Herts and Minds

Today was to see a long-overdue crawl around the pubs of St Albans with a couple of my London Miller chums, Paul and Chris, but beforehand I made a small detour to Harpenden.

(left) Cross Keys

I had originally intended to spend an hour or so at the inaugural Harpenden beer festival but in the end I just had a quick half - albeit an extremely nice half of Great Oakley Wagtail - before making a nostalgic journey to the Cross Keys pub in the middle of the town.

I used to regularly spend weekends in Harpenden in the mid- to late-80s and used to frequent the Cross Keys when it used to serve the likes of Flowers IPA, Wethereds, Tusker Ale and Fremlins.

On making my first visit in almost 20 years it was pleasing to see if hadn't changed a bit except for the choice of real ales on offer - Rebellion IPA, Landlord and London Pride - and the offer of tea and coffee.

(right) Inside the Cross Keys

It is a timeless place and very peaceful - stone flags, pewter bar and tankards hanging from the low ceiling, it's a place for quiet conversation and a game of dominoes - no muzak or TV here. And not many youngsters either.

After this wallow down memory lane, I meet up with Chris and Andy at St Albans station and we wandered off to find the first pub, the Lower Red Lion.

We were distracted on the way however by English Miscellany Morris dancers who were performing outside the cathedral - in fact the high street had been crawling with loads of different Morris troupes so that you could hardly hear yourself think but for the tinkle of ankle bells.

English Miscellany performed a few of their different dances before they were joined by Chez-nous en Nivernais, a folk dance group from the St. Albans twin town of Nevers.

(left) English Micellany outside St Albans cathedral

Paul was now in Morris heaven, especially after espying the hurdy gurdy and the jaunty moustache on one of the French dancers (male I hasten to add).

It really was quite nice, especially with the cathedral as a backdrop on such a beautiful day.

A shame that Morris may be endangered if you believe the papers - it's harmless and gives rise to a smile so long may it continue.

The need for beer soon told though and we finally entered the bar of the Lower Red Lion - which was virtually empty - but we were pleased to see it had a good selection - the ubiquitous Doombar, Fullers Chiswick, Oakham JHB, Springhead Goodrich Castle (which uses rosemary as a bittering agent) plus a couple of others.

From here we went to another one of my old haunts - the Goat in Sopwell Street which we used to frequent before Hawkwind gigs at the Civic Hall back in the 80s. In those days Lees Moonraker was the regular tipple there - today we made do with Crouch Vale Brewers Gold.

Again the pub was fairly quiet despite the Wimbledon tennis on the TV - a couple of young lads escaped the clutches of their parents and played bar billiards under our dubious tutelage.

(above) The Goat

Next stop was the White Lion further down the street - again spookily quiet - and here we had something quite new for us - the 4.2% GHA Pale from Batemans Brewey - which was very hoppy but still had that tell-tale Batemans taste. Very drinkable.

From here we moved to the next pub on the list - the White Hart Tap - which had three unassuming ales on offer, the least offensive of which was the St Edmunds from Greene King. This wasn't in great condition and we quickly moved onto our final pub.

This was the Farmers Boy which promised a lot but failed to deliver. The Clipper IPA went off before the second pint had been drawn - the first was not drinkable - and so we settled on the Farmers Joy which was not brilliant.

If it wasn't for the thunder, lightning and torrential downpour outside we'd have left this place sharpish too as it was more like a youth club than a pub. Or maybe we were just grumpy by that stage?

On arrival back at St Pancras we cleared out palates with a pint of Betjeman Ale - and noticed that the Betjeman Arms is having a cider festival in a week or so - see you down there.

Capital Quakerdom

The fixtures are out - it feels much earlier this time around but I suppose that's due to all the on-going hassle of administration since the end of the season. It's to be hoped that there are no more hiccups before we're officially out of administration.

The fact that we're in the fixtures is the first concrete sign that we look to be OK - and once they'd been released it was a mad rush onto the National Express website to get tickets to the first few games.

Nothing cheap though - tickets for August have been on sale for a while and the Edinburgh festival means the arty-farty types from London have got there first.

Still at least the opening fixture at the Recreation Ground will mean a relatively easy trip for us.

