The Beer Hunter returns for 2014/15!

Welcome one and all to a new season in a new League for us, with a whole stack of new grounds to visit and nearby pubs to explore. The Beer Hunter (aided and abetted, as ever, by his trusty lady assistant) will endeavour to provide a comprehensive guide to the best pubs to visit on our travels, with associated bits of information both essential and trivial to entertain and divert you.

Having said that, our first League match of the new season sees us back on familar turf at Ilford – indeed, it was home turf for us for five years when we groundshared with them. Pubwise, this is pretty barren territory, though if you turn sharp left on leaving Seven Kings station you’ll find the Joker, a no-frills sports-mad local with a decent drop of Greene King IPA on handpump.

Opposite the entrance to the ground stands the Cauliflower – a huge and extravagant Victorian gin-palace, still retaining a lot of its etched glass and interior panelling despite somewhat lacking TLC in recent years. Real ale made a welcome reappearance here towards the end of our sojourn at Cricklefield – but alas the pub’s opening hours had become very erratic by then, and there are rumours of total closure. This would be a tragedy, as the pub is a gem of its type and deserves to be on a heritage register. If indeed we do find it closed, hopefully we shall find that Terry, Sally and Anne still maintain a stock of good bottled beer behind the football club bar – something they introduced while we were there, and which proved very popular with home and visiting fans alike. Other clubs please take note!

Finally, another date for your diaries – the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia starts on August 12th and runs until August 16th. A huge range of great beers, ciders and perries from all over Great Britain (and indeed the world), tasty food, live music, sales stands, breweriana auctions, great atmosphere… see you there! Full details at www.gbbf.org.uk.