Simon Buckley's latest Iechyd Da column
The latest Iechyd Da column by award-winning brewer Simon Buckley, of Llandeilo's Evan-Evans Brewery. It appears in this week's edition of the Carmarthen Journal -
We are in the midst of change; financial uncertainty, pubs finding it harder than ever to make a living, and the supermarkets finishing off the local pubs with massively-discounted beers.
This week the Prince of Wales urged us all to support the Campaign, the Pub is the Hub.
So what is the answer, we in the Welsh brewing sector more than ever are determined to help our locals remain just that, locals.
Community pubs that are more than just watering holes, and that are at the very heart of the communities they serve.
But what is it about us Welsh that makes us kick against the traces?
Why do pubs in Aberaeron buy beer from England rather than support local Welsh Brewers?
Brewers from Northumberland, Somerset and now the lake District dump their beers here in Wales, and our licensees buy it!
Last week saw the Royal Welsh, a showpiece of all that is great in Welsh Food and Agriculture.
Each day, the hierarchy of the Welsh farming community clogged the airwaves with the latest exhortation of how we in Wales do not do enough to support local Welsh produce, and the promotion of it.
Hang on a moment, is that right?
More pubs today sell locally produced meat , in fact, more Welsh Black beef is sold in Welsh pubs than there are cows to produce it, more salt marsh lamb and increasingly sea food from around our coasts is sold in our pubs than was the case 20 years ago.
The sea change of attitude to what is real‘n‘Welsh is fascinating; pubs that use local and fresh produce are prospering, and therein lies the secret, niche and good.
Cuisine A la Ding is no longer good enough.
Beer now plays a part in this process and the licensees that are doing well and bucking the trend are those that offer a fully integrated menu of local produce, beer brewed locally, food farmed on the doorstep, and cider made from Welsh Apples.
If the farmers of Wales supported the Welsh Brewing sector as we support them, and we saw a step from them supporting products such as Worthington Cream Flo to beers brewed with the same local providence as their locally produced food, then we could see a partnership developing that would drive and save most of the rural pubs set to close over the next five years.
Not all pubs will survive, but more could.
His Royal Highness urged us Brewers to support the local pub.
Well, Your Royal Highness, my family and I have been doing just that for the last 150 years.
Without our local pubs Wales will lose one of the great Tourist attractions we so readily take for granted.
Now we need our rural, and, dare I say it, farming community to do for us what the Pub trade has done for them.
We are in the midst of change; financial uncertainty, pubs finding it harder than ever to make a living, and the supermarkets finishing off the local pubs with massively-discounted beers.
This week the Prince of Wales urged us all to support the Campaign, the Pub is the Hub.
So what is the answer, we in the Welsh brewing sector more than ever are determined to help our locals remain just that, locals.
Community pubs that are more than just watering holes, and that are at the very heart of the communities they serve.
But what is it about us Welsh that makes us kick against the traces?
Why do pubs in Aberaeron buy beer from England rather than support local Welsh Brewers?
Brewers from Northumberland, Somerset and now the lake District dump their beers here in Wales, and our licensees buy it!
Last week saw the Royal Welsh, a showpiece of all that is great in Welsh Food and Agriculture.
Each day, the hierarchy of the Welsh farming community clogged the airwaves with the latest exhortation of how we in Wales do not do enough to support local Welsh produce, and the promotion of it.
Hang on a moment, is that right?
More pubs today sell locally produced meat , in fact, more Welsh Black beef is sold in Welsh pubs than there are cows to produce it, more salt marsh lamb and increasingly sea food from around our coasts is sold in our pubs than was the case 20 years ago.
The sea change of attitude to what is real‘n‘Welsh is fascinating; pubs that use local and fresh produce are prospering, and therein lies the secret, niche and good.
Cuisine A la Ding is no longer good enough.
Beer now plays a part in this process and the licensees that are doing well and bucking the trend are those that offer a fully integrated menu of local produce, beer brewed locally, food farmed on the doorstep, and cider made from Welsh Apples.
If the farmers of Wales supported the Welsh Brewing sector as we support them, and we saw a step from them supporting products such as Worthington Cream Flo to beers brewed with the same local providence as their locally produced food, then we could see a partnership developing that would drive and save most of the rural pubs set to close over the next five years.
Not all pubs will survive, but more could.
His Royal Highness urged us Brewers to support the local pub.
Well, Your Royal Highness, my family and I have been doing just that for the last 150 years.
Without our local pubs Wales will lose one of the great Tourist attractions we so readily take for granted.
Now we need our rural, and, dare I say it, farming community to do for us what the Pub trade has done for them.
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