All of the beers are from local breweries, most of which are rarely or never seen in any Abingdon pubs. A provisional list is:

There will also be 2 real ciders and live music.

The Flowing Well in Sunningwell has its beer festival starting this week (May 27th – June 6th). This coincides with the Sunningwell Festival.

The Brewery Tap was recently awarded Locale accreditation by the Oxford branch of CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) in recognition of it regularly serving beer from local breweries including the West Berkshire Brewery, White Horse Brewery and Vale Brewery…. and this weekend for the first time, Prospect from the Shotover Brewery. They also regularly have live bands on Sunday evenings. This bank holiday sunday they have Parallel Blondie. They will be holding a Cider and Sausage Festival on the last weekend of June (June 24th-27th) featuring around 20 real ciders and seasonal beers from around the world.

The Prince of Wales in Shippon now has 6 real ales served in excellent condition, including beer from the local Shotover Brewery. The kitchen has now been refurbished, and there is also live music there most saturdays, and occasionally some Morris dancers and folk musicians during the week.

The Plough in Stert Street remains shut.

The Broad Face serves 3 beers from the Greene King guest range in good condition. There is a regular jazz music session on Sunday afternoons starting at 4pm and sometimes some live music on thursdays. They are in the early stages of planning a beer festival in September.

The Spread Eagle on Northcourt Road is serving beer from Greene King range in very good condition and also has an interesting menu.

The Boundary House on Oxford Road has built a fenced-in family area, although currently it only features a small sand pit, but it does stop children running off the beer garden into the busy road.

The Old Anchor is having a beer festival in July. I’ll post more details when I get them.

The Kings Head and Bell is in early stages of planning a beer festival on the August bank holiday weekend (August 28th-30th), which will include beer from the local Appleford brewery and Hook Norton and possibly demonstrations of traditional coopers (barrel makers) and Hook Norton’s Shire Horse drawn dray

The Loose Cannon Brewery has suffered some delays getting up and running, but is expecting to do some trial brews over the next month.

There are 30 different real ales, 8 ciders and 20 different types of sausage, including Steak & Marmite and other interesting flavours.

There will be live music on Sunday afternoon. Additionally on Sunday, anyone showing a CAMRA membership card will be offered a discount on beer prices

The beer list has a good range, including many local beers from breweries such as Pitstop, Vale, West Berkshire, White Horse as well some from further afield. I particularly recommend you try some of the Pitstop beers as they are unlike anything else you will have ever tried (Try the Sump in half pints as it is very strong… and on Friday was amongst the most popular). The complete beer and cider list is reproduced below:

The Kings Head and Bell reopened on 30th October. This is everything I expected it to be, good beer, reasonably priced food. It has retained the traditional feel to it, but is more welcoming than previously. Judging by its popularity over the last couple of weeks it fits in with what many people want in a pub. Beers are mainly from Hook Norton and Adnams and Fullers London Pride arrived this week. It is good to see a regular outlet for Hook Norton in Abingdon. Hook Norton is Oxfordshire’s oldest brewery and has recently been winning lots of awards

The Brewery Tap has had a 6th hand pump fitted, and has a lot of beers from local breweries including West Berkshire Brewery, Hook Norton, White Horse Brewery, Vale Brewery. The list of beers on last week were:

• Maggs mild
• Morland original
• Hardy’s and Hanson Bitter
• Hook Norton’s Flagship
• White horse Wayland smithy
• vale Brewery Grumpling ale

They are having a Winter ‘Beer, Cider & Sausage’ festival between 4th-6th December. Featuring 30 different cask ales, 5 real ciders and live music from Big Boys Blues Band on the Sunday from 4pm.

Morland’s Old Speckled Hen recently celebrated its 30th birthday. I’m sure most people already know its history. For more info see this article in the Oxford Times and this youtube video of Ode To Joy being performed on Speckled Hen bottles.

The Old Anchor has a charity event on 5th December in aid of stroke survivors. The main event is sold out. However there will be live music at 9pm to which people will be admitted for a £3 entrance fee.

