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The Beertonian swung by Clarence Street this evening to check on the Goat weathervane who sits on top of the Goat Maltings that once belonged to the Peter Walker Brewery following the recent fire.

“It did get rather hot on Saturday,” said the Goat laughing. “I was beginning to think Roast Goat was going to be on the menu.”

Any idea what happened?

“No not really, I was happily keeping watch over the town, which I’ve done for nearly 140 years, when suddenly the air was filled with thick black smoke and then the sound of sirens. I could vaguely make out the blue lights below.”

“It was strange being the centre of attention! I really didn’t know that so many people cared about me,” said the Goat with a tear in his eye.

Getting emotional Goat?

“Never! I’ve got some soot in my eye and it’s really hard to hold a tissue with cloven hooves. Could you give it a wipe please?”

The iconic Goat Maltings on Clarence Street in Burton upon Trent are currently on fire. The main column of smoke is rising from the unique octagonal malthouse with more coming from a roof vent at the far end of the building.

The Grade II Listed Maltings once formed part of The Clarence Street Brewery built by the Trustees of the Late Peter Walker, the entire premises were accepted as the most ornate of all the Victorian Burton Breweries. The original brewery was erected in 1883-84 by Lowe and Sons of Burton and designed by the Architects G. Scamell and R. C. Sinclair. The Maltings take their name from the beautiful copper goat weathervane.

Peter Walker was originally from Warrington and moved to Burton, where his brother Andrew Barclay Walker had already established a brewery. Tragically before his brewery was finished, Peter died, so the company became known as The Trustees of the Late Peter Walker. Brewing ceased in 1929 and the site was sold to Maltsers Yeoman, Cherry and Curtis.

As yet the extent of the damage and the cause of the fire are unknown, but it is looking likely that Burton is about to lose another part of its rich brewing history.

The Devonshire Arms (known locally as The Devvie) has stood on Station Street, Burton upon Trent since the 1840’s, when it was owned by the Appleby family. It became part of the estate of James Eadie & Son in 1888, who brewed a stone’s throw away on Cross Street and after Eadie’s sold to Bass in the 1920’s, The Devvie followed suit and became a Bass pub. Bass later sold the premises to Ind Coope where it became one of their flagship houses in the 1980’s. Following the Bass takeover of Ind Coope The Devvie changed hands again and was bought by Burton Bridge Brewery who maintained the green and gold Ind Coope identity.

Today it is a Freehouse under the ownership of Carl and Nicki Stout, who ran the Burton Bridge pub for the last ten years. They bought The Devvie on 18 February 2019. Carl and Nicki have a long and varied history in the pub trade.

“My wife has always been involved in the licencing trade,” says Carl. “She worked behind the bar and was then Assistant Manager at the Fettler & Firkin pub chain in Nuneaton. We used to drink in the Wetherspoon’s when we lived in Nuneaton and saw the application for Trainee Pub Managers, we applied, got it, we put our house up for rent, quit our jobs and ended up working for Wetherspoon’s in North London in 1997. We worked at the Moon on the Hill in Harrow for twelve months, then moved to Cambridge and then to the Lord Burton as Managers in our own right, where we stayed for three and a half years.”

It was through managing the Lord Burton that Carl and Nicki first met Geoff Mumford and Bruce Wilkinson of Burton Bridge Brewery; this was the start of a long term partnership.

“They offered us the Devonshire as a tenancy, which we ran for five years. When Kevin left the Bridge we were offered that and we ran that as a tenancy for ten years and then we came back here as Freeholders.”

What it is that makes The Devvie such a special place?

“It’s a fantastic building, one of the oldest pubs in the Burton and the location!” reckons Carl. “It’s a town centre pub but with a large local cliental means we have a lot of locals but we also get a lot of passing trade, people using the Indian Restaurants … we get a broad spectrum of customer.”

The Devvie forms part of what is unofficially known as “The Station Street Run”, this also includes The Roebuck, The Last Heretic and The Cooper’s Tavern. Such a concentration of excellent pubs all within staggering distance of each other is one of the reasons that people still flock to Burton for the beer!

“When I follow Burton Albion away and talk to other supporters, they all love coming to Burton,” reveals Carl. “When we got relegated, there were a lot of Championship teams willing Burton to stay up so they could come here for a drink! We had a coach full of Wolves fans turn up at the Bridge and they sent us a Christmas card with a twenty pound note to thank us for the hospitality.”

