By Keighley & Craven CAMRA

THIS week marks the launch of the 46th edition of the Campaign for Real Ale’s national Good Beer Guide.

The 1000+ page book has entries recommending 4,500 of the UK’s best real-ale pubs, and covers England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

It contains a breweries section listing all UK real-ale breweries and their regular beers, along with hundreds of beer tasting notes, compiled by CAMRA volunteers.

Since the guide was first published in 1974 the brewery section has expanded from just 105 entrants to more than 1,750!

This year we have nine pubs featuring in Keighley, Goose Eye, Haworth, Sandbeds, Silsden and Stanbury, with four more over the border in Cross Hills and Skipton and a further nine up in the Dales but still within our CAMRA branch area.

We are also blessed with 11 breweries, including six in West Yorkshire and five in North Yorkshire.

Want to know who got into the guide? Buy it from CAMRA nationally at camra.org.uk/ in both paperback and as a mobile app. Local members can obtain theirs at a discount by attending a branch meeting, while stocks last.

Looking back at older versions of the guide: in 1989 we had 12 pubs in West Yorkshire; Goose Eye – Mint Bar; Crossroads – Quarry House; Haworth – Fleece and Old Hall as well as eight in Keighley town centre, including the Brown Cow, Albert and Grinning Rat.

There were only two active breweries in the town then: Taylor’s and Goose Eye, but beers from many other major nationals such as Whitbread, Marston’s, Theakston’s, Bass, Stones and Tetley’s were featured.

By the 25th edition of the guide in 1998, the Goose Eye entrant has moved across the road from the Mill to the historic Turkey Inn and was serving Goose Eye, Ind Coope and Tetley’s.

The Quarry House on the moors overlooking the town also served Tetley’s and Taylor’s.

In Haworth, the Fleece, the Kings and The Royal Oak, along with the Lamb Inn at Oxenhope provided a choice of Courage, Black Sheep, Greene King, Ind Coope, Tetley’s and Taylor’s, as well as Vaux and Wards.

One unusual addition to the guide was a moving entrant listed as “Keighley to Oxenhope and Back”.

This was Keighley & Worth Valley Railway’s buffet car, which provided travellers with hand-pulled beer and which still continues this tradition today, along with showcasing events on and off the train where real-ale is featured. See kwvr.co.uk/ for more information.

EVENTS
October 2: Branch meeting, Gallagher’s Ale House, Cross Hills, 8pm.
October 18: Social at Keighley & Worth Valley Railway Beer Festival, meet at Oxenhope Exhibition Hall, 7pm. 6.25pm train from Keighley.
October 20: Social and Presentation, “Runner-up, Yorkshire Club of the Year” presentation to Oakworth Social Club, meet from 2pm. This is the second year running the club has been chosen as runner-up in Yorkshire.