The day after the fixtures were released, the newly formed Capital Quakers - replacing the Kings Cross Crew which frankly made us sound like dodgy north-side rappers - met in the Royal Oak in Borough for a chat about the season ahead.

(right) Royal Oak

Howard seems to be spending far too long in Germany to fit in many fixtures though seems very keen to try out Crewe.

A possible Morecambe weekender is on the cards too - a ground that I've still yet to visit but this might well be the year to break the duck.


Boxing Day sees us play away at the Don Valley Stadium for our clash with the Millers but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it as I'll probably be in London. At least our home fixture with them is do-able.

The Royal Oak is a lovely old pub just a short walk from London Bridge - well-known to the CAMRA fraternity for the Harveys ales but also for it's exceptional home-cooking.

(left) Martin and Howard tuck in

On my recommendation Howard and Martin had the steak and kidney pudding, a veritable mountain of suet, whilst young Stockdale had the lamb shank with chips (you can take the boy out of Darlo..).

Wise to the size of the pudding and it's affect on the ability to drink anymore afterwards, John and I stuck to beer for a bit longer before eating - especially as the Harveys Sussex Best was in top form. I've not always been a huge fan of this beer as it's often been a bit ordinary elsewhere - at 4% it maybe loses it edge unless kept in tip-top condition.

Talking of beer, one early fixture of note for the DAFTS calendar is the home game with Bournemouth on Sept 19th. That weekend sees the annual Darlington Rhythm ‘N' Brews Beer Festival up at the Arts Centre - full details can be found here.

All being well, local DAFTSperson Tony Waters will have a word with his friend Karim and sort out one of our occasional Indian home-cooking events on the Friday night for those who travel up early. These are well-worth attending - no ordering, simply trying those off-menu dishes that Karim thinks we'll like. And other than the fish-egg curry from a few years ago, he's been spot on every time. I can't wait...

Med Dogs And Abyssinians

At the weekend, Liz and I headed over to Victoria for a trip down to Gillingham.

Not a place we'd go to other than for football - and this trip certainly wasn't to congratulate the Gills on their recent elevation to League One though we are heartily pleased to see the back of their small-minded chairman, Paul Scully.

Mr Scully had recently called for more severe punishments to befall the likes of Darlo and Rotherham this season. Thanks for the solidarity, you git - wait until you're in the clarts!

Instead we'd come down to view the prospective new member of our household - an Abyssinian kitten at the home of breeder Val - just a goalkick or so from the Priestfield Stadium itself.

(right) a cute candidate for the Rowles-Beard household

We've had a couple of Abyssinians for the past 17 years but Dusty died at Christmas and we thought now was the right time to get another to fill the void - get back to full cattage so to speak.

Val had a litter of three ruddy kittens - she was keeping one of the two males for herself and we were having the other once she decides which is best for breeding.

However she sprung a bit of a surprise by showing us their sister who was born with three legs - possibly as a result of some antibiotics given to the mother during pregnancy - and she wondered if we'd like to take her as well?

After a few seconds to consider this offer it didn't take long to say "yes" - it would seem a shame to let her go somewhere on her own and I'm sure they'll both fit onto my lap without much trouble. No doubt our current cat-in-residence, Emma, will appreciate the catty company.

On the way back home, we took the opportunity of dropping into nearby Rochester to try out a few of their pubs. I'd not come unprepared - a map of the better establishments had been knocked up in typical DAFTS-stylee and chum Chris Turner had not put up much of a fight when asked to come along.

The first port of call was the Man of Kent where we found that Chris had got there before us and was into his opening pint.

I say the first port of call but in reality we ended up staying here the whole afternoon - it was just the sort of pub that I love.

(left) Man of Kent

The exterior was described to me by a local as "Medway Tudor" - it's certainly a classic in the same way that many Watney, Combe, Reid pubs are in London - the pub sign itself is a beauty with a Viv Stanshall-esque character as the Man of Kent.

On entry you're met by a big roaring fire and a large hairy but friendly landlord - no TV screens or loud games machines either - just a cosy atmosphere with plenty of liquid choice.

I started off with a pint of the Larkin's 3.4% Traditional - an easy entry into the day - whilst we perused the range of Kentish beers (or Beers of Kent as I suppose it should be) on offer.