The Devvie is a football friendly place and welcomes both home and away fans, as long as they behave themselves: “When supporters come to Burton, there is no threat, intimidation or hostility towards away supporters. There’s no history or rivalries there.”

Although The Devvie is a Freehouse, Burton Bridge Brewery beers still feature heavily on the bar.

“One of the conditions of the sale was that I have to sell three Burton Bridge beers for a period of time,” says Carl, not that this is any hardship of course and it is easy to argue that this forms part of their identity. “The Bridge Bitter is as good a bitter as you’ll get, the Stairway to Heaven is a very popular drink and then I rotate the dark ones, so I have the Top Dog Stout, the Damson Porter and the regular Porter. Even if I was free of tie I would still have two Burton Bridge beers on.”

Along with the Bridge beers Carl has four guests: “I don’t pick guest ales that are off the wall, I go for drinkability. We always have a light one around 3.8%, two around the 4.5-5.0% mark and typically a stronger one. With the three Burton Bridge and four guest ales I think we cover all bases in terms of strength and tastes.”

If you have attended one of Carl and Nicki’s annual Beer and Sausage Festivals at The Bridge, the good news is that these are set to continue.

“We are planning on having a festival at the end of September / beginning of October. Logistically it’ll be a bit different, we have got an outside area but it’s not quite as perfect as it was at the Bridge, but I am sure there are ways around it.”

The popular food nights are also staying: “At the Bridge we started doing a Steak Night on a Tuesday, one of the quieter nights, this proved a tremendous success. We have extended our range of themed evenings, we do the burger night, the steak night, the fish night and we are trialling pizza evenings as well. I don’t want to turn this into a food pub, it is a boozer first and foremost, but it’s something my wife enjoys doing and it is all home cooked food.”

Since February they have made a few tweaks to the pub, including maps and historical pictures of Burton but generally Carl is happy with the place: “It’s there or thereabouts. We’ve redecorated, put in new lighting, pictures and the feedback has been very positive We will probably end up doing something with the front bar next year, the garden isn’t too bad and then we may look at repainting externally.”

Carl displays an obvious passion for being a pub Landlord, the pride he has in his beer and his premises are immediately apparent from the minute you walk in the The Devvie, mind you it isn’t as glamourous a job as some may think.

“After you’ve been in the pub trade for over 20 odd years, your body clock is all over the place; split shifts, one hour splits, all day shifts … but the worst thing is getting up early in the morning. Anything after nine o’clock I’m not too bad, anything before … it’s a struggle,” he laughs. “I work in the region of 55 to 60 hours a week, it’s the sort of job when you don’t clock in and clock out.”

Carl’s favourite part of the job?

“Friday and Saturday evening, when the pub is full and there’s a nice atmosphere, that’s when I really enjoy it. It’s the customers that make a pub not the Landlord, we put things in place but it can’t happen without the customers,” he says humbly.

The Devvie: one of the finest pubs in arguably the best town for beer in the country. What’s not to like?

@devvieburton

The story of Thornbridge Brewery began in 2004 when Jim Harrison and Simon Webster oversaw the installation of a small ten barrel brewery in an outbuilding on the 100 acre estate at Thornbridge Hall, near Great Longstone in Derbyshire. Jim and Simon employed two young brewers (one being Martin Dickie who soon left to co-found another brewery …), the first beer brewed in early 2005 was Lord Marples, a classic 4% bitter, which is still produced to this day.

Their second ale in mid-2005 was the real game-changer; Jaipur. A mouth-watering 5.9% IPA loaded with American hops making it like nothing else on the market at the time; Jaipur was an instant hit and soon demand outstripped supply. New premises were built at Riverside on the A6 between Bakewell and Buxton in 2009, the bespoke brewery enabling Thornbridge to quench the thirst for Jaipur and also develop their core range. Brewing still continues on the original site and is used for experimentation and collaborations.

If you have never tried Thornbridge Brewery’s beers, you owe it to yourself to visit Bodell’s for the Swadlincote pub’s inaugural Tap Taker, which runs from this Thursday to Sunday. With a total of seventeen beers on offer, ten cask and seven on key keg there is something for every taste. Mind you if you are already a convert, you know you are in for a treat …

Bodell’s Ashley Ayling: “Thornbridge are and always have been one of my favourite breweries, and I’ve never had a bad beer from them on either cask or keg; in fact the best pint (sorry, 500ml) of Jaipur I had was in Helsinki, despite it costing me around £13!”

