Another presentation to the team of Andy and Jo, (see Ninkaci on 23rd January), this time it was Andy’s turn to be the main focus. At his request we were delighted to make the presentation to mark the pub’s tenth consecutive year in the Good Beer Guide at the pub’s 40th beer festival, a record in our branch area. After Branch Chair Matt made the presentation, Andy presented CAMRA members and pub regulars present with celebratory t-shirts, as seen in our penultimate picture. The final pictures shows Matt making a presentation to Champion Beer Scorer 2023 David Platt, who visited and assessed beer in 118 pubs over that year.

Harvey’s Prince of Denmark won Beer of Festival at Eastbourne in 2022 and when its Christmas Ale won our Sussex Beer of the Year for 2023, it was time to make a presentation to Head Brewer and Joint MD Miles. We were very pleased to be invited, joined by members of East Dorset Branch who were presenting a beer festival award for Harvey’s Dark Mild, along with committee members of Brighton & South Downs Branch. We were generously allowed the run of the tap room, see picture, while Miles took East Dorset on a brewery tour. The presentations took place in the brewery yard, ex Branch Chair Peter presented the award from 2022 and Chair Matt the 2023 certificate.

The top scoring pub in our area for 2023 in the National Beer Scoring System was the George Inn, a great credit to landlady Alison who is relatively new to the pub and has continued to improve the range of ales offered and has kept the standard high. Unfortunately due to family circumstances, at the last minute Alison was unable to join us at for the presentation, so her duty staff for the evening accepted it from Branch Secretary Peter on her behalf.

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This beer in this bar in the Enterprise Centre had been scored by CAMRA members the best in the branch area for a bar serving real ale by KeyKeg for both 2022 and 2023. So by way of catching up, the first presentation of 2024 was by Branch Chair Matt was to present both awards to Joanna, manager of Ninkaci, supported by husband Andy. In our pictures Jo and Andy are seen holding the awards. On the same evening, Matt presented Mark and Gavin, brewers of Eastbourne microbrewery, Route 21, the Beer of the Festival Award for their beer Stroll. This was only the second year they had supplied beer to Eastbourne Beer Festival and both we and they were delighted that a local brewery should get such recognition from the drinkers who attended the festival. In our pictures, Mark is standing to the left of Gavin.

A trio of branch members visited two breweries in West Sussex, both in the North Sussex CAMRA Branch area, to make an award to each. Our first stop was to visit Brook at Brolly Brewery in Wisborough Green; to deliver the brewery award from the National Members’ Weekend Members’ Bar, the Beer of the Bar, for his beer Burble, an English pale ale. We had a warm welcome as we discovered that this was his first CAMRA award, we were given samples of two excellent contrasting beers, a pale and a dark. There was plenty of beer talk as we heard of his planned move from the current isolated premises to a larger place in Horsham and of his micropub in Billingshurst, The Billi Tap. The pictures show us with Brook, (holding the certificate), inside the brewery and a view outside, where in the summer, beer festivals have been held. He kindly gave us takeaway cans of the beers we sampled as we left him to return to his brewing.




The second stop was at Kissingate in Lower Beeding, another very cordial welcome, this time from our hosts Gary and Bunny, Bunny kindly providing a complimentary lunch and Gary giving us beer to go with it. This award was from the 2021 Eastbourne Beer Festival, Sussex Beer of the Festival, to add to Kissingate’s impressive ‘wall of awards’, part of which can be seen behind us in the picture, the flow to which had been interrupted by the pandemic. Unsurprisingly there was another round of beer talk: how things have changed for brewers during and after Covid and the impressive story of how Bunny and Gary have built up the excellent venue and brewery in which we were seated. All too soon it was time for home, but not before bottles had been purchased to add to the cans bought in the morning.