They had a Kentish Dark and Kentish Gold from the Millis Brewery, Golden Braid from Hopdaemon, Faversham Creek from the Whitstable Brewery, Gadd's Dogbolter and finally Silver Star and Gold Star from Goacher's.

In addition they had a fairly decent range of foreign bottled beers - including an exotic range from Mongozo (Coconut anyone?) - plus three taps for the Meantime Brewery.

One of the Meantime offerings was the Elderflower Maibock which a few of us in the bar had a small taster of. Quite a flowery smell as you'd expect but not a lot of flavour - rather disappointing on the whole.

One feature of the pub that you simply cannot ignore is the pub dog, a big black Staffy called Dude - he likes to sit amongst the regulars but was more than happy to come and spare some time with we newbies.

After buying some nibbles we were put under strict orders from the landlord not to spare any for the pooch.

(right) Dude, the pub dog, and a regular in perfect harmony

And Dude seems to be well aware of this - he eyed us up with interest as we opened our packets but knew it would be pointless to come over and beg for some.

After trying a few more beers, Chris and I settled on the Golden Braid - the best of the bunch for me - before finally we headed home as hunger pangs got the better of us.

The Man of Kent comes highly recommended - on our next visit we must start the crawl somewhere else...

Jumpers For Goalposts

This month my old primary school is celebrating it's centenary year and as a result my Mum and I have been going through some old school photos to scan in so they can be put on display and show the pupils today just what it was like "in them days".

As well as myself, my two sisters both attended the Applegarth in Northallerton and the school still plays a large part in our family as my Mum continues to work there for a few hours each day as a playground assistant. Not bad for someone who should really be retired but she really enjoys working with the kids and being a part of a nice little school like this.

Seeing the photos it was difficult to reconcile the modern-day me with the young, thin chap starting out in life that you can see in the photo below.

Applegarth Primary football team, 1971

Can you guess which one was me? No beard to give you a clue unfortunately. A nice mixture of football boots, shoes and sandals on display - no poncy white boots here.

There's also another Darlo fan here - David "Sam" Turner - who was a regular home and away attender for many years but who now just comes to the odd game in the north-west.

This was the last year in which this rather old-fashioned, rugby-type kit was used. In 1972 when I was in the top class we got a new kit - more or less the West Germany World Cup kit - all white with black trim. Very smart.

Did you find me? I'm in the front row, second from right - looks like I've even got a scab on my knee. Sam Turner is second from the left in the same row...

London Bridge Calling

There was a small but perfectly formed batch of Darlo-ness in London Bridge last night when a few of the capital's DAFTS got together for a few beers.

The venue was the Wheatsheaf - the new version of the pub of the same name just round the corner by Borough Market - the original is now closed so that work can be done to try and eradicate the rail bottleneck between Charing Cross and London Bridge stations. I'll believe that when I see it.

The new place is a basement pub - what used to be a Davy's Wine Bar apparently - which lies under the impressive Hop Exchange. It's quite a decent place - stone floors, plenty of seating, Sky TV (but not intrusive), not too noisy and decorated with black and white photos of the original Wheatsheaf's regulars (including a couple of topless ladies who I don't remember seeing in the old place unfortunately).

The place still appears to be a Young's pub and has two of their beers but there were about 4 or 5 interesting guest beers on. Howard and I arrived together and both opted for the Elgood's Golden Newt - as the name suggests it's a golden ale - slightly flowery and not too hoppy - easy drinking.

We were soon joined by Christopher - due to be back in the capital on a permanent basis before too long - who was just in time to get the drinks before John turned up and we got into the thick of things Darlo-wise.

The consensus of opinion is that we're very happy to still have a team in the league next season but obviously wary of how things will go - not so much on the pitch but in terms of the long-term stability of the club.

(left) The Wheatsheaf

The chairman has not made any friends and it's fair to say that the spotlight will be on him throughout the coming months.

Next season will undoubtedly be a slog - a reduced budget will gives us a much smaller squad which won't match the quality we seen in the past ten months - I'm sure we'll get the more traditional type of Darlo performances and will sap our reserves of optimism - new manager Colin Todd has his work cut-out.