So why organise a Tap Taker?

“It is something different and seems to pull people in when it has been done at other venues in the area,” observes Ash. “It creates an event.”

And why do Thornbridge particularly lend themselves to such a venture?

“They have such a wide variety of styles,” says Ash. “There’s bound to be something they brew that people like.”

The beer list is as follows (for tasting notes see the end of this article). Cask: Jaipur, Lucaria, Twin Peaks, Brother Rabbit, Lord Marples, Lumford, Black Harry, Melba, Astryd and Market Porter. Keg: Satzuma, Tart, Heartland, AM:PM, Versa, Green Mountain and Elio. There will also be cans of Jaipur and a limited supply of Strawberry Lucaria in bottle.

One beer conspicuous by its absence is Cerberus, the Cherry Bakewell Stout brewed in collaboration with Burton upon Trent pub The Dog: “We tried but it was sold out,” says Ash.

Mike Langford, who works as a Barman at Bodell’s has this to say: “I think the Thornbridge takeover at Bodell’s is a fantastic opportunity for the people of Swadlincote and the surrounding areas to sample some of the best cask and keg beers brewed in the UK. Thornbridge are fantastic at catering for both sides of the beer market with classic, rich cask ales and fresh, exciting new keg craft beers.”

“Ash has picked some good beers, it should go down really well,” says barman Mike Langford who is doubtlessly expecting to be rushed off his feet. “I always love Jaipur whether it’s cask or keg. Their Lucaria’s in any flavour are always so tasty and who can resist the modern classic Green Mountain fresh out of the keg?”

CASK

Jaipur – 5.9% – IPA

Award winning India Pale Ale, smooth, but this builds around the mouth to a crescendo of massive hoppiness accentuated by honey.

Lucaria – 6.0% – Ice Cream Porter

Decadent, creamy ice cream porter that pours thick with flavours of chocolate and vanilla

Twin Peaks – 5.0% – Anglo American Pale Ale

Aromas of tropical fruits – pineapple and mango balanced with the refreshing taste of lemon sherbet –refreshing and easy drinking.

Brother Rabbit – 4.0% – Golden Ale

Lemon zest in colour with a clean, hoppy aroma. Dry palate, resinous finish and some bitterness – a great session beer.

Lord Marples – 4.0% – Classic British Bitter

Tastes of honey and caramel and, although you can experience a surprising smoothness, watch out for the long bitter finish.

Lumford – 3.9% – New World Pale Ale

Pale ale brewed using New Zealand and US hops. Flavours are floral, apples, peach and orange peel. Hoppy bitter finish with clean and crisp passionfruit, grapefruit and gooseberry.

Black Harry – 3.9% – Fruity Dark Ale

Full of dark fruity aromas with hints of raspberry, a light creamy body and a long nutty, malty finish. Dark, refreshing and very drinkable.

Melba – 4.5% – Peach IPA

Melba pours a light gold in colour and its peachy character is complemented beautifully by the use of highly aromatic US hops.

Astryd – 3.8% – Juicy Pale

This Juicy Pale is unfined therefore naturally hazy and vegan friendly. The hop profile of Crystal and Mosaic gives this beer a finish of tropical fruits such as Guava and Mango.

Market Porter – 4.5% – Creamy, Smooth Porter

Named after Thornbridge’s new pub in York – The Market Cat. This is a smooth, robust creamy porter with a hint of coffee to finish.

KEG

Satzuma – 4.5% – Satzuma Session IPA

A bold citrus aroma on the palate with a zesty nose. Hops blend beautifully with satsuma peel for a juicy crescendo. Gluten Free Beer.

Tart – 6.0% – Bakewell Sour

Bakewell Sour pours a golden yellow colour with a white head. The beer is refreshingly tart and dry with a combination of citrusy hops and flavours of grapefruit and bitter lemon.

Heartland – 4.9% – English Cellar Ale

A brand new beer, brewed with Thornbridge Cask Ale Yeast and hopped with a beautiful range of Hukin Hops. Heartland is a celebration of locally sourced products and a refreshing hazy ale.

AM:PM – 4.5% – Session IPA

All the flavours and body of an IPA. Bags of tropical fruit aromas, pineapple, tangerine, guava and passionfruit are balanced with a chewy, honeyed malt character.