On Saturday 12th November there was a CAMRA Tasting Panel Session in the Notley Room in the White Rock Hotel, Hastings. Due to this being arranged on the same day as a Regional Meeting (this was to be online at 10am) Kevin Travers, Mick Bell and I attended this meeting on line before setting up the room. (prior to the pandemic this was never thought possible!!).
Both Kevin (Surrey Area Organiser and Regional CBOB/Tasting Panel Coordintor and Mick (CAMRA Trained Tasting Trainer and Surrey Tasting Panel Chair) had travelled down from deepest Hampshire & Surrey to present the tasting session.
There were 11 participants ranging from very local to coming from Sedlescombe, Shoreham, Hove, Eastbourne and Bexhill.
The session started at 1pm with a quick introduction and explanation of what to be expected from the session and then we all introduced ourselves – experiences and expectations differed enormously. Slide presentation, as well as documents, followed before the serious part of tasting OFF flavours!!! This eventually ended in tasting numerous glasses of beer with these taste elements emphasised! We used pipettes for these sections.
Eventually it was time to learn about entering data about what we are tasting to tasting cards which were then introduced – at this point real ales were sampled (half pint). Ranging from a Green Hopped Hoppers Ale, Rother Valley – Sussex Best Bitter from Long Man and Limehouse Porter from Listers. The fourth beer was Gun Milk Stout – this replaced the Limehouse Porter on the bar.
The session ended at 6pm with all congratulating Kevin and Mick for this entertaining, educational excellent event!
Kris Cymer popped in at the start to welcome all before returning to work. He is hoping this session will result in more members filling in tasting cards (online mostly). The Local Tasting Panel will then be up and running.
If you missed this session and would like to get involved there is another training session just over the border in Kent on 10th December and Kevin is happy to arrange further training whenever there is enough interest. Full details of all future events can be found here: Taste Training and Beer Judging - CAMRA - Campaign for Real Ale

Peter Page-Mitchell (Sussex Area Organiser, Brewery Liaison Co-Ordinator and a member of Southeast Sussex Branch).

Not the first time CAMRA has recognised the beer in Traffers, but this was its first award since the turn of the century and the first to landlord Ian Ayers. As was explained when the award was made, LocAle is a CAMRA scheme to promote the sale of locally brewed beer in pubs, our branch defines local as within 35 miles, door to door, brewery to pub. Having voted Traffers LocAle Pub of the Year, branch members gathered at the pub to recognise its beer quality. Ironically, many of us tried a beer in good form which had travelled 60 miles to the pub, Lister’s Autumn Ale from Angmering in West Sussex, but those who tried the local beers declared them just as good.

A pub re-entering the Good Beer Guide after an eight year break is the Ship in the Meads area of town. Branch Campaigns Officer, Richard, visited with the good news and the GBG Licensee Pack. In the picture he is with Bernadette, who is still active in the business and is the mother of Faye Craddock, the landlady of the pub, but Faye was away when Richard called.

Hard on the heels of the September’s presentation to the White Dog came the news that the pub was included in the Good Beer Guide for 2023, the first time the pub has ever had an entry in the Guide. Branch members Louise and Phil made the journey to this scenic part of the branch area to deliver the GBG Licensee Pack. On receiving the Pack, landlady Harriet commented that when she put the award of Country Pub of the Year on their website they were extremely busy as a result of it. Phil, who is pictured with Harriet, commented, ‘So that's excellent feedback that these awards do work!’

Voted by the branch as Community Pub of the Year, this was the first CAMRA award for this pub which licensee Heidi has transformed from a pub with a reputation of which she was not proud to a pub popular with regulars and visitors alike. It now serves four real ales to a good standard and when the Branch visited we found it populated by people of all ages, many eating, and plenty of real ales being consumed in a relaxed atmosphere. Heidi was very proud of the award, our picture shows her accepting it from Peter Adams with pub manager Olly watching on.

Adrian and Annabelle have re-established Eastbourne’s Hurst Arms as an outstanding tied Harvey’s pub in the area and in four years have won three CAMRA branch awards. This year they were runner up Pub of the Year, consistently serving a choice of five Harvey’s ales to a high standard. On this particular day several branch members were delighted to find a choice of Old Ale and Tom Paine among the five, which did not disappoint. Those of us who made the journey down from East Dean were pleased to join a group of other members chatting about beer and pubs with Adrian before he was presented with the award behind some of his handpumps.

With the publication of the 2022 Good Beer Guide, East Dean’s Tiger Inn reached ten consecutive appearances in the Guide. It first entered the GBG as the tap for Beachy Head Brewery. We were pleased to see that despite the closure of that popular local brewery, the pub continued to offer a range of local, regional and national beers served to a high standard which meant it maintained its place in the Guide. Becky who has been manager for the ten year period was delighted to accept the award.

