Branch meeting/social date: 29/08/2026

venue: The Harp Old Radnor @ 1.00pm

1: apologies: Chris Charters, Terry Taylor, John Lamb

In attendance: Andy Towell, David Strachan, Dave Drewitt, Graham Haslock

2: Minutes last meeting: The Old Tavern Kington agreed and accepted

A very useful and enjoyable meeting at the Historic Harp Inn; Old Radnor. X3 Cask Ales were available from ' local Breweries' Wye Valley and Ludlow. All served in good condition. Interesting and well presented food was also available.

This is a busy pub on a Saturday afternoon with its dramatic location and scenery an additional draw.

Reports were made by our Treasurer and Pubs Officers.

A new WhatsApp group has been established and we hope as many members as possible will access it in the coming months

Next meeting: Llanerch Hotel Llandrindod Wells 12/09/2026 1.00pm

GH

Branch meeting/social date: 21/06/2026

venues Y Banc: Watsons Ale House: The Kinsley

In attendance : Chris Charters, Dave Drew, Terry Taylor, David Strachan, Andy Towell and Graham Haslock

First place to visit: Y Banc at 2.00pm It served Ludlow: Gold and one changing ale, such as Butcombe: Original or Wye Valley: Butty Bach. This pub is a Nineteenth century bank building converted into a spacious open plan bar/restaurant, with a large covered patio area at the front. It is popular with locals and diners. Y Banc hosts regular quiz nights and occasional live music.

Second place to visit: Watson’s Ale House 2.25pm On arrival Chris Charters congratulated the landlord on being awarded the Radnorshire Sir Faesyfed CAMRA Cider Pub of the Year 2026. The news was greeted with enthusiasm and Chris negotiated a return visit in the Autumn (possibly to coincide with the pub’s ‘Halloween celebrations’) to formally present the award. The pub stated it will arrange for local press coverage. On a similar point it was announced that Radnorshire Sir Faesyfed CAMRA Club of the Year 2026 is the Llandrindod Wells Golf Club. GH to negotiate with the club to arrange a presentation event.

Watson’s pub had a number of interesting beers, ciders and perry available including Three Acre Brewery Best Bitter 4%; 4Ts Brewery Raging 3.9%: Ludlow Brewery Stairway 5.0%: Three Tuns Best 3.8%: Skyberry Cider 7%: Skyberry Perry 6.5% and during our visit Ludlow Black Knight 4.5%. All beers, ciders and perrys tasted were in good condition and the wide choice available was welcomed.

As part of the discussion it was noted that the Pant-y-Dwr pub - The Mid Wales Inn - seems to be closed at the moment. The establishment is owned by the current owners of the Elan Hotel Rhayader (which we visited in May) and there may or not be plans to reopen the Mid Wales Inn. At present not trading and agreed to alter the WhatPub information.

Chris and David Strachan discussed the CAMRA accounting process and David agreed to investigate the CAMRA COBAS system as his role of acting Treasurer of the branch.

It was agreed that in preparation for POTY/COTY Cider wards for next year, that GH would send out an email to all members asking for nominations for pubs and clubs in the various categories. In either the October or November meeting a short list will be drawn up and members will be assigned pubs/clubs to visit and score.

It was noted that Dave Drew and Terry Taylor are currently undertaking a review of pubs in our branch area and adjusting WhatPub information as appropriate. It was recognised in the meeting that these 2 members are putting in a great effort and have already visited a number of pubs which the branch has not reviewed for a considerable amount of time including the Wharf and The Radnorshire Arms Beguildy. It was noted that the Castle Inn at Knucklas is no longer functioning fully as a pub and is more B&B focussed. Non residents are apparently catered for at weekends. Its not known if they are keeping Real Ales.

Chris Charters welcomed Andy Towell to the meeting. Andy is a long serving member who has recently retired from full time work and he is planning to become more active in the branch again.

Third place to visit: The Kinsley 4.00pm Several members moved onto The Kinsey which had the draft beers Timothy Taylor: Bolt Maker and one changing ale, such as Wadworth: 6X. This is a traditional nineteenth century pub close to railway station and River Teme. It has a long narrow bar area with open fire. Side garden area overlooks Knighton Rugby ground. It is a quiet pub, family orientated with a garden.

Date of next meeting: it was agreed as planned in the May meeting to meet out of County next at Kington. The Old Tavern Kington – Saturday July 18th 2026 at 2.00pm.

Also the plan for August is the Harp Inn at New Radnor on Saturday 22nd August 2026

GH June 2026

On Saturday 16th may 2026 local CAMRA members met for its pre arranged meeting at the Elan Hotel, Rhayader.

This was the branch's first visit to this pub for some years. 5 members were present including Chris Charters our Chair. (Its worth noting that Chris is an extremely busy CAMRA member both locally, Regionally and Nationally. He is currently Regional Director for Wales.)

The Elan Hotel bar was clean and well presented. Two cask beers were available (sometimes that increases to 3). Ludlow Brewery's Gold and Wye Valley Butty Bach were on. Both served by a friendly local young bar person. This is a fairly recently renovated pub/bar so the accommodation/toilets etc are to a high standard. There is also an extensive bar menu and beer garden at the back.

As well as exchanging beer stories and personal catch ups the meeting also concluded some serious business.

Dave Gill the Branch's long standing officer who held a number of posts has stepped down ( although continues in membership). Members present expressed their gratitude to his long service to CAMRA and sent a card to him stating that point.

Revised Key post holders until at least our next AGM are : Chair - Chris Charters

WhatPub, Pub of the Year, Club of the Year and Cider Pub of the Year - Dave Drewitt

Treasurer - David Strachan

Good Beer Guide - Terry Taylor

Branch Contact/ meeting secretary - Graham Haslock

Web Master - Graham Haslock

It was agreed that a timetable ( to be provided by Chris C.} would be followed this late summer/autumn for POTY, COTY, Good Beer Guide etc recommendations and voting.

Next meeting is arranged for June 20th at Knighton. - details to follow