Versa – 5.0% – Weisse Beer

This fresh, fruity Weisse beer pours a hazy, burnt orange and true to its style, has well balanced flavours of clove spiciness, banana and bubble gum.

Green Mountain – 4.3% – Hazy Vermont Session IPA

This Vermont-style session IPA is generously dry hopped, creating a hugely aromatic and juicy fruit bomb. It drinks beautifully, with just a light bitterness to keep it perfectly balanced.

Elio – 4.7% – Summer Ale

Brand New! Light, fresh and hugely drinkable. Elio is the perfect accompaniment to those long summer days.

Cans of Jaipur available and there is also a very limited bottle stock of:

Strawberry Lucaria – 4.5% – Strawberry Ice Cream Porter

A twist on the ice cream porter Lucaria. Added strawberries to make a decadent, creamy ice cream porter that pours thick with flavours of strawberries and vanilla. A dream for anyone with a sweet tooth.

The National Brewery Heritage Trust is a charity set up to look after and promote the vast archive of brewing related material held at the National Brewery Centre in Burton upon Trent and they have recently launched a Crowdfunding appeal to create an on-line catalogue.

“The project will cost £50,000 and £30,000 has already been raised in donations from generous individuals and organisations,” states the Chairman Harry White. “We want people to enjoy their collection but currently only 5000 of our half a million items are on display at the National Brewing centre in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. That means 99% of the collection is hidden from view in our archives, making it impossible for anyone interested in British beer, pubs and brewing to appreciate what’s there.”

The archive itself is a goldmine of information stretching back over 200 years, from photographs, bottles, beer labels, breweriana, manuscripts and company record books, many of which are unique.

“We want everyone to be able to see what we’ve got,” says Harry. “We’re developing an on-line catalogue which will enable many more people to enjoy this unique record of our brewing heritage and to appreciate the cultural, social and economic role of our industry.

On a personal note, I am eternally in debt to the National Brewery Centre and the archive. When I started my first research project ten years ago, I was given access to the Ind Coope and Samuel Allsopp company records which they hold, without these I would never have written my first book. It was also through the Curator Vanessa Winstone that I found a publisher.

History should be shared and not locked away in dusty boxes; it belongs to all of us and by having an on-line catalogue, this will inspire others to dig into the past and write articles and books.

The crowdfunding campaign to raise the remaining £20,000 runs from 29^th May – 23^rd July and you can donate by visiting https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/brewing-heritage-online

If you have any interest in the history of brewing and beer can I please encourage you to support the cause.

National Brewery Heritage Trust

Lee and Rachael Betts took over the Derby Inn in November 2016 and for the last two years have been runner-up in the Burton & South Derbyshire CAMRA Pub of the Year.

“When the winning pub is in the town centre and in a position to make a lot more beers available than us, to come second feels like a win,” muses Lee on the award. “We are very much a community pub, but saying that everyone who visits is made to feel very welcome and keeping real ales to a very high standard and in perfect condition keeps people coming back.”

The CAMRA award is reassurance that Lee and Rachael are doing things right.

“We’ve tried to create a sociable little home-from-home in our treasured pub, adding personal touches wherever we can and this is appreciated. I’m happy to say we get emails from far and wide thanking us for the experience from visitors to the pub. Our main aim for the future is simply to keep that going.”

“We keep Bass on all the time,” says Lee who is rightly proud that his is of the finest examples of the classic Burton beer in the town. “We have a rolling guest, which for the presentation is Gates Damn.”

We have taken the Timothy Taylors off for now and in the last week we have put Pedigree on,” which will always be a good seller in Burton if it is in the hands of a Landlord like Lee.

Congratulations to the Derby Inn from everyone at Burton & South Derbyshire CAMRA.

The Coopers Tavern on Cross Street, Burton upon Trent has won an award and for once it has nothing to do with the quality of the beer. The CAMRA Pub Design Awards are designed to highlight architecture, design and conservation in British pubs and this year the Joule’s pub has been officially recognised for the conservation work that took place in 2017 by being bestowed the Historic England Award for Conservation.

The careful refurbishment saw a new beer garden and two extra rooms which share the same unique character of the original pub in such a way that a first-time visitor wouldn’t realise which rooms had only been recently added. The narrow corridor leading into the bar area with it’s even narrower counter still makes this one of the few pubs where it is not only acceptable to queue for a pint, but essential.