Several branch members volunteered to serve at various sessions of Harvey’s first beer festival in the recently adapted brewery yard. The opportunity was taken to present the brewery with two awards, for Prince of Denmark which was beer of the festival at Eastbourne 2021 and for Porter which was the branch Sussex Beer of the Year, by achieving the highest average NBSS score for beers brewed in the county across 2020 and 2021. Things were toned down somewhat at the festival out of respect for the mourning of the late Queen, so it was decided to have a quiet presentation in line with that, with just a few words spoken by Peter Adams, the Branch Chair who offered congratulations and some explanation and a reply from Miles Jenner, Head Brewer and Joint Managing Director of the brewery who was pleased by and grateful for the awards. The two are shown in the picture with the awards.

The Sub Branch decided to hold a social in the countryside at the Gun Brewery, Hawthbush Farm, Gun Hill. The plan was to meet for lunch at the Six Bells, Chiddingly and taking a Wealden footpath stroll to Gun. They invited South East Sussex members to join them at Gun. Unfortunately the weather forecast suggested that a walk was a bad idea, so this part of the plan was abandoned and everyone met at the brewery. Gun Hill is not the easiest place to reach, impossible by public transport without half an hour’s walk, something which put off those initially interested once it became clear that hiring transport was not viable for a small group. So in the end four branch members appeared, one by train and bike, another by bus and walking and the other two were a couple, one of which was designated driver. For some it was the first sight of the impressive new brewery and its bar. The picture shows the brewery to the left and the bar to the right, as one enters the driveway.



There is a full suite of Gun beers on keg and there are four handpumps for a selection of them on cask. There is also a food bar concession. We were blessed with a sunny day and it was a pleasure to sit outside and enjoy company, beer and food. Our picture shows the group minus the Branch Chair who was on the other end of the camera.

A group of Branch Members dodged the train strikes to visit Worthing, specifically to visit micropubs, concentrating on those within walking distance of Worthing station that had not been visited by most us before. Arriving at the station it was distinctly overcast in a period which had seen too much hot dry weather. We made our way to the Brewhouse & Kitchen, which although clearly not a micropub, has its own brewery and importantly serves food and it was lunchtime. On our way there were a few drops of what we had not seen for a long time, rain! We ordered beer and food and found a good large table, shown in the first picture. Then the rain started properly and to our surprise another branch member arrived, a little wet. He was attending only his second branch activity, having joined the train at a different station to the rest of us and he did not recognise us and we did not spot him, even when we left the train at Worthing. He knew the names of the pubs we were visiting, but not the geography and had gone to the town centre to get a map to find us. Such dedication was to be admired and commended and although the rain had eased when we saw it coming down hard again, more beer was ordered, we were very happy with the range of bitters and lighter offerings.



At last the rain eased, so it was off to Anchored in Worthing, although those not prepared for rain did get a little wet, it was in a good cause. At Anchored we found a knowledgeable host who had been running a micropub for some time, offering a seasonable selection of ale. The pictures show that Anchored is dedicated to real ale, as was our party as some can be seen scoring their beers.



The weather had brightened up which was good because it was time for our longest walk, along the seafront to Beer No Evil. This was a nice venue, but for those preferring cask, it was less exciting to be in an all keg bar. The next venue was also all keg for beer, but the The Old Bike Store had good real cider. Although not a micropub, it was impossible to pass the Arun & Adur Branch Pub of the Year, the Selden Arms, without going in. It did not disappoint, there was something for all tastes there. Our last stop was the Brooksteed Alehouse back near the station. Those of us who had visited it before had not done so since the new owners had taken over and found it much changed, less like a typical micropub as it used to be and more a contemporary bar with a choice of real ales. An enjoyable trip in good company, but a next visit to Worthing would definitely include the Egremont, which we passed by, and the Toad in the Hole which is also close to the station and was recommended by locals as we neared the end of our tour.