But it's a situation like this that means the DAFTS way of approaching things - have a good time in the pub before the game so the day isn't a total waste - will come into it's own. We're an optimistic bunch - why else do we turn up? - so I'm sure we'll have some fun along the way.

As ever there's been a lot of hot air on Darlo messageboards - a few fans seem set to boycott home games so as not to line the pockets of George Houghton (as if) - I think we all know where they're coming from but actions like this are ultimately self-defeating.

So I'll be renewing my season ticket and my player sponsorship - the club needs our money and support - but that doesn't mean I condone or forgive George Houghton for his actions of recent months.

All this bluster was thirsty work and so time for more beers - this time I tried the Loddon Hullabaloo - slightly darker and maltier than the Golden Newt but a nice drop all the same.

It was all too much for Howard though - his elderly bladder called time on his night out - and then Chris (and other half Susie who had also joined us) went off in search of some food.

John and I stayed for another couple before wandering over to the nearby Rake - we tried each of the two beers on handpump, one of which was a wheat beer from Springhead which was OK but slightly dull. I forget what John had.

We decided we'd also have a taste of the 10% porter from Stone - which is where the third of a pint glass comes into it's own. The porter was a very full-on affair, extremely liqouricey, and a half would have been too much for us at that stage - nevertheless a very good one-for-the-road beer. And it was then time to hit the road...

Over for another year...

And so the Macc beer festival is over for another year - Friday night was sold out and Saturday wasn't far off whilst the free Saturday lunchtime session saw a healthy number of CAMRA members and families coming to enjoy a more laid-back experience with only the strains of some acoustic music to trouble the ears.

When I arrived on Thurs afternoon, the barrels were all set in place and labelled up - just a few small jobs remained such as sorting out the cider and perries.

Once these were in place, we had a check of each and found that there were a couple of real crackers - the 4.5% Happy Daze and 6% Pyder, both from Gwynt y Doraig, were extremely drinkable.

(left) Glasses at the ready

The vintage dry from the monastic Prinknash Abbey - it's last offering for a while apparently - was sadly disappointing.

In the evening Keef (and Jill) took me to try some beers from the new-ish Bollington Brewery Company at it's brewery tap, the Vale Inn in Bollington - a couple of barrels had finished just as we got there so we got stuck into their Wheat Nancy which was very drinkable.

Friday morning wasn't very demanding - the odd last minute touch to the bar and a final watering of barrels - and then it was time to drop into the Waters Green Tavern for a beer and a bit of snap.

The Beartown Blonde that I tried was a bit on the watery side but there was an excellent stout from Thornbridge on offer called Brock plus a refreshing brew called OTT from Phoenix.

(right) Trev and Dave Hasler check the beers

On return to the marquee, it was now time for one of our favourite tasks - checking the beers - with Trevor leading the way and Keef and I following in his wake.

By the end of the 120-odd barrels it was a bit of a blur trying to remember what was what - I don't make notes - may be some of the dark beers were a touch too cold and may be could have done without that last watering - but they'd warm up once we had a few bodies in.

Friday night tends to be the busiest session of the three - and this was no exception - thankfully the warm weather meant people could wander outside. W e had a healthy number of volunteer bar staff too and so didn't get too rushed off our feet.

I was at one end of the bar (breweries T to W) where the peoples' favourites were Wibbly Wallaby from local brewer Wincle and Original Blonde from the White Rose brewery in Sheffield - these were popular with both sexes and took a real hammering during the session.

By the time the bar closed at midnight, we'd all had a good time but the work wasn't quite over - Trev, Keef and I needed to check each barrel so Trev could see how we were doing for the rest of the weekend.

Dipping barrels using a dipstick has always proved problematic and slow going in amongst the scaffold of the bar so Trev has developed a little device that uses a piece of beer line, a L-shaped piece of wood and basic physics to give a reading of how much is left in the barrel - it turns out to be a lot quicker than using the dipstick and we were finished well before our taxi arrives to whisk us back to Bolly.

Nevertheless, it was still 2am by the time I got to bed and so we didn't make it back to the festival until 11am on the Sat morning by which time the marquee was looking all spruce and clean once more.

The previous nights readings had been feed into Trev's spreadsheet and he'd determined we were on course with no need for any emergency barrels.

