{"id":654,"date":"2025-04-24T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/?p=654"},"modified":"2025-04-15T16:04:33","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T16:04:33","slug":"gloucestershire-camra-celebrates-50-years-of-campaigning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/gloucestershire-camra-celebrates-50-years-of-campaigning\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloucestershire CAMRA celebrates 50 years of campaigning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Royal Union in Tivoli, Cheltenham (now closed)<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s fifty years<\/strong> since Gloucestershire CAMRA<\/strong> was founded in the back room of the Royal Union pub<\/strong> in Tivoli Street, Cheltenham<\/strong>. In the mid 1970\u2019s it is quite fair to say that finding a decent pint of real ale was a real challenge. Gloucestershire<\/strong> was dominated by the maroon and white corporate signage of the Whitbread Brewery<\/strong>, a legacy of takeovers of the Stroud Brewery Company<\/strong> and Cheltenham & Hereford Breweries<\/strong> that \u201cjoined the Whitbread family\u201d as part of the amalgamated West Country Breweries<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2026 and on the occasion of their joint
bicentenary wish them long life
and prosperity in their joint venture.<\/p>\nColonel W.H. Whitbread, chairman celebrating 200 years of West Country Brewery, 1960.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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At the time both breweries were in operation, Cheltenham<\/strong> brewing traditional cask Pale Ale<\/strong>, Mild<\/strong> and Bitter<\/strong> and Stroud<\/strong> brewing Stroud Bitter<\/strong>, XX Bitter<\/strong> and XX Mild<\/strong>. In the early 1960\u2019s colourful West Country Ales \u2013 \u2018Best in the West\u2019<\/a> ceramic plaques were still being inlaid into their pubs. Cheltenham and Stroud breweries had lost their independence<\/strong>, but brewing carried on. Maybe the turning point came in 1968 when Whitbread<\/strong> acquired Flowers & Sons<\/strong> of Stratford on Avon<\/strong>, closed the brewery down and merged with West Country Breweries<\/strong> to form Whitbread Flowers<\/strong>. The Flowers Stratford<\/strong> brewery already had Flowers Keg <\/strong>in their portfolio, and with Gloster Keg<\/strong> (brewed at Stroud) becoming more popular. Cask beers were becoming less relevant.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Stroud Beers <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Beers from the Cheltenham Brewery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So, on Thursday 24th<\/sup> April 1975 a few like-minded real ale drinkers sat in the Royal Union<\/strong> quietly supping their pints of Ind Coope Mild<\/strong> and Bitter<\/strong>. They were in the company of locals happily drinking the overly sweet and fizzy Double Diamond keg \u2013 introduced in 1962 and becoming the most widely drunk keg beer in the UK because of a clever advertising campaign; because allegedly it \u2018worked wonders\u2019. With a Whitbread pub seemingly on every street corner, and traditionally brewed ale in terminal decline something had to be done. The Campaign for Real Ale<\/strong>, that had been founded just four years earlier by four men in St Albans, was an obvious campaigning group to affiliate to. There was a huge battle ahead. In 1976 brewery-conditioned beer in kegs and tanks represented 63 per cent of UK beer production. Whitbread<\/strong> was heavily promoting keg Trophy<\/strong> and Tankard<\/strong>, whilst Courage <\/strong>churned out Tavern<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of those present at the inaugural meeting was John Barrett <\/strong>who wrote in the \u2018tippler\u2019 ten years later. He said, \u201cI went along to the Royal Union to see what CAMRA <\/strong>was all about. Somehow from a roomful of people, most of all I didn\u2019t know, I found myself elected to the committee. I tried to protest that I was not actually a member of CAMRA<\/strong>, but to no avail – \u00a32 membership fee was extracted from me and that was that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Believe it or not Double Diamond has been reintroduced in 2025. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The advertisement slogan claimed “after one you’ll do anything well!” For example, flying a helicopter!!!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The summer of 1975 was blessed with good weather, not as hot as the famous 1976 protracted heatwave, but ideal conditions to go out countywide exploring Gloucestershire\u2019s pubs and finding out where traditional draught beer might still be found. It was discovered that although Whitbread<\/strong> pubs dominated there was a high concentration of Courage<\/strong> pubs in the far east of the county, a legacy of the takeover of the Cirencester Brewery<\/strong> by Simonds <\/strong>of Reading<\/strong>. There were scattered tied houses belonging to Wadworth<\/strong> of Devizes<\/strong>, a handful of Arkell\u2019s<\/strong> of Swindon<\/strong> pubs around Cirencester<\/strong> and just two Hook<\/strong> Norton <\/strong>pubs in the extreme north-east of the county in Moreton-in-Marsh <\/strong>and Churchill<\/strong>. At that time very few pubs were genuine free houses, and those that existed were often contented to serve keg instead of cask. The jewel in the crown, then as now, was the scattering of picturesque Donnington Brewery<\/strong> pubs in the Cotswolds<\/strong> but, back in the mid 1970\u2019s, most of their 17 pubs sold BB & SBA<\/strong> under gas pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“It’s the pint it’s a quart!”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