The Brickmaker's Alehouse in Bexhill made an immediate impact on the real ale and cider scene in the town when it was opened in November 2019 by South East Sussex Branch Members, Martin and Robin. During the various phases of the pandemic, drinks were served whenever this was permitted, maintaining a high standard throughout. In early 2020 it was considered just too early for a place in the following Good Beer Guide (2021) but it was unanimously selected for GBG 2022. It was also awarded the Branch Pub of the Year and Runner Up for Cider Pub of the Year. On 28th June the pub extended its opening hours for an evening presentation of both awards to landlords Martin and Robin by Branch Chair Peter in front of a good gathering of branch members and locals. We were then entertained by speeches from both landlords, happy to make the GBG and delighted to be Pub of the Year too. Howard posted on our Branch Facebook - Great night tonight in the Brickmaker's Alehouse for the presentation of their 2022 Pub of the Year award. Plus, the runner up for the 2022 Cider Pub of the Year. Well deserved. Pictures show from left, Robin, Martin and Peter. Robin and Martin with bar staff past and present.

The AGM was held at the Albatross Club in Bexhill. We are grateful to them for again hosting this event and making us most welcome. The occasion was also used to present the Albatross with our Club of the Year Award, plus another for 10 consecutive years in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide. Pictured are our chairman Peter Adams, centre, with Dorothy, the chairman and Jody, the steward, from the club.






After many years as vice chairman and festival organiser, Phil Cozens has stepped down from those roles but will continue as an active branch member. Peter Adams presented Phil with an award to acknowledge the very hard work and dedication he has given, particularly as festival organiser. Peter said that Phil’s work as Vice Chair and Branch Contact, often unseen, had been invaluable to him. There's no doubt that our local festivals, Beer and Cider by the Sea and Eastbourne Winter Garden have benefitted hugely from Phil's work and knowledge.




Our annual award for champion beer scorer went to Peter Adams. Phil Cozens presented him with the award.



A few more pictures of those attending the AGM.

Very nice to see some new faces. A varied and interesting discussion about pubs to visit and selecting Community, Country and LocAle pubs. There are many CAMRA and local pub beer festivals coming up over the next few months. Also discussed was the national CAMRA AGM and members weekend in Eastbourne next month, which we are hosting, with the welcome assistance from our other local branches. Beers were excellent and snacks provided by the Chairman were also superb.

Pubs had reopened but there were still strict restrictions on the size and make up of social gatherings in them. So the Branch decided to present its overdue 2020 awards, with individual members visiting pubs, so that these could be made as soon as practically possible. Peter Adams visited landlord David Roder to present him with the Branch Pub of the Year Award. Opened in May 2018, it was soon included in the Good Beer Guide. That this first micropub in the area became Pub of the Year so soon after opening is a testament to the excellent addition David has made to the Rye pub scene.

The following day Peter visited another Harvey’s tied house with a reputation for serving their beers to a high quality, to present our Country Pub of the Year award. Not the first award from the Branch, landlord Mike has also built up his pub from a low base, establishing it as a firm favourite with the locals and equally popular with visitors, the campsite on the premises proving particularly popular in this era of ‘staycations’.

At our Branch meeting on 3.3.20 at the Albatross Club Bexhill, our chairman - left - Peter Adams was presented with this award by our deputy chairman, Phil Cozens. In doing so, Phil said that Peter was a clear winner, adding that he had also registered 111 beer scores on the CAMRA system, NBSS, over the year.

Two awards were made during an ever popular branch visit to the brewery. In the brewery yard Phil Cozens presented Miles Jenner with the 2019 Eastbourne Beer of the Festival for Star of Eastbourne and Peter Adams the Branch Sussex Beer of the Year for Bonfire Boy, as voted for by CAMRA members through the National Beer Scoring Scheme. Visits were made to the tasting room before and afterwards, once again we experienced wonderful hospitality from Miles and his team. Miles also offered an ever popular brewery tour, while most had been round before, virtually everyone went round, as it always seems a fresh experience.

Branch members made their way to the Smugglers at the end of October for the presentation of the Rural Pub of the Year. Since Lisa Thompson took the pub on, the beer offer has improved and in the opinion of many, so has the pub in general. At the start of the year it was shortlisted as one the three pubs nominated in the Pub of the Year competition. Although it did not win, it was the only rural pub on the shortlist and this led to members voting for it as our Rural Pub of the Year. Vice Chair Phil opened proceedings by paying tribute to the progress the pub has made in Lisa’s time there, then Chair Peter explained how the pub had progressed from making it into the Good Beer Guide to the current award. Lisa replied, thanking the Branch for its recognition and support.

