Peter escapes the rat race

Nov 27 2009 by Aranda Rahbarkouhi, The Journal

THE Daily Grind, The Treadmill, The Hamster Wheel; we’re all familiar with one or the other. The Rat Race, too, is something most people would love to get out of.

It’s exactly what Peter Morgan did when he was made redundant, but he effectively stepped straight back into the running by opening a pub. His new venture is unusual, however – the Rat Race Ale House is an eight-foot by eight-foot room on platform 2 of Hartlepool Railway Station and one of the smallest pubs in the country.

Peter has tapped into a fascinating concept, that of micro-pubs opening their doors in former shops and commercial units which have one common denominator, real ale. The idea, pioneered by Martyn Hillier at The Butcher’s Arms in Hove, Kent (in a former butcher’s shop), is catching on with a similar venture gearing up in Newark, Nottinghamshire.

“As soon as I heard about it I thought it was a great idea,” says Peter, a former IT resources manager at Newcastle Building Society in Newcastle. “It’s part of the real ale revolution, the grassroots support for cask-conditioned beer, the micro-breweries, everything. Long live enterprise.”

Peter had attended a seminar on micro-pubs by Martyn Hillier at the Campaign For Real Ale (Camra) agm and was smitten.

He says: “He began by saying you don’t need all the things you normally have in pubs – lager and jukeboxes – all you need is beer. By the time he had finished speaking my mind was made up. I said to my girlfriend ‘I’m doing it’. She said, ‘Don’t be stupid’.

“The presentation was on April 17 and on April 30 I was made redundant.”

The Rat Race will have four beers on tap with this week’s opening flurry featuring Kirby Lonsdale Jubilee Stout, Stringers Bitter, Jarrow Rivet Catcher and Yorkshire Dales Askrigg Ale. Also ready for pouring is Thornbridge Jaipur IPA but Peter has promised his brother he would wait until he arrived before it’s served.