a keg rather than cask product available.........and the customers love the choice and quality.

 

So what is the definition of craft beer.........you know....who cares?.......they are beer products made to original recipies using very high quality ingredients and dispensed from a keg using gas.......and have bags of flavour.............

 

They are new and fresh and giving the pub industry something different to talk about.......but here is the rub.....THE IMAGE.......they are hip, stylish, female friendly, high quality with consistency and have a story which stretches over the water to the New World......USA.........Image of cask ale, however you dress it up is in a different place......and CAMRA, with justification, are reluctant to move from that..........and why should they?

 

CAMRA have overseen and supported the successful growth in cask ales and local micro breweries over the past 50 years.....especially the last 10......as a pub operator who has also supported cask ales for 20 years, we see craft beers as the perfect marriage to cask........the stories of both are exciting and vibrant.....attracting new and different customers to pubs......I could believe the younger members of CAMRA see this easily.....and Nottingham CAMRA has an excellent young members branch.

 

In the near future there will be a massive explosion of British and American craft bottled and draught beers........Meantime and Brewdog have led the way and from the USA expect to see the likes of Dogfish Head, Lagunitas, Blue Point, Bronx, Mad Fox,Sierra Nevada, Heart Land and many more make it to the pub shelves..............at the Lion and Bunkers Hill we will be developing our range of draught and bottled craft and the activity which goes with them........more real (hard) ciders, beer cocktails, flights of beers and growlers (take home bottles)..........all this alongside a great commitment to locally produced cask ales......perfect harmony!..............Today we have craft from Harvestioun, Meantime, Adnams, Fullers along side 11 cask ales.

 

Andrew Crawford

Operations Director

Pub People Company

 

Here at the Lion.......tonight we have the fantastic Loaded Dice and tomorrow Shinkickers, with our Sunday Jazz Cafe.......always superb.......Thornbridge are Novembers Brewer of the Month..........Check out our Christmas Burger Menu......bookings for Christmas parties are coming in fast

New Allergen Laws Cause Confusion!!

Dear oh dear..........does this government not think we can walk down the road avoiding the cracks in the pavement??............recently on the newsletter, we highlighted Nottingham City's fumbling around the Late Night Levy.......(lets get all the pubs outside the city centre to pay for policing in the city centre, whilst the pubs actually in the city centre don't pay for it!)

Next on the list is central government misguided attempt to implement a complicated allergen law......derived from the powers that be in sunny Brussels...........so here we go......none of the following is made up.....you couldn't make it up anyway.....no one would believe you!!

The basic premise is that many European folk are allergic to one or more of 14 principle allergens...........therefore, if they dare to go into any type of restaurant or purchase any food every product must have either clear lableing and/or the staff have access to a compendium of information on every food and drink item sold by that business identifying any allergens in every food product....eg a pint of Harvest Pale and Lasagne, salad, chips and garlic bread......read it again before continuing.

This law will be implemented on 13 December 2014............OH YES right in the middle of the busiest trading point of the year.......WHOEVER made that decision should have their face on the front page of every newspaper in western Europe.

UKIP State..."throw it out with the beer slops!!" and we couldn't possible comment!
But maybe CAMRA should be commenting on the relevance to micro brewed ales and the added costs to brewers.

Here at the Lion we have a pretty simple food menu....as you know...The Rock n Roll Burger Menu.........so whats the problem......well even for that small menu we have to break down every ingredient in every dish and identify and record any possible allergen.....then produce a document that could be shown to a worried customer..........BUT hey don't forget this also includes all the special sauces that go with the burgers.......all the desserts.......coffee.......the  specialty nuts and crisps......all drinks especially the beautiful bespoke real ales and hand made ciders.......oh and don't forget the Friday buffet and team food for the jazz and darts folk..........this is bureaucracy gone absolutely crazy........

So how is it going to be policed.......it is a trading standards issue not food hygiene...............in 12 years at the Lion....you can count the number of people who have mentioned food allergies on one hand and that has always been gluten.........a prize for the first person to email in with all 14 allergens listed....andrewcrawford@pubpeople.com First three in win a cup of smokey nuts and a pint of Harvest Pale!!

Why can't the government leave our industry alone for a couple of years......meddle meddle meddle.....lets make up a job......But leave the NHS in total and utter crisis..............ELECTION YEAR is 2015!

Oh and just to end it, do you really think the French, Spanish, Greeks or Italians will take one jot of notice......unlikely......but our Civil Servants have a job to do and boy will they do the job properly............So, on December 13th, if you want to cause mayhem get down to your local Chinese takeaway ask for all the allergen info.....in Mandarin........oh yes....must all be in relevant languages....

See you down the Lion at tea time for a gluten free pork pie and a bloody good pint!!

