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a Visit to the7th Melton Mowbray CAMRA Beer Festival

Saturday 19th September 2009

A very select party (just two of us!) set off by train on a warm, still September day to journey to Melton, arriving at the festival at about midday.

The Melton festival was held at the Cattle Market within an easy stroll of the station. There were two halls, one for the beers & one, decorated like the interior of a marquee, for the music each evening. There were not too many customers about when we arrived, so it was easy to wander around & select suitable beers.

There were 38 on offer, at least half of them being LocAles. Brewsters, Newby Wyke, Oldershaws, Hopshackle, Belvoir & Ufford were all well represented. The Cattle Market was an ideal venue on a pleasant September day.

Having sampled the ones that took our fancy & soaked them up with a substantial pasty, we took our leave at about 3:15 & headed back towards the station, calling first at the Anne of Cleves GBG10 p255 where we had a pleasant glass of Brunswick CopperKnob(?) & a chat with the friendly barman.

We then moved on to the Harboro Hotel GBG10 p255, an establishment I have enjoyed visiting numerous times in the past. Unfortunately they seem to have decided to upset the market town hotel ambiance by the addition of a jukebox (being played far too loudly). A polite request for less volume was met by a grudging one notch reduction. To finally shatter my pleasant memories of the Harboro, the beer was well past its best & should not have been served. Rather than complain again we took the easy option & voted with our feet.

We caught the train back to Leicester where we stopped off to sit in the new stand & watch the Tigers play an uninspired, error strewn game to beat Newcastle.

Despite my odd moan, it was still a most enjoyable day out!

Words & photos by Alan

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