The trail booklet lists pubs in easy reach of stations along the network that have been endorsed by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), an organisation devoted to promoting quality beer and quality places in which to drink it. Numerous towns and pubs are listed in the booklet, but here are some of the highlights:
Banbury
Banbury is only 75 minutes from London, and it’s a pleasant small town to wander around. The Woolpack is 10 minutes from the station and has a great selection of real ales. Another pub worth visiting (though it’s not in the booklet) is The Banbury Cross, on Butcher’s Row, on narrow a lane just off the high street.
Warwick
The town made famous by its castle has no shortage of places to have a pint, but easily one of the best is the Cape of Good Hope.
It’s adjacent to a canal — the front door is so close just two wrong drunken steps would land you in the water — and is well worth the 10-minute walk from the town centre. Two local brewers, Church End and Weather Oak, produce ales solely for the pub.
During the lunchtime that TNT visited, the pub had numerous drinkers getting stuck into the ales. But things aren’t necessarily as rosy as they appeared.
“Ales are under threat,” landlord Sandra Barfoot says. “Punters drink at home instead of the pub. I wish the bloody supermarkets would stop selling [beer] so cheap. It does get hard.”
Five pubs shut in Warwick in just a one-month period over October and early November.
“It’s scary,” Barfoot says. “One of them was one of the oldest pubs in Warwick. They couldn’t afford to carry on, it’s a bloody shame.”
Lapworth
Just a few stops north is the picturesque town of Lapworth, and another fantastic pub: The Navigation.
Inside it feels like a traditional English pub (the sort you’d see on a postcard), and there’s a large beer garden (and it is a garden, not just a lame courtyard with a few benches) that looks over a quaint canal.
But again, times are tough.
“We’re the only traditional pub still left round here,” says Jake Parfrey, co-landlord of the family-run pub.
The smoking ban, credit crunch, drink-driving laws and cheap supermarket booze are affecting pub trade, Parfrey says.
“Gastro [pubs] seem more fashionable these days. But we’ve got a very, very local customer base, a good regular drinking crowd. Everyone knows each other and comes together for community events like Halloween.”
And the current economic problems could even be a boon for his sort of pub. “With the credit crunch, the traditional pubs will benefit from it, being a cheaper option.”
Dorridge
Just 10 minutes up the road is Dorridge.
Bypass the refurbished Forest Hotel by the station (it lacks any traditional pub atmosphere) and instead take a 10-minute walk to the Railway.
It’s got a small, cosy bar with a fireplace and ales on tap, and a welcoming group of regulars.
Birmingham
Head into Birmingham, and jump off at Moor Street station, opposite the futuristic Selfridges store in the Bullring shopping centre. The Old Royal is a classic Victorian-era pub, while the Old Contemptibles is an example of how to restore a pub without losing its atmosphere.
Real Ale
What is it?
In the simplest of terms, beer comes two varieties: lager and ale.
They’re both made using barley, hops, yeast and water. The difference is in how they are fermented. Lagers are chilled, fizzy beers such as Stella Artois, Carling, Heineken, VB, XXXX and Castle, and are fermented at 6-14˚C. Ales are fermented at 22˚C which, along with the addition of other ingredients such as spices, produces a greater range of flavours and aromas than in lagers.
In addition, a secondary fermentation occurs in the cask (at about 11–13˚C — at which it’s served), including while the cask is sitting in the pub.
The term “real ale” was coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in the 1970s to help drinkers distinguish between ales and lager.
Ales are the traditional beers of Britain but at the time (and to a lesser extent nowadays) were under threat from mass-produced lagers.
However, largely due to Camra’s campaigning, there has been a resurgence in the popularity and availability of ales.
Real Ale
What is it?
In the simplest of terms, beer comes two varieties: lager and ale.
They’re both made using barley, hops, yeast and water. The difference is in how they are fermented. Lagers are chilled, fizzy beers such as Stella Artois, Carling, Heineken, VB, XXXX and Castle, and are fermented at 6-14˚C. Ales are fermented at 22˚C which, along with the addition of other ingredients such as spices, produces a greater range of flavours and aromas than in lagers.
In addition, a secondary fermentation occurs in the cask (at about 11–13˚C — at which it’s served), including while the cask is sitting in the pub.
The term “real ale” was coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in the 1970s to help drinkers distinguish between ales and lager.
Ales are the traditional beers of Britain but at the time (and to a lesser extent nowadays) were under threat from mass-produced lagers.
However, largely due to Camra’s campaigning, there has been a resurgence in the popularity and availability of ales.
Real Ale
What is it?
In the simplest of terms, beer comes two varieties: lager and ale.
They’re both made using barley, hops, yeast and water. The difference is in how they are fermented. Lagers are chilled, fizzy beers such as Stella Artois, Carling, Heineken, VB, XXXX and Castle, and are fermented at 6-14˚C. Ales are fermented at 22˚C which, along with the addition of other ingredients such as spices, produces a greater range of flavours and aromas than in lagers.
In addition, a secondary fermentation occurs in the cask (at about 11–13˚C — at which it’s served), including while the cask is sitting in the pub.
The term “real ale” was coined by the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in the 1970s to help drinkers distinguish between ales and lager.
Ales are the traditional beers of Britain but at the time (and to a lesser extent nowadays) were under threat from mass-produced lagers.
However, largely due to Camra’s campaigning, there has been a resurgence in the popularity and availability of ales.
