Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) Hull & East Yorkshire Branch NEWS RELEASE

Licensee Of 'No-Smoking' Café-Bar Is Chosen For Seasonal Award

Issued 14th December 2005

John Alvey, licensees of 'The Foundry' in Driffield has been chosen to receive the 'Pub Mirror Award - Winter 2006' for "Continuing Commitment to Quality Real Ale".

The seasonal awards are currently being used to recognise those licensees in the Hull and East Yorkshire area who have demonstrated a "Continuing Commitment to Quality Real Ale" at a time when they are under great pressure to remove distinctive, tasty real ale and replace it with 'easily kept' heavily advertised, bland tasting nitro-keg beers. The award therefore, also acknowledges those licensees who practise the specialised art of cellermanship. This is because real ale requires expertise to prepare and maintain it in good condition whereas nitro-keg beer only requires connecting to a mixed-gas cylinder before selling.

John was born in Derbyshire and first entered the licensed trade 35 years ago when he married Lynne, the daughter of the licensee of the Spital Hotel in Chesterfield. He initially worked for his father in law but later became the steward of a social club in the town.

They purchased The Foundry on the 31st March 2000 and spent 3 months renovating it before re-opening as a completely no-smoking café-bar. John wanted to offer an alternative choice to the competition and therefore decided to sell Black Sheep Best Bitter as a regular beer. It proved so popular that he added a changing guest beer and removed the slow-selling 'smooth' nitro-keg beer Sales continued to increase and another handpump was installed, then another and another! Now there are 3 beers are available during the week and 4 or 5 at weekends. John uses two distributors to obtain his guest beers; Clarks in Hull and Waverley TBS in Leeds.

The pub is hidden behind the Market Place but is accessible by cutting through Market Walk. Lynne looks after the busy catering side and the pub's opening hours are presently: 10-3 and 7-11 Monday, Thursday and Friday; 10-11 Tuesday and Saturday, and 12-3 on a Sunday.

The award will be presented to John by CAMRA Branch Chairman, Alan Canvess on Saturday 17th December 2005 at 4.00 pm during the branch's All-Day Christmas Pub Crawl of Driffield and Beverley. A large gathering of the pub's regular customers and CAMRA members are expected to attend the presentation. Amongst them will be John Heckford, the branch's Pubs Officer for East Yorkshire who nominated John for the award, stating "With an interesting selection of guest beers and a smoke-free atmosphere, John has created a winning combination."