If you want to ban Alistair Darling from your boozer to protest about the silly way he has tackled "Binge Drinking" by causing more pubs (the places where responsible drinking takes place) to close down, you can download a poster here.

The text reads "We hereby give notice that Alistair Darling, Chancellor of the Exchequer, is barred from this pub until further notice."

The Isle of Wight branch of CAMRA has launched LocALe, a campaign to promote locally brewed beer. The scheme was devised and piloted by the Nottingham branch as has proved extremely successful with over 70 pubs signing up. The idea is simplicity itself. Locally brewed beers (ones brewed on the Isle of Wight) display a special pump clip and a list of the participating pubs is published on this website. click here

The Three Brewers Chris Coleman (Goddards), Xavier Baker (Ventnor) and Dave Yates (Yates')

The advantages are:-

• The local economy benefits from the increased trade with local brewers
• The environment benefits as beers are delivered from breweries only a few miles away, rather than from breweries and depots possibly hundreds of miles away on the mainland
• Isle of Wight tourism benefits from a collective identity
• Landlords benefit. Tourists regularly want local produce and will seek out pubs that sell local beer.

The scheme was launched at the Bargeman's Rest on 3rd March with all three Island Breweries represented.

Any organisations that would like information or would like to support this scheme please phone 721557 or email editor@wightwash.org.uk.

Message from Tim (Marshall - Editor)

On the spur of the moment my brother Nick and I decided that during a recent visit to London that instead of a planned trip to the Natural Science Museum we would go to Wimbledon and visit Edgar. It was so easy. Trains leave Waterloo about every 10 minutes. The trip lasts 16 minutes and the taxi ride was about 5 (Apparently a walk takes around 10 - 15 minutes, but it was pouring with rain). The Crooked Billet is a wonderful old pub full of wood and as you would expect from Edgar, very well run. The pub is owned by Youngs but Edgar has persuaded them to let him have some leeway with what's on offer and the Nieghorn Octoberfest is a celebrated event in the Wimbledon calendar. (Anyone want to come with me this year?)
Edgar and Donna were very pleased to see us and ask us to say hello to all their Isle of Wight friends.
If you are thinking of visiting the Crooked Billet you ought to know that it is to be closed for some refurbishment somewhere around April, so please phone first.( 020 8946 4942 )
There is some preliminary talk of an organised CAMRA trip. Here is the Crooked Billet website

As you will probably know selection of newsletters to go into the CAMRA
Newsletter of the Year Competition has recently been placed into the domain
of the 'RD'.

For 2007/8  I am pleased to announce that I have forwarded 'WIGHTWASH' from
the IOW Branch into the final round of judging.
Well done to Tim and his team.
Not only is it a great read, lively, informative and varied in content, but
it also makes a considerable contribution to campaigning funds.

The key questions for the Alcohol Health Alliance are:

1. If current policies are insufficient, why are the numbers of people drinking in excess of the daily unit guidelines falling?
2. If high taxes reduce harm, why does the UK, which has the second highest alcohol tax rates in Europe, have worse drinking behaviours than low tax countries?
3. If high taxes reduce harm, why do the high tax countries of Europe have higher levels of binge drinking than the low tax countries?
4. If alcohol advertising encourages people to drink more, why has alcohol consumption in the UK fallen for the last two years?
5. Rather than call for health warning labels, which is ineffective at reaching those who drink excessively, what are doctors doing to encourage and promote moderate consumption, given those who drink moderately enjoy longer lives than those who drink excessively or don’t drink at all?

"Scottish & Newcastle has agreed to be bought for £7.8bn by its continental European rivals Heineken and Carlsberg, ending more than 250 years of history for the company as an independent national brewer", writes Karen Attwood in the Independent.

"Following three months of wrangling, the maker of Foster's, Kronenbourg 1664 and Newcastle Brown Ale finally recommended the fourth offer for the business, worth 800p a share, which will lead to a carve-up of the company. The Edinburgh-based brewer's UK operations will pass to the Dutch giant Heineken, while Carlsberg will assume full control of BBH, the fast-growing joint venture in Russia and the Baltics, in which it had a 50 per cent stake.

The chairman of the trustee board, Dr Neville Bain, said he was encouraged by the "positive expressions of commitment" made by Heineken. However, there are concerns about job losses among the 3,300 UK staff. Iain MacLean, national officer of the Unite union, said the deal "will result in a period of uncertainty for the workforce, and we are primarily concerned about the implications for UK jobs".

The agreement also raised concerns from the Campaign for Real Ale over consumer choice and the future of S&N's real ales, such as Theakstons. Camra's chief executive, Mike Benner, said: 'The inevitable result of consolidation is brewery closures, brand losses and less choice for consumers.'

Currently the world's seventh largest brewer by sales, S&N has breweries in Manchester, Reading, Dunston and Tadcaster.

It traces its roots back to 1749, when the William Younger brewery was established in Leith, Edinburgh. The Newcastle arm of the company dates back to the foundation of the John Barras brewery in 1770."

CAMRA released the results of an annual prices survey in March 2007.

Key findings from the prices survey:

•     The average price of real ale rose by 10p (4.61%) to £2.34.
•     The average price of lager rose by 12p (4.67%) to £2.57.
•     The cheapest region in the UK is the North West, where a pint of real ale costs £2.04. However this year is the first time the price in this region has risen over £2.
•     The most expensive region is London, where a pint of real ale costs £2.57.
•     Real ale prices for small (micro) breweries rose by 4.83% to £2.29. Real ale prices for medium sized independent brewers beers rose by 4.14% to an average of £2.41, and real ale prices for global and national brewers beers rose by 3.79% to £2.28

CAMRA Prices Survey is now in its 19th year. Details of past surveys are available from CAMRA.

The surveying was carried out during February 2007. 911 pubs were visited by our branches throughout the UK. These pubs were a mixture of managed, tenanted and free houses and pubs owned by brewers and pub companies.

The Retail Price Index (RPI) in the year Feb 2006 – Feb 2007 was 4.2%.

For details of excise duty rates in other EU countries, visit www.camra.org.uk/euexciseduty

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, today unveiled a new phase of the Cyclops campaign for licensees and their customers, which aims to demystify the complexities of real ale, during the National Winter Ales Festival in Manchester.

Initially launched by Everards Brewery in March 2006, Cyclops was embraced by CAMRA and launched industry-wide with 14 brewery partners last August, after CAMRA commissioned research revealed that 1 in 3 adults thought a universal scheme which simplified real ale would encourage them to try more real ale.

“We were delighted with the initial 14 breweries that signed up as Cyclops partners in August 2006 as they own pubs and distribute beer across the whole of Britain. This now means Cyclops is a universal real ale tasting scheme that can be developed to play its part in increasing real ale sales nationally.” said Tony Jerome, CAMRA’s Senior Marketing Manager.