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By far the most easily found real ale in Gloucestershire was West Country Pale Ale<\/strong> (WCPA), dispensed from squeaky old beer engines jostling for space between illuminated Trophy and Tankard fonts. More than often, however, WCPA<\/strong> was served under pressure emerging on the bar in an unassuming plain square plastic box in the shadow of the national keg brands. The heritage and association with Cheltenham<\/strong> brewery were then further diminished with the rebranding of the local beer as Whitbread PA<\/strong>. It was a well-liked session beer, akin to a light mild, and with a low gravity of just 3% ABV was known as the choice for drivers venturing out in their cars to visit isolated pubs. CAMRA<\/strong> described Whitbread PA<\/strong> with derision in the 1976 Good Beer Guide as \u2018bland and unspectacular\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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‘Bland and Unspectacular’, but it was refreshing and a good session beer when served well<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The pub explorations of 1975 were processed into what was to become the first provisional edition of \u2018Real Ale in Gloucestershire\u2019 issued as a stapled eight-page A4 size guide in January 1976. Priced just 10p. A total of 188 pubs were surveyed throughout Gloucestershire. Alarmingly 127 pubs were either tied or sold Whitbread (West Country) PA<\/strong>. Those early stalwarts searching for the best beers to drink in the county only found 17 beers from possibly 10 breweries: Ansells Bitter & Mild<\/strong> (Noel Arms, Chipping Campden); Arkells 2B, 3B<\/strong> (Highwayman, Elkstone), M&B Brew XI <\/strong>and Worthington E <\/strong>(AKA Draught Bass), Ind Coope Bitter & Mild<\/strong> (Royal Union, Cheltenham); Courage Bitter <\/strong>and Best<\/strong>; Donnington BB<\/strong> and SBA<\/strong>; Hook Norton Best Bitter <\/strong>and Mild<\/strong>; Wadworth IPA <\/strong>and 6X<\/strong> (with Old Timer<\/strong> in Winter), Whitbread WCPA<\/strong>, and Ushers Best Bitter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A sample page from the first edition of ‘Real Ale in Gloucestershire’ (Jan 1976). Cheltenham pubs – many long since closed. The key: F indicates Flowers (Whitbread), H indicates handpulled ale and O is Ordinary Bitter (WCPA). An asterik indicates that the pub was an entry in the 1975 CAMRA Good Beer Guide.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Not much choice in Gloucestershire’s pubs in 1975, but things could only get better…<\/sub><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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It is a disturbing and sobering thought that of those 188 pubs surveyed in 1975, 85 have since closed for good. Some have long been forgotten, like the Talbot Inn<\/strong> in Cheltenham, the Heywood<\/strong> in Cinderford, the Red Lion<\/strong> in Gloucester, the Star <\/strong>in Slad, the George<\/strong> at Yorkley and the Anchor <\/strong>in Stroud. Other closed pubs may be remembered with some affection such as the Seven Tuns<\/strong> in Chedworth or the County Arms <\/strong>in Gloucester.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three years later in July 1978, the local CAMRA<\/strong> branch released an updated ‘Real Ale in Gloucestershire’ featuring ales from Davenports<\/strong>, Devenish<\/strong>, Eldridge Pope<\/strong>, Greene King<\/strong>, Holdens<\/strong>, Marston\u2019s<\/strong>, Morland<\/strong>, Penhros<\/strong>, Samuel Smith<\/strong>, and Theakstons<\/strong>. The 1980\u2019s proved to be a boom time for the resurgence of real ale. The Cheltenham<\/strong> brewery was rebranded as the Flowers Brewery<\/strong> complete with the old William Shakespeare logo, albeit some 35 miles or so from its original Stratford on Avon home. Ind Coope<\/strong> pubs disappeared to be re-imagined as Halls Oxford & West Brewery<\/strong>, and even the infamous and much ridiculed Watneys Red Barrel keg beer was discontinued. It seemed that CAMRA<\/strong> had not only fought the battle but had won the war. Then came the Competition Commission\u2019s \u2018Beer Orders\u2019 of 1989, a well-meant initiative to reduce the number of large breweries\u2019 tied estates to create a fairer and wider choice of beer for pub customers. From that legislation sprung the pub companies (Pub Co\u2019s) such as Punch<\/strong> and Enterprise Inns<\/strong>, that have dominated and manipulated the pub scene ever since. But that\u2019s another story and a CAMRA <\/strong>campaign to be explored another time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s fifty years since Gloucestershire CAMRA was founded in the back room of the Royal Union pub in Tivoli Street, Cheltenham. In the mid 1970\u2019s it is quite fair to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gl-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloucestershire.camra.org.uk\/WP25\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}