The Nags Head is continuing to maintain a good variety of real ales which change on a regular basis, although I understand that Fullers London Pride may become a permanent offering.

The Broad Face has a new sign depicting a broad faced man’s head more in keeping to how it was few years ago. They are serving a guest beer alongside the regular Morland Original and Abott Ale

The Stocks Bar is continuing to maintain a good range of real ales, and has just some refurbishment including new flooring in the bar. They also now have a facebook page

White Horse has a good range of beers and live music most Saturdays.

The Cross Keys has a good program of live music and serving good beer including St. Austell’s Proper Job.

Punch Bowl had a Morris Dancing folk music jam session last Sunday afternoon.

The Blue Boar appears to be having some interior refurbishment going on

The Plough is serving a reasonable pint of beer, serves lunchtime food and has live music most weeks

The Black Swan has had some outside refurbishment, but seems the same inside

A new craft micro brewery called the Shotover Brewing Company is due to
open soon in converted stables in Horspath just outside Oxford. The
owner and head brewer Ed Murray has been craft brewing for over twenty years
and has made the decision to turn his interest into a commercial venture.
It is anticipated that beer will be on sale by the end of November.

There are photos of stables being converted into the brewery on their facebook group and their main web site is at www.shotoverbrewing.com.

I am hoping that one of the Shotover beers will be at the Brewery Tap‘s Winter ‘Beer, Cider & Sausage’ festival on Friday 4th December – Sunday 6th December. This festival promises 30 different cask ales, 5 real ciders. The Big Boys Blues Band will be playing live on the Sunday from 4pm.

Note to any publicans reading this… I don’t intend to only mention the Brewery Tap and the Stocks. There are many other good pubs in Abingdon including Nags Head, Spread Eagle, White Horse, Cross Keys, Punchbowl, Plough, Broad Face. If you have any news, information on guest beers, festivals, etc, then please let me know and I’ll post it here.

There will be around 140 different ales and 20 real ciders and perry’s available. This is a good opportunity to try out beers that may not be available locally, try beers from local breweries and to meet other people who appreciate good beer.

You can find more information including an up to date beer list at the Oxford Camra web site.

A new industry report published this week about Cask Ale says:

…over the last few years, cask beer has seen a remarkable turnaround. It’s now outperforming every other beer style, benefitting from the increasing demand for products with local provenance, natural ingredients and interesting flavours.

The Brewery Tap has always been known for its quality of ale, and was the only pub in Abingdon to appear in the Camra 2009 Good Beer Guide and has been Cask Marque accredited every year since it started. However as it is a Greene King pub it has been restricted in its choice of beers.

The improvements are due to Kane who previously managed the Stocks bar, and has now moved to the Brewery Tap. Whilst at the Stocks bar, he was responsible for dramatic improvements to the beer range and quality, turning it into one of the top pubs in the Oxford area for real ale drinkers.

There are plans to hold a beer festival at the Brewery Tap at the beginning of December, and to try to obtain Camra LocAle status by permanently stocking beers from the White Horse Brewery.

This is good news for Abingdon, which over the last few years has seen a big improvement to the quality and range of beers.

Loose Cannon Brewery have applied for planning permission on the Ashville Trading Estate 6 Suffolk Way, Abingdon, OX14 5JX for Change of Use from B1/B8 to Class B2 for use as a micro brewery.

The application is from Loose Cannon Brewery, The Moorings, Wharfe Lane, Henley On Thames, Oxon RG9 2LL. This is a Limited company formed just over a year and a half ago on 11th December 2007. Company number 06450631. The directors are 27 year old William Laithwaite and Barbara Laithwaite. Barbara is a director of Direct Wines Limited, which operates Laithwaites Wines, the mail order wine company.

There are some Observations from the Environmental Health Team

Food and safety team: Commercial food businesses must register with this Authority at least 28 days prior to opening

Environmental protection team: Change of use to general B2 would not be acceptable in this location due to the proximity of residential area. Recommend use to be restricted to this specific use or development.

Scientific Officer: No comments

To view the planning permission in full, visit Vale of White Horse Planning and type in computer reference 09/01087/COU

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