On a balmy late August evening, branch members assembled in the garden of the Bull’s Head to present a certificate to landlord Mike, marking ten consecutive years in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide. Branch Chair Peter praised the rescue job which Mike has done since he arrived at the pub, after the two previous proprietors had failed to make a go of the business. In particular how he had managed to make it a destination for the locals, obviously the case when one hears the conversation in the bar, and also a popular place to stop off for visitors, including those who choose to stay on the pub’s own campsite. Most importantly in the context of the GBG, the beer standard is excellent and consistent, with four active handpumps being more than we might expect in a pub in such a small village. Mike replied that involving the community in the pub was the key to what he had done, introducing various community events which have been well supported, and that visitors to the camp site regularly used the pub for food and drink. Our pictures show members relaxing in the garden beforehand and the presentation being made.

A pub which branch members always enjoy visiting, this time in mid August to present two awards. Branch Vice Chair Phil got the ball rolling as he presented landlord Mark with the Community Pub of the Year award for the second consecutive year. Although most of our members are not regulars, we always feel part of the community when we are here. Branch Chair Peter then presented the certificate marking ten consecutive years in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide, during which time it has been Branch Pub of the Year twice. The emphasis is on a family run pub; reflected in the pub requesting that all of Mark, Maureen, Laura, Louise and Frazer’s names are listed on the presentation certificate.

For what proved to be a very popular brewery visit on a sunny July day, members of both Coastal and Sub Branch travelled by minibus to make the award of Sussex Beer of the Year 2018 for this branch to Gary and Bunny at Kissingate Brewery. This turned out to be the 30th CAMRA award for this outstanding brewery in less than ten years of brewing and which we observed that the previous 29 had been awarded for many different beers. As the pictures show it was a beautiful day complemented by excellent beer and likewise the buffet commissioned by us and prepared by Bunny. You can also see the Branch Treasurer jealously guarding the bread pudding!

The dark 6.8% beer, Black Eyed Susan, for which the award was won was the highest scoring beer on the NBSS system bar none, higher than beers from all over the country. As an added bonus, Roy Bray, the Brewery Liaison Officer from North Sussex Branch came up with the breweries 31st CAMRA award to round off the day, a silver award in the London & South East regional heat of the Champion Beer of Britain competition for Black Cherry Mild.

For the second year in a row, Gun’s Zamzama IPA, a 6.5% strong ale, came out top of the beers brewed in the branch area to be South East Sussex Beer of the Year 2018. This award is made by considering all the NBSS scores awarded in pubs in the branch area across the year, the highest placed beer with at least 10 scores and 4 scores gets the award. This means the beer is being judged as the best as drinkers find it in pubs through the year, rather than one particularly good batch or cask taking an award, for example at a beer festival. As the brewery is in the Sub Branch area and Steve, the Chair of the Sub Branch, is the Brewery Liaison Officer for Gun, he made the presentation with both Sub Branch and Coastal members present at a gathering at the brewery in mid June. The picture shows him with staff from the brewery.

When we were looking for a different location for our annual pub tour in June, branch member Dennis suggested Ramsgate as a town with a good variety of pubs and beer. He produced information and a programme for the day and was proved correct, as we all had an enjoyable tour of the town. The picture shows part of the group in the Royal Victoria Pavilion, the Ramsgate Wetherspoon’s, which we understand is the largest in the country.

It was decided to make a new pub award from 2018, the Champion Pub in the National Beer Scoring Scheme. To qualify the pub has to have been assessed at least ten times in the year and by at least four different scorers and from those pubs, then the pub with the highest weighted average score gets the award. With neither branch chair or vice chair available, It was Area Organiser Peter Page-Mitchell who made the presentation to landlord Marc at the pub, saying that it was a tribute to the consistent high standard of beer served at the Two Sawyers. Our pictures show Peter (left) with Mark and the certificate awarded.