The history of the Coopers Tavern stretches back over 200 years; originally a house for the Brewer in Charge at Bass, it was used to store special malts and then in 1826 as a storeroom for Imperial Stout. Legend has it that it became an unofficial drinking place for Bass Coopers, hence the name, and was first licenced in 1858. It spent many years as the Bass Brewery Tap. After spending a number of years under the ownership of Kimberley Ales, who added what is now the William Bass Meeting Room in the 1990’s, the pub was bought by Joules. Along with a full range of their beers and an ever-changing array of guest ales, Draught Bass was reintroduced; served directly from the barrel of course, in keeping with a long-standing Burton tradition that dates back to when the pub was little more than a room with a few chairs and a barrel.

Andrew Davison, chair of CAMRA’s judging panel: “People sometimes assume that ‘conservation’ simply means ‘preservation in aspic’. However, Historic England, the sponsor of the award, has long advocated constructive conservation where the features which give a building its special character are retained and conserved, whilst changes which will give it a viable future are carried out as carefully and sympathetically as possible.  

“This has been done to very good effect at the Coopers Tavern. The introduction of a ‘proper’ bar counter, which might have been expected to dismay lovers of a pub which has only the tiniest of counters in the historic tap room, has been handled with great care whilst new public rooms have been created from private accommodation in a way which is totally in keeping with the historic core. A very worthy winner of this award.”

“This pub is particularly important to us, with Joule’s previous association with Bass,” admits Marie Poole, the Property Manager of Joule’s. “When we came to site to start the work I did feel that the eyes of the world were boring down on us. On many occasions I found people lurking outside, peering through the window …” she laughs. “It was a labour of love for us and we paid reverence to what is a shrine for beer. We then passed it onto the Landlady Mandy who has done a great job looking after it and I know she cherishes this pub.”

“I am extremely proud of the award,” says Landlady Mandy Addis, who took over the pub two years ago. “It’s a brilliant accolade to Joules and the team for their amazing work. I feel so lucky to be the Landlady here, it is such a beautiful building steeped in history.”

Other winners were:

Refurbishment category

Winner: The Pilot Boat in Lyme Regis

Highly commended: The Sekforde Arms, London

Conversion to Pub Use category

Joint Winner: The Royal Pavilon in Ramsgate

Joint Winner: The Slaughterhouse in Guernsey

Highly Commended: The Butcher’s Hook, Gloucestershire

Highly Commended: The Draughtsman Alehouse, Doncaster

Joe Goodwin Award (best street corner local)

Winner: Cardigan Arms, Leeds

Starting this Thursday running until Bank Holiday Monday is the 4th Birthday Party for The Dog, Burton & South Derbyshire CAMRA’s three time Pub of the Year winners.

Along with a wide range of beers, ciders, perrys and gins for sale, this also marks the launch of a special collaboration between The Dog and Thornbridge.

“The beer is a Cherry Bakewell Stout called Cerberus,” says Landlord John McLaughlin referencing the triple headed dog from Greek Mythology that guarded the gates of the underworld. “It will be available over the whole weekend. Being our 4th Birthday we needed a birthday cake so we’ve taken a few pints of our Cerberus and added it to a rich cherry and chocolate cake so make sure you get a slice of that!”

And how is the beer?

“it’s tasting amazing!”

John has being doing some Brew It Yourself.

“To be able to brew on Thornbridge’s original kit that gave birth to Jaipur was a real honour,” reckons John. “It was tasting Jaipur and Thornbridge’s other beers that sent me on my good beer journey.”

“I had a hand in pretty much every aspect of the brew from weighing the grains, mashing them in, testing that all the starch had converted to sugars, sparging and transferring to the boil kettle, adding the hops & lactose, chilling, transferring and finally pitching the yeast.”

Even emptying out the Mash Tun?

“And yes, of course digging out he mash tun,” he laughs. “Wet grains are heavy!”

As if one beer isn’t enough, John has also produced The Notorious D.O.G.

“I can’t start my day without a coffee and a Lotus Biscoff biscuit,” reveals John. “We have tried to recreate this in a beer by adding over 3kgs of Biscoff biscuits into the mash and adding fresh cold brew coffee and caramel to the fermentation!”

“This was brewed at the Brewhouse & Kitchen in Lichfield, there’s only one cask in existence so get here Thursday if you wanna try this one!” No so much Micro brewing or even Nano brewing, is this an example of Pico brewing?

Back to the festival, although John has yet to reveal the beer list he does have this to say.