Andrew Crawford
Operations Director
Pub People Company

Rant over!!......excellent ale and cider choice down here this weekend, along with top live local bands, Fri, Sat and Sun
CAMRA members very welcome, with 15p per pint off real ales and ciders

What Does Doom Bar Tell Us About Cask?

Almost 20 years ago as a Greenall's Regional Manager based in Cornwall, I went to see a chap called Bill Sharp. He had started his little brewery a couple of years before in Rock, over the estuary from Padstow....... Greenall's, having bought the Devonish Pub Co, owned the Golden Lion in Padstein........... the tenant here had been badgering us for this locally brewed ale and having a longstanding love of real ale I did not hesitate to make a visit.......in the full knowledge that persuading the Company to stock it would be virtually impossible............. Greenall's, whilst no longer a brewer at that time sold cask Bitter, Mild, Thomas Greenalls Original, Shipstones and Davenports range and having now inherited pubs in the South had access to Flowers IPA and couple of others....... Their new guest ale policy allowed the tenant to purchase from a painfully small range from mainly regional brewers, like Tim Taylors........by paying a £25 surplus per 9 gal firkin on a full list price...CRIMINAL!

Anyway, back at Rock, Bill Sharp was a wonderfully ethical gentleman........he already had a decent range, with Sharp's Best the biggest seller.........and was keen only to sell to one or two outlets in any town, barely venturing beyond the Cornish borders.
I managed to agree with the marketing automaton at Greenalls HQ in Warrington that having a local brew would culturally endear us to Cornish folk and Bill chose a couple of pubs in deepest Cornwall for a trial.......Cadgwith Cove inn and the Roseland Inn Philleigh.........

Roll on about five years..... Sharps grew dramatically and Bill had begun to focus on a secondary dark beer at 4% called Doom Bar, which was destined to be the company's vanguard product....a malty, quaffable ale. Production, sales and distribution had accelerated. No longer a hobby, Doom Bar was in huge demand way beyond Cornwall..........things were moving fast.

The man from Dolmio Italian sauces spied this and bought Bill Sharp out...........then spent around 8 years developing the Doom Bar brand and in 2011 Molson Coors bought them for a whopping £18m.........

So would Doom Bar simply disappear into the swamp of other Coors brands and replicate the journey of Deuchars IPA? Or was there a longer term plan to establish the product as the successor to the likes of Draught Bass and Marstons Pedigree......in the branded sessionable medium coloured cask ale market. Emma Bebbington, Pub People's Coors Account Director was put in charge as General Manager........ so jealous!!!

In 2014 the brewery in Rock, over seen by Emma, has seen £3m worth of capital investment and  is forecast to brew 350 000 barrels of Doom Bar going forward.......this is about a tenth the size of Carling... and already Doom Bar is the biggest selling cask ale in the UK.....recently overtaking Greene King IPA.

Doom Bar as a brand is here to stay.... Coors have remained true (ish) to the Cornish heritage by investing in the local brewery and generating more jobs. Doom Bar has meaning (it is a sand bar at the mouth of the Camel Estuary) and credibility which has been subtly and successfully communicated....... further entrenched by local Doom Bar boating related sponsorships and then the Boat Race sponsorship........ together with associations with the Padstein culinary fraternity and now their own pub, The Mariners at Rock

All of this knits well with the new breed of customer wanting the taste of cask ale coupled with the reassurance of a brand with a name and a story........before and alongside trying all the wonderful local microbrews that will be available at the Nottingham beer festival this weekend.............. here at the Lion Draught Bass is still one of our best selling ales........it has been on permanently since the Lion opened in around 1996 and we have very very loyal customers for it.............. there won't be many pubs in the East Mids that can say that....... in reality though it is us that has kept it going. The Bass owner has just milked the product and it is unlikely younger or female drinkers would give it a second glance.

Doom Bar has broken through that ceiling and whilst the beer snobs may turn their noses up.........customers awareness of the overwhelming number of micro brands is low......so a solid anchor point product with high credibility and consistency will be a winner with new drinkers of cask ale along with those who want to be loyal to a top pint.

Our range at the Lion today does not include Doom Bar (Hop Pole, Waggon and Horses, Bunkers Hill, Keyworth Tavern all have it on) but the choice is excellent........Bass, Harvest Pale, Scarlet Macaw, Red Baboons, Legend, XXXB, White Squall, Bradfield Stout, Grainstore, Pheasantry, Equinox.

See you at the Lion for a Friday tea time beer and a few pork pies!!

Andrew Crawford
Operations Director
Pub People Co

The Rock n Roll Christmas Burger menu is on the website. www.thelionatbasford.co.uk..... if you have not tried our excellent range of handmade burgers, then what are you waiting for??....... we have carnivores and herbivores fully catered for with luxury burgers at a realistic price!!..... all served by our team of executive chefs from midday to 8pm every day