Pubs, Pints & People in Trafford & South West Manchester
Trafford & Hulme CAMRA’s Pub Of The Season for Summer 2012 is the Bishop Blaize on Chester Road, Streford.
The award is in recognition of the efforts of manager Ben Plunkett and his team who have built up a loyal following of regulars throughout the week while making the pub a welcoming destination for cricket fans attending Lancashire matches.
The pub is inevitably packed with football fans on Old Trafford match days but now offers much more to the local community.
The 8th Chorlton Beer and Cider Festival came through fears that the worst weather in its eight year history would keep the people of Chorlton away to end up selling more beer, cider and perry than ever before.
A full day of torrential rain meant that as the festival opened, parts of the grounds of St Clements Church were under several inches of water. A week of beer disturbing storms leading up to the festival had already meant the cellar team from Trafford& Hulme CAMRA used all their skills to get the 82 cask ales ready for serving and then volunteers from the church braved the elements to preparing the grounds for opening time.
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The festival started with the judging of the North West Round of the Champion Specialty Beer Of Britain Competition with judges including John Leech MP and the appropriately named Reverend Ken Flood joining local publicans, journalists and trained beer tasters on the 9 man blind tasting panel. The 8 finalists in the competition selected by online vote of 16,000 CAMRA members across the North West included a cask conditioned Pilsner, beers made with honey, a German style Alt bier, ginger beers, cloudy wheat beers and a fruit flavoured mild.