“We have a host of other beers from the likes of Northern Monk, Arbor, Loka Polly, Track, Salopian, Oakham, Titanic, Siren and plenty more with gluten free and vegan friendly beers on sale too! It’s not just beers on sale, as always we have a great selection of ciders, perrys & gins and to keep your hunger at bay we will have a range of cobs, pork pies and nibbles for you.”

https://www.facebook.com/thedoginnburton/

@TheDogBurton

I have been asked on a number of occasions recently about what has happened to the Burton Old Cottage Beer Company and The Weighbridge Inn. Although there has been no official word, the rumours are the business has been put up for sale (one source says £15k but don’t quote me on that) due to the departure of the part time brewer and the awful news that the owner is very poorly; if anyone connected to the brewery is reading this please pass on my best wishes.

Over the last six months the opening hours of The Weighbridge Inn have slowly reduced until it finally closed last month, the lease is apparently up for sale as well.

If you attended this year’s 40th Beer & Cider Festival, you might have tried their Just So Stout and Halcyon Daze, I had a half of Daze on the Saturday evening and it was spot on. It saddens me that I may never get to drink it again.

Here are some photographs that I took over the last year or so of the Weighbridge Inn.

“Being made ‘club of the year’ by our local CAMRA branch is fantastic news for our club,” says Ian McGibbon, Secretary of Stretton Social Club following last night’s presentation. “We are very grateful to CAMRA for the recognition. The most important part of any club or pub is the quality of the beer. To that extent this award is testament to the brilliant work of our Bar Manager Ian Woolley and his fantastic team of staff headed up by Katrina Worthington, they keep a great pint and serve it with a smile.”

“A club should be an asset to and be at the heart of its local community,” Ian continues. “As a family friendly club, we definitely aspire to be that in Stretton. The support from our members, old and new has been terrific as the club has developed and improved over the last few years. Long may that continue! We are also very grateful to John Brandon at Rolleston Club for his, support, encouragement and advice, the fact we have taken the crown as club of the year from such brilliant club as Rolleston suggests we are getting a few things right,” says Ian with a smile.

“We stock Pedigree and there are two further rotating guest ales, featuring popular national guest beers and the best local beers we can source,” Ian explains. “Visitors are welcome but as can be seen by the expansion of membership, people tend to join once they have been in a few times.”

Stretton Social Club has seen a significant rise in membership, from 250 in 2015 to around 1,000. This has led to re-investment and improvements in the facilities.

“Both the bar and lounge have been refurbished and there are plans to build new toilets, disabled facilities and a ‘snug’. The club though remains a family friendly village club.”

The club has a long and varied history that Ian now tells.

“Following the war a group of Stretton men decide to build a club on the current site in 1946/47. Originally it was known as Stretton Labour Club. It was a corrugated iron structure which allegedly blew into the canal almost as soon as it was built! A more substantial structure replaced it and in January 1951 the club became a ‘social’ club and adapted new articles of association. It is wholly owned by its members. The club was a real focal point of the village, a place where families could spend time but bingo was sacrosanct!

“A new structure was built above the original building and the bar as it is now (more or less) was created during the 1960s. In 1967 a lounge was added, with the support of Bass. A bowling green to the rear of the club was also added.

“The club’s heydays were the 1960’s and 1970’s, stories of people getting off the ‘Blue Bus’ in Beech Lane at 7.00pm on Friday and Saturday night and racing in to get a seat are retold regularly.”

Alas like many clubs they struggled in the 1990’s, selling off the bowling green for houses, the club then downsized in the 2000’s.

“The club still struggled though and faced closure several times,” Ian says sadly. “Finally following a sustained effort by former Secretary and Treasurer, Mick and Marina Gray, supported by a small committee, the club was put back onto a sustainable footing. Alas though as they moved on in 2015, footfall was reduced and the future looked challenging. A new committee was formed in May 2015 and there was a sustained effort to turn the club back into what it had originally been, a club for and owned by the village, a community asset.”

If you live in Stretton and have never been to the club, there is plenty to tempt you.

“We host regular live bands and acoustic acts and a number of family parties throughout the year.  We show live football, have regular bingo nights along with zumba classes, karate for under 16’s and a poker league. Darts, pool and dominoes teams also compete from the club.”

Congratulations to Stretton Social club, worthy winners of Burton & South Derbyshire CAMRA Club of the Year 2019.

https://www.facebook.com/StrettonSocialClub/

@strettonsocial1