1976-2026

As part of a series of events to celebrate our 50th anniversary a special presentation was made to Lowri at the Farmers Arms, Upper Church Village, where our April Branch Meeting marked 50 years from the date of the first meeting in 1976.

The branch was formed in 1976, following a number of well attended public meetings across the area. Former chairman Bill Roberts recalls those early days, including running Beer Exhibitions, and some rather cheeky publicity deriding the actions and beers of certain big brewers.

Bill also described the high-spirited exploits of branch members in search of unusual and rare beers, and efforts to find pubs to include in early issues of The Good Beer Guide.

Thanks to Bill for compiling an illustrated account of those early years, which can be found here: Branch 50th Anniversary - Early History

Other celebration events include a joint social with Vale & Bridgend branch in the Old Castle Inn, Bridgend on Saturday 13th June and a social in the Otley Arms, Trefforest on Saturday 8th August

Big brewers hijack the iconic cask handpump.

For generations, a handpump on the bar has been a mark of assurance. Now, Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company – one of the world's largest brewery conglomerates – has resorted to misleading consumers by hijacking the handpump to serve its “Fresh Ale” product.

CMBC says this is “preserving the beloved hand pull ritual that delivers the traditional theatre of serve that ale is famed for”.

CAMRA’s Real Ale, Cider and Perry Campaigns Director, Gillian Hough, said: “Consumers deserve better than Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) play acting at serving cask – a product they claim to champion. Instead, CMBC have closed breweries and removed cask lines from bars. “There’s room for all kinds of beer on the bar, but brewers should champion their whole range honestly, proudly serving their keg beers through keg fonts rather than using handpumps and misleading their customers.”

So far, CMBC has three beers in their ‘Fresh Ale’ range. They are Wainwright Gold, Wainwright Amber and Hobgoblin IPA, and will have ‘brewery conditioned beer’ displayed on the pump clip.

In the 70’s, when cask first came under threat and CAMRA was founded, the loss of a handpump was often the canary in the mine – not just for individual venues, but also for the beer industry as a whole. Then, as now, CAMRA members are taking the issue straight to those involved.

You can help fight the handpump hijack by following these simple steps:

• Let us know if you come across ‘Fresh Ale’ in your local. You can do this by using the ‘Send an email to the CAMRA branch’ button at the bottom of the relevant National Pub Guide venue page.
• Send us photos of ‘Fresh Ale’ pump clips. We need to find examples!
• If in doubt, Ask if it’s Cask. We need consumers to make licensees aware of the issue of misleading dispense and explain why you won’t be buying it.