At the Branch A.G.M. at the end of April, Paul Bangs retired as Branch NBSS Co-Ordinator; his contribution has gone far beyond South and North East Sussex and we owe him much gratitude. He was presented with a framed certificate to mark this gratitude by Branch Chair, Peter Adams, as seen in the picture. This is the tribute he paid to Paul.

The Branch has much to be grateful for to Paul who has been our NBSS coordinator since the system began, presenting statistics which are calculated to discount people’s bias in either direction over favourite or least favoured pubs. His thoroughness in contacting other branches in the early days to find out how they overcame this problem led to his presenting us with options and recommending a way forward which we were pleased to adopt and is still in use today. It is fitting to pay tribute to his efforts, not only on behalf of our branch which helped us become the first branch in the county to have 100% of its pubs surveyed and completed on WhatPub, but in helping other branches too on both WhatPub and with NBSS data. Also at WhatPub’s national inception his work as an ‘average’ branch member grappling with the then new database helped the developers improve its user friendliness and has led to the healthy state our pub database is in today. Paul has never been an ‘average’ branch member, but a dedicated worker for the Campaign who has given so much productive time. In Peter’s eight years as Chair, this is only the third such certificate which has been presented, which clearly demonstrates that he is truly an above average branch member.

The Cooper’s was allocated a place in the Good Beer Guide by South East Sussex Branch in 2009. Following this it maintained its high standard of beer for the following decade which covered the time that the Sub Branch took over GBG selections for its area. So it fell to Sub Branch Chair, Steve, to make the presentation of a certificate to mark this achievement which was made at the Pub’s ‘Dark and Delicious’ beer festival at the start of February. Snow on the ground did not prevent some Coastal area members joining the group for the presentation and in enjoying the festival. Our picture shows landlord Dave and his wife Judith accepting the certificate from Steve.

A small group of South East Sussex Branch members was invited to Battle Organic Cider’s premises which is located in the next parish, the small village of Mountfield. We were treated to a variety of tastings and had an interesting talk about their story to date and the different ciders made and the way they are blended. The cider makers are two brothers, Matt and Jeremy Eldridge, with over a decade of experience of using traditional methods. They take local organically grown apples to press, leaving the pressed juice to ferment naturally, in French oak wine barrels. Nothing is added, there are no artificial flavourings, agents, sweeteners nor yeast. Instead, the cider is ‘wild yeast’ fermented, then racked and returned to the barrel to mature before blending to create the best flavour.

The Eldridge’s started making cider in Battle in September 2016 with a very small batch (100 litres) created for the local medieval fayre, but they soon realised that the high quality of the fruit plus the traditional approach to production was more popular than expected, the whole batch was sold out within a few hours. They quickly scaled up the idea, in 2017 they purchased two wine barrels, and diversified to create ‘Early Press’ cider. This makes quick work of the first apples of the season, which are typically the Discoveries and Grenadiers. They press in August, and the fermentation progresses faster than autumn ciders as the weather is still warmer, meaning the cider is ready to drink as early as October; because the sugar levels in the fruit are lower, it has less alcohol.

In 2017 they started in earnest, producing 1100 litres, which sold out in three months, since then they have grown once more, with 5000 litres produced in 2018, moving premises, acquired more barrels and bottling for the first time. Their ‘Elstar’ cider, which uses up to nine different mid to late season varieties of apple and ferments slowly over the winter was nominated for an award as a finalist at the National Fruit Show Cider Competition 2018. At Christmas they branched out to create a seasonal ‘MerryToffee Apple’ mulled’ cider, the visiting branch members had a sample of this excellent winter warmer at 6.3% ABV.

The brothers commented that many people are used to commercial ciders, which can contain as little as 35% apple juice, so we find that when they taste 100% juice products they are amazed at the complexity and depth of flavour, even those who are initially sceptical. They are now selling in local pubs, clubs, the nearby Battle Brewery Bar, several restaurants, village shops, garden centres and delicatessens throughout the area. 2018’s production target was 6000 litres, this year they aim for 16000 litres and increasing from that in future.

The pictures show tasting in progress with Branch Cider Rep, Phil Packham, in mid swig; the full group with brothers Matt far left, Jeremy far right and other groupings amongst the barrels.