(left) Keef checks the tasting notes

A queue had gathered almost an hour early for the lunchtime session as it's very popular with the ticker community and those who prefer a more peaceable environment - Darlo chum Colin Fletcher was amongst them along with his collection of Panda Pop bottles so that he could do a bit of bottling.

Also present, as he is every year, is local MP Sir Nicholas Winterton doing his bit for the traditional brewing trade.

Fewer bar staff in action but it never got too busy and there was plenty of time for us to chat with the customers. By this stage, a couple more beers started to grow in popularity in my area - the hoppy Yard Hopper (4%) from Ferryhill's Yard of Ale brewery and the Great Wegber (5.5%) from the Yorkshire Dales brewery, an extremely smooth porter.

Once the session closed at 3:30pm there was another flurry of checking the levels before Margaret (the soon-to-be Mrs Trev) and I wandering into Macc for fish and chips though precious few seemed to be open after 2pm.

And then it was a matter of waiting for the evening session - basically thumb twiddling until 7pm.

This final session saw a lot of younger Maxonians - many in groups and clearly not familiar with cask ale and usually asking for something like lager - "got anything like Stella, mate?".

Normally we do try and suggest alternatives to those not familiar with cask - the Yard Hopper is quite light and was a decent alternative to lager close to hand - we don't want to preach to them as that doesn't really work whereas giving them a few samples so they can get a chance to try other tastes often brings interesting results. However it was just far too busy to do this.

(above) Busy bar in action

The Wincle Wallaby and Original Blonde soon gave up the ghost, the barrels exhausted in less than 30 mins, by which time the Lavender Honey from the Wolf brewery had been put on having finally settled and was proving very popular.

It was a hard session - I wasn't particularly in the mood for beer and probably had one pint all night but did manage about four cans of lukewarm coke - I was glad when it was all over to be honest.

Well not quite over - a final measuring to see how much had been drunk before we then had to strip down the bar ready for the marquee to be taken down at 6am the following day - any barrels with beer left just had to be emptied - a sad waste but what can you do? Most people have had enough by then.

In all 11,509 pints of were drunk over the weekend - not to mention foreign bottled beers and the 20 pins of cider and perry which went in double-quick time - the order for that will certainly be increased for next year's festival.

And virtually every one had a good time with few incidents of note thanks to the efficient security and the friendly nature of the event. See you there next year...

Macc Fest

This week I'll have the pleasure of working at the Macclesfield beer festival as for once in recent years it doesn't clash with a Darlo game.

The Macclesfield Charity Beer Festival (to give it it's full name) is not your normal average beer festival - it's a joint effort with the local Round Table, Macclesfield rugby club (who host the event ina marquee in their car park) and members of the local CAMRA branch.

It's through the latter that I got involved since my mate Keith was a local member and was one of those originally tasked with sorting out the beer side of things for the inaugural festival in 1994. I came along to help him look after the bar and have only missed about four festivals since then.

The event heavily features musical entertainment each night and as such it attracts a wider range of people than a normal CAMRA festival - more your average sort of weekend-town-centre-drinker in attendance - and it's a much looked forward to fixture on the Macc social calendar.

(left) Trev and Keith check ale is well

My other mate, Trevor, has taken on the role of bar manager for quite a few years now and each year sees him put together a very impressive range of beers.

And each year the vast majority of them are served in tip-top condition by a bunch of volunteer bar staff- there's always one or two barrels that don't drop or are off but they're few and far between. You'll do well to find anyone who leaves disappointed.

Looking after the beer is always fun as the weather in May can vary from one extreme to the other - in the early days things were quite primitive, some years we're struggling to keep the beer cool and other years it's too cold - incontinence pads were used to either keep the barrels warm or dampened to keep them cool.

With upwards of a thousand folk each night, it's hard work keeping them all served and happy - especially when they don't know what they want.

"What do you recommend?" is the question I hate most - almost as annoying as "Don't you do Boddies/Stones?".

(above) Everything ready - just waiting for the punters

That is why I prefer the relative calm of the Macclesfield and East Cheshire CAMRA Saturday afternoon session where it's a more familiar crowd of "individuals" along with tickers from the north-west and Yorkshire making their way. Entry is free and it's a very relaxed lunchtime session where you actually have time to talk.

If you're in the area this weekend, do drop in and say hello...