Arkell's Brewery's Anniversary Beer Festival looks like being a roaring success as real ale fans are already booking in for a 'hot date' with over thirty beers from breweries across the country.
Taking place on Friday, 12th September from 5-7pm and Saturday 13th September from 11am - 7pm at Arkell's Brewery, Kingsdown in Swindon, entry costs £1 and includes a commemorative glass, with all monies raised going to The Prospect Foundation and Wiltshire St John's Ambulance.
With tours around the Kingsdown brewery are already booked solid, Arkell's is laying on an extra 'Brewery Walk', taking visitors around outside the brewery, giving a short history of key buildings and allowing entry to the brewery's 'secret' bar beneath the brewery.
The brewery's beer festival is in celebration of Arkell's 160 years of brewing real ale and the event will feature guest beers from members of the Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB) during the organisation's Cask Ale Week.
"We're very proud of the brewery, our heritage and especially our beers," said Sales Director Nick Arkell who is spearheading the event with head brewer, Don Bracher.
"This is an excuse for a big party to say thank you to our staff and loyal customers and by inviting fellow members of the IFBB to join us we can also celebrate with our peers."
Head brewer, Don Bracher, is looking forward to the event with relish: "This is a celebration of real ale, and of breweries such as Arkell's. We're looking forward to tasting the huge range of tastes and flavours that make up cask beers produced from all over Britain.
A group of Morgan sports cars, or MOGS as they are fondly known by enthusiasts, will also be roaring in to Arkell's Beer Festival on the Saturday (13th), to help with the celebrations.
The vintage sports cars will arrive at the Brewery during the afternoon, when their thirsty drivers and passengers will be able to sample the guest beers.
"The more the merrier," said manager director at Arkell's Brewery, James Arkell. "We're looking forward to a really great beer festival, as well as raising money for local charities. The event is open to all cask beer enthusiasts - even Madonna who has a well-publicised preference for real ale."
Morgan Cars:
Beer Festival Cavalcade
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The Brewery is also celebrating winning first prize from the British Beer Mat Collectors Society's 2003 awards. This was won by the brewery's Moonlight Ale drip mat, produced in January to accompany Chairman Peter Arkell's 80th Birthday beer, brewed especially for the event.
Taken from a painting commissioned especially for the event from the renowned aviation Artist, Gerald Coulston, entitled 'He Landed By Moonlight' 100,000 beer mats were printed and are on display at Arkell's pubs around the South West.
Members of the British Beer Mat Collectors Society will be also attending the beer festival to present Arkell's Brewery with their winning certificate.
Head brewer, Don Bracher, is looking forward to the Beer Festival with relish: "This is a celebration of real ale, and of breweries such as Arkell's. We're looking forward to tasting the huge range of tastes and flavours that make up cask beers produced from all over Britain."
Amazing Day at The Manor
Over 700 people crowded into Arkell's pub The Manor at Cheney Manor last weekend to raise money for charity, and the pub's generous customers contributed over £2,400 for Swindon Children's Gymnastics.
According to pub landlady, Bev Neil: "Swindon Children's Gymnastics has been going for years, but it's never had its own base. The club has been shunted around from venue to venue and they want to find somewhere they can call their own and concentrate on developing the kid's potential."
The Manor's customers seemed to agree with Bev and donations for the charitable fund-raising event came flooding in - from scaffolding to erect a stage, lights from a local electrical contractor and a pig roast from a local supplier. Raffle prizes flooded in and over 4000 raffle tickets were sold.
Sunny weather helped pull the crowds in, and Bev said: "It was a fabulous day, the car park was packed and the best thing was that everyone really enjoyed themselves - even my poor bar staff who were exhausted by the end of the day!"
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Arkell's pub in safe pair of hands
New landlord: Simeone Benoit
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Arkell's Brewery has put its pub, The Flag, in one of Swindon's safest pair of hands.
Formerly known as Bar Cuba, on Bridge Street, the pub has been relaunched this week as The Flag with a new Landlord who also runs one of the West of England's busiest door security firms, Doorsafe.
Simeone Benoit, know to everyone in Swindon's nightclub land as 'Ben', said: "I've been running my venue door security business for over twenty five years and have more than 80 staff working at 27 venues across the West of England and into the Midlands.
"But I've wanted to run my own pub for a while and taking over at The Flag seemed like a great opportunity to get to know the trade better from the business side the bar."
Ben, 49, is aiming for a traditional pub atmosphere, offering customers a more social environment where they can spend time chatting to bar staff, if they want to.
"In the other bars on Bridge Street staff have to serve not chat, and customers can't smoke at the bar. We want to return to a more relaxed and sociable venue - mind you, we'll welcome any customers as long as they drink and behave themselves!"
James Arkell, managing director at the Brewery, has welcomed the brewery's newest landlord: "Ben knows Swindon's nightlife better than most, and already has plenty of the experience he'll need to run a successful pub. We're delighted that he's taking over The Flag and this is one pub that won't have any problem with difficult customers!"
To help him, Ben has already employed two managers who themselves know Swindon's pub life well. Nick Mercer worked at The Bedroom in Swindon and Elizabeth Stevens comes from Yates.
"We'll be flying The Flag as a cool, traditional pub with a sociable, welcoming atmosphere and playing great music," he says.
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Family Brewery buys Historic Hotel
New landlords: Andy and Julie Moss.
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One of Britain's Historic Pubs, the Hart Hotel in Whitchurch, Hampshire, has been bought by
Swindon-based family brewery Arkell's.
This is Arkell's first pub in Hampshire and extends the brewery's estate a further ten miles beyond Newbury towards the South East.
"I understand that The White Hart was first built in 1461, on the junction of the old London/Exeter & Oxford/Southampton roads, and has a rich history." More recently it was frequently patronised by former Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning, who died aged 100 in 1999.
"Lord Denning was born above his father's draper's shop opposite the hotel in 1899," explains James. "And we have been told that in his latter years he lunched in the dining room, sitting at the window overlooking his old family home."
The White Hart also has connections with the church as church parson and keen angler Charles Kingsley, who wrote The Waterbabies in 1863, visited often when he was fishing in the River Fleet. He is recorded as saying of The White Hart: "I like this place and that is the real truth."
James also mentioned an elaborate bedstead in one of the hotel's fifteen bedrooms which is said to have belonged to former British Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli.
The White Hart's news landlords are former Royal Navy helicopter engineer Andrew Moss (30) and his wife Julie (35), who have moved from their former pub near Reading.
"This is our biggest business venture yet," said Andy. "We're really excited to have been given the chance by Arkell's to run a lovely town-centre hotel and want to make the most of such a beautiful building."
Andy and Julie have already invested in new china and glass for the dining room and plan to hold an auction of much of the hotel's current stock of crockery and glassware for local charities.
They have also revamped the menu, offering a much wider selection from traditional English pub food to continental specialties, and a good vegetarian range inspired by non-meat eater Julie.
But they haven't forgotten a pub's most important asset - well-kept real ale. Andy is passionate about the quality of the beer he serves and will be going for a cask mark award within the next few months, all of which warms the heart of brewery boss James Arkell.
"A good pub or hotel gains its reputation through its landlords. Andy and Julie are full of enthusiasm for The White Hart, and it certainly won't take long for them to make the hotel their own."
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