Pub Hub

This section of the website is set-up mainly as a one stop shop for pubs and clubs to find the information we provide that will be useful to them as a quality real ale outlet.  It’s free for anyone to browse though that finds it interesting. Some of the links will take you to information on CAMRA’s national website or to other sections of our website. Please bear in mind we are a team of volunteers and any help we offer is free. If you want to know more about any of the things below contact our Pubs Officer via the ‘Contact us’ form

WhatPub	LocAle	Social Media	Awards & Good Beer Guide
Real Cider & Perry	Newsletter	General Support & Requests	Campaigns

WhatPub

WhatPub is a website run by CAMRA to identify all pubs in the UK that serve real ale. It includes full details of the pub or club including opening times, what real ales are available, does it sell food etc as well as other amenities. The information is updated by the local CAMRA branch based on the information available to it.  WhatPub is also one of the ways members will submit beer scores to help us identify which pubs will be shortlisted for awards and entry into the Good Beer Guide. We also use the scores to help us identify pubs that may need more support from the branch. People can access WhatPub on a desktop, tablet and via a mobile friendly version. It is often used to check a venue before someone visits an area and also to pull together a trail of pubs for a future visit. It’s always a good idea to check that the entry for your pub is up-to-date and accurate so please help us by letting us know if anything needs changing. You can submit updates directly via WhatPub or by emailing whatpub@sthelens.camra.org.uk 

LocAle

CAMRA’s LocAle initiative promotes pubs stocking locally brewed real ale in order to reduce the number of ‘beer miles’ from brewery to pub cellar in response to growing consumer demand for quality local produce. It is also a great way of supporting the local economy.

Some of the benefits of stocking locally produced real ale in local pubs include:

• Pubs can attract more visitors through their doors, including those from outside the area seeking out distinctive local products.
• Consumers can enjoy greater beer choice and diversity.
• Local brewers are supported with increased sales, creating more local jobs.
• More money is generated and spent locally, increasing the resilience of the local economy.

Within our branch we define a local ale as one brewed within 30 mile radius of St Helens Town Hall. You can see a list of all the breweries we currently have listed as LocAle here: LocAle Breweries for St Helens & Districts CAMRA

If you want to know more about being accredited as a LocAle pub contact our Pubs Officer.

Social Media

We actively use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to contact our members and anyone else interested in what is going on in the real ale world within our area. We’re happy to promote anything you do in relation to real ale so make sure you follow our pages and tag us (or send us) anything you would like us to promote or know about. We respond as quickly as we can to any messages sent to us on any of the social media platforms. We are lucky enough to have someone in our team that works within a national media and communications team so if you would like any advice on how to make the best use of social media drop our Media Officer a message via the ‘Contact us’ form. 

Awards & Good Beer Guide

CAMRA’s awards and the Good Beer Guide are picked up by local, regional and national press so it makes sense to make sure your pub or club is in the running to potentially be shortlisted. One of the main things you can do is encourage CAMRA members who drink in your premises to score the beer they drink on the CAMRA National Beer Scoring System. The easiest way to do this is via WhatPub. For a bit more information see the links below:

• Branch Awards
• How it works (Awards & GBG process)

Real Cider & Perry

Did you know that in the UK by law cider only has to contain 35% apple juice. That means many mass produced ciders can have all kinds of things added to produce the final product. They can have a large part of their content (and alcohol) derived from diluted fermented sugar syrup. They then have other things added to make it smell and taste as it finally does. Imagine buying a bottle of wine to then find that the main ingredient is water and that only 35% of it was made from grape juice, which has itself been watered back down from juice concentrate. Chances are you’d be thinking it wouldn’t be a great wine (and it would also be illegal in the UK).

CAMRA defines real cider or perry as being fermented from the whole juice of fresh pressed apples or pears, without the use of concentrated or chaptalised juices. In other words where the alcohol level in a cider or perry is increased by the addition of sugar to an unnatural level for storage, before it is diluted with water to the desired alcohol content for sale. In order to be real, cider and perry should never be concentrated then diluted – either in terms of the juice used, or the alcohol content. 
Why not stock a real cider or perry and give people the choice? It’s easy to stock with a good shelf life. Check out this national CAMRA website page for more information and a list of producers/suppliers. Contact us as well if you would like more information

Newsletter to members

Our newsletter contains all the local real ale news and events collected in one download-able PDF. It can be read online and some pubs print it to make it available to read in their premises. A link to the newsletter is emailed to all of our members that are opted in to receive email communications. If there is anything you would like to share or you would like to write an article contact our Newsletter Editor via the Contact us form. 

General Support & Requests

If you would just like to know more about CAMRA, how we can support you, need printed CAMRA leaflets or posters etc, or would just like to get in touch, please contact our Pubs Officer who will be happy to help and come to meet with you if you would like. 

Campaigns

Information on all the active campaigns that CAMRA is running is available via the national website. As a branch we decide which campaigns we think will have the biggest impact in our area. Not everything we do in support of real ale, pubs, clubs, brewers, cider makers and consumers is visible to all. Some of it involves lobbying and/or working with individuals or other organisations behinds the scenes.