The Barrels Ale House proves itself an acclaimed star act

Apr 18 2008 by Alastair Gilmour, The Journal

WHEN JIMI Hendrix watched me wee. Not a headline to rival Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster, but an observation from a Northumberland pub.

The gents’ toilets in The Barrels Ale House in Berwick is attended by a framed photograph of the influential singer, songwriter and guitarist – which is no surprise as the bar walls drip with images of Elvis with Muhammed Ali, a signed Beatles photograph, a Frank Zappa screenprint, a picture of Keith Richards and a David Bowie artwork. The most poignant, though, is the framed page one of the Liverpool Echo, dated Thursday December 9 1980, which bellows: John Lennon Shot Dead.

The Barrels, however, is more than a collection of pop memorabilia; it’s an extraordinary pub, a recommended resting place and an anchorage for good beer. It’s also very small. The Bridge End bolthole may previously have served as a halfway house for destitute women and the base for an American evangelist preaching sermons from the cellar, but it has now been elected North Northumberland Pub of the Year by the Tyneside & Northumberland branch of the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra).

Behind the success of the pub is Ambience Industries, which translates as brothers Ben, Oliver and Henry Bennett, who are originally from Morpeth. The 20-somethings took over the pub in December 2005 and have since adhered to their master plan of opening a pub a year by also creating Rumba in Leith, Edinburgh – from the former Portland Bar – and The Three Monkeys in Portobello, Edinburgh, which was hitherto The Plough Inn.

“Our aim is to keep the ethos and ambience of the pub exactly the way it was,” says Barrels-based Ben. “We’ll continue to push real ales and build on the music that it’s been known for.”

The Bennetts each have responsibility for a particular venue with 22-year-old Henry at Rumba – described as having a distinctly Cuban vibe, drawing its influences from 1920s Ernest Hemingway Havana – and Oliver, 27, seeing, hearing and saying all at The Three Monkeys. “Ollie had been running nightclubs all over the country and he knew the trade inside out,” says Ben. “I was in IT and when we found The Barrels was coming up for sale we started forming our own business. We pretty much opened a venue a year, but we’ll stick at this for now. Real ale is a bit of a passion now, all three pubs have it all the time.

“I’m basically here at The Barrels where the emphasis is on real ale – we have five on. Rumba offers 80 different rums from around the world and has been nominated for Best New Bar in Scotland by Theme magazine.

“We opened The Three Monkeys only a year ago as our working of an international adventurers’ club. It also has cask ale but not as many as we have here.”

Along The Barrels bar are Fyne Ales Vital Spark (4.4% alcohol by volume) and Avalanche (4.5% ABV), Timothy Taylor Landlord (4.3% ABV), Shepherd Neame Spitfire (4.1% ABV) and Stewart Brewing Pentland IPA (4.5%), an Edinburgh ale from a brewery to keep a Jimi Hendrix-type eye on. “They brew great beers,” says Ben. “We also get the favourites from Wylam and Mordue.”

A selection of foreign bottled beers – Zywiec, Budvar, Brahma – is also a permanent offering, as well as bottled ciders, plus an interesting spirits line-up. Cocktails are the speciality of the basement bar which even empty has a cool, club-like atmosphere, perfect for sipping Moscow Mules and listening to stylish live music. The “back bar” has been fitted with deeply-buttoned Chesterfield-style upholstery where there was once plain bench seating, but apart from that, the pub remains as it has for years.

As we sip our Vital Spark – a dark ale with a reddish glow, a malt-influenced palate and a brush of hedgerow fruit – we’re aware that Ben keeps glancing at the glass. The impression is he’s not too happy with the slight chill haze that is refusing to lift. It tastes fine, but he keeps shooting it withering looks.

He’s relatively new to cask-conditioned ale but is obviously digesting it quickly. The learning curve has been rounded by Martin Thompson, long-term barman who admits he, in turn, absorbed the best in cellarmanship and ale-handing from an acknowledged expert.

He says: “It’s really good to get the recognition from Camra after working away at it for 10 or 12 years, but it’s not all up to me. I picked up everything about keeping real ales from Mark Dixon, the previous owner.

“We’re lucky that it’s a small pub and we have decent locals who keep coming back. And it’s nice to be able to keep five real ales on, even during the winter in Berwick – the cold dark days of January and February (he shudders at the thought then cites March, April...). The pub of the year award is testament to serving a decent pint and selling a product at a price that’s affordable to customers who appreciate it.”

Ben admits he never envisaged himself as a pub-sector operator, particularly alongside his brothers, although he says they get on “amazingly well”.

“All these years at university wasted,” he says. “Cask ale is a growth area at the moment and we’ve seen a lot more young people now drinking it, even in the short time we’ve been here. All our pubs are freehold, free houses, free of tie, which means we can be selective with our beer. We also take cask ale out to events – we did the Berwick Green Festival last year which we’ll be doing again in June.

“We used to come here for a drink with my dad when my parents moved to Cheswick in Northumberland and got to know Mark Dixon. He was keen to sell it only to someone who would keep it as it was. He had spent 10 years building the business from nothing to what it is now and we were very happy to do that anyway. He’s since opened a hotel in Brazil in an up-and-coming beach resort...

“We’ve built on the pub’s music reputation as well, bringing in international Blues acts and promoting new local talent. We’re having Lightnin’ Willie and the Poorboys in the basement bar and Paul Lamb and the Kingsnakes. It means we get a real cross-section of younger and older people and we can offer international acts two or three venues to play at.

“But drink comes first at The Barrels; there are only four tables in the main bar and it’s a locals’ bar for conversation. Elsewhere in Berwick, The Pilot has cask ale and Foxtons has quite a lot now – plus Wetherspoons, of course, and they do their own beer festivals. There’s quite a demand and certainly in midweek that’s all we sell.”

Appropriately enough, two half barrels project from the bar, a pair of ancient-looking skis hangs in the window recess, huge mirrors dominate, and is that Brendan Behan in a framed photograph?

The talking point, though, is “the chair” which has Martin Thompson scratching his head.

“We’re not quite sure what it is,” he says. “It was found dumped somewhere and it’s been painted and reupholstered. It’s probably a barber’s chair, but when we’re asked if it’s a dentist’s’ or a barber’s we usually say it depends if you’ve got bad hair or bad teeth.”

Music-wise, The Barrels’ Jimi Hendrix toilet theme could be developed; the ladies’ could have Foxy Lady playing in the background, with Hey Joe in the men’s or something from Lightnin’ Willie. Either that or The Wind Cries Mary.

For further information visit www.thebarrelsalehouse.co.uk

alastair.gilmour@ncjmedia.co.uk