Camra under fire from top ale brewers

Campaign group ‘undermining pubs’

SINCE ITS formation in 1971, the Campaign to Protect Real Ale (Camra) has been a consistent campaigner against mass-produced beers and a champion of the production and consumption of hand crafted beverages.

However, Camra is now accused of undermining the very ales it was established to promote.

A total of 110 independent brewers – including some who have won Camra awards for their beers – have come together to pen an open letter to the campaign group, accusing it pushing drinkers into large corporate chains and imperilling small breweries and pubs.

The source of the brewers disquiet is Camra’s use of vouchers for its members which allow them to claim discounted pints of ale.

All Camra members are sent 60 vouchers a year for use at a selection of large bar chains, with each voucher offering 50p off the price of a pint of real ale, cider or perry.

However the policy has come under fire from smaller brewers who say the practice sets unrealistic expectations among new real ale drinkers, damages small breweries who cannot produce to the scales the big chains require and disrespects the craft that goes into producing real ale.

One extract of the letter, seen by reads: “It is dangerously inconsistent for Camra to promote real ale as the pinnacle of the brewer’s art while simultaneously making it the cheapest beer on the bar.

“The policy also undermines Camra’s public image, as it promotes that which it was established to overhaul: a limited range of beers from large breweries, served-up cheaply by pub chains.”

Another reads: “Camra will win more support from the wider brewing and pub industries when it stops driving people to chain pubs for cheap beer, and when it instead respects real ale, respect the pubs that showcase it, and respects the brewers who produce it.”

The anger has deepened in recent days after the Scarborough branch of Camra proposed a motion on this issue for the forthcoming annual general meeting in York, only for Camra to reject it from the order paper.

An appeal has been lodged, but will not be heard until the night before the AGM.

Scarborough branch member Phil Saltonstall, who owns Brass Castle Brewery in Malton, and who proposed the motion, said: “As a Camra member who firmly believes in real ale and its position as the most interesting and characterful way of showcasing beer, I’ve always been offended every time I am sent discount vouchers with my membership renewal.

“The discount vouchers run counter to my desire to support high-quality real ale and I am particularly worried that they drive members away from the very pubs that need their support.

“I love real ale and these discount vouchers cheapen it.”

I love real ale and these discount vouchers cheapen it.

Phil Saltonstall, owner of Brass Castle Brewery.