A Trip Through the Archives by Neil Kellett

My ramble through the archives this year concentrates on the year to 31 December 2000 which is the nearest accounting period end to 10 years ago.

Iain Loe, CAMRA’s Research Officer, joined the committee during the year and, through him, the subsequent link with CAMRA and What’s Brewing has proved to be very valuable to the Club.

On the brewery front both Bass and Whitbread sold their brewing interests and the Club, in line with CAMRA’s policy on such issues, made appropriate representations.

At the end of 2000 the Club’s fund value was £1,131,174 (at March 2011, £9.90 million). The average monthly contributions received during the year to 31 March 2011 were £95,783 – the total monthly contributions during 2000 were £267,546. Dividends received in 2000 amounted to £34,203 – this year, in spite of passed or reduced dividends, the figure is £252,637. The unit value at 31 December 2000 was £1.366 – at the end of March 2011 it was £3.136, an increase of 130%.

In his 2000 report, Chairman Chris Bruton reported “that in 2000 our sector had a difficult year” with the unit price dropping 3% during the year.

2000 saw the fifth members’ lunch held at the Victoria Hotel, Beeston, Notts, yet again priced at £10. The speaker was John Gilbert from Hop Back Brewery with some provocative comments on the problems of running a small brewery - such comments continue after 10 years!

Share purchases in 2000 totalled ££400,786 and included Bass, Belhaven, Black Sheep, Brakspear, Bulmers, Burtonwood, Fuller Smith & Turner, Hardy’s & Hanson’s, Joseph Holt, Honeycombe Leisure, Interbrew, Jennings, Old English Inns, Regents Inns, Scottish & Newcastle, SFI, Slug & Lettuce, Wetherspoon, Whitbread, Wolverhampton & Dudley, Yates Brothers Wine Lodges and Young’s.

At the start of the year end we “lost” Joseph Holt’s through a takeover “by itself” – i.e. it went private to help preserve its status as an independent brewery and this has ensured its continuance as such to this very day. “Goodbye” was said to shareholdings in Allied Domecq, Ambishus Pub Co, Greenall’s, Mansfield, Slug & Lettuce and Swallow (formerly Vaux).

At the end of 2000 our 10 largest shareholdings by market value were in Wolverhampton & Dudley (£99,015), Greene King (£69,498), Bass (£63,468), Scottish & Newcastle (£63,240), Enterprise Inns (£62,256), Whitbread (55,284), Fuller’s (£53,475), Hardy’s & Hanson’s (£51,300), Jennings (£42,957) and Young’s (£42,862).

Successful brewery visits were made during 2000 to Jennings, Hardy’s & Hanson’s (since closed), Gale’s (since closed), Hop Back and Belhaven.

More ramblings next year!

Cheers, Neil.