Yorkshire Ales in 2015

I made a trip up to Yorkshire in January, so my first 3 Yorkshire ales of the year were imbibed in dear old Yorkshire, which I do miss a tad...  

Anyway, 6 of us traveled up, specifically to attend a football match in Burnley (which is very close to the Yorkshire border), first destination Leeds, where we had a couple of drinks at the Wetherspoons in the station, and it is just called "Wetherspoons", not very imaginative... We were also awaiting Tom, who had missed our train at Kings Cross, but was coming up on the next one!  

Whilst in the 'spoons, we started with pints of Leeds Pale, a 3.8% very easy drinking pale session bitter, brewed with Slovenian Bobek hops. It was a nice refreshing way to start our drinking (if you ignore what was consumed on the train up), but our second pint was much better... That is, the Saltaire Cascade Pale Ale, a 4.8% ale, more body and bitterness, with a dry grapefruit finish produced by the Cascade and Centenniel hops used, this was getting better and more flavoursome.   

We got to Haworth thanks to another train, and wine provided by Kieran, and by taxi from Keighley, where we stayed at the Apothecary Tearooms and Guesthouse, run by our mate Teapot Dave and his brother Nick, ta muchly. I'll not mention the trip over the border, we came second, but after we'd eaten, we did a few pubs in Haworth, the only one worth mentioning ale-wise being The Fleece. Although it is a Timothy Taylor house, they had a Saltaire guest ale on, which I noted as "3 Cs", so I'm guessing it was the 4.4% Trio Pale, which uses 3 American hops, and I remember it being very good!   

Back to the Dolphin and Hastings, and this month I have savoured 4 more Yorkshire ales here. First, a completely different style of ale, the Rudgate Ruby Mild, a deep red 4.4% richer beer, almost a meal in itself, and not too easy to drink much more than one pint at a time, but very nice and tasty, and in a RNLI glass, respect.  

They have also had 3 pale hoppy ales, much more to my taste, of course. The first 2 of which were from one of my old favourite brewers, that is, the Roosters Cogburn, a 4.3% pale golden bitter brewed with American hops, very thirst quenching and their ever dependable Yankee, another 4.3% pale bitter, that uses Cascade hops also from the USA. Both very nice, indeed, but my favourite so far this year has to be from my old employer, Kelham Island Brewery, which is awaiting a new website, so cannot provide, sorry! Oh yes, their 4.9% Blondie Beer, pale, hoppy, with a nice dry bitter finish, very good, indeed, cheers!    

Much Ado about Hops, Great Ale, and a New Pub...

You'll probably guess from my brief last blog, I'm a bit unhappy at losing the original of this blog, it was a fair piece of authorship, and I don't think I'll get up to the mark again... Oh well! This was, and still is, designed to review some very hoppy and excellent ales, provide some news, and mention a pub I'd previously been told to avoid, but now selling some very good real ales, more later... 

Oakham are probably my favourite brewery, and that is saying something! Anyway, this very tasty offering from them, the 4.6% Bishop's Farewell, does the business for me, pale, fruity, hoppy, with plenty of body and a lovely bitter finish, great stuff, and recently available at the CAMRA South East Sussex Pub of The Year 2013, and now 2014 too: Congratulations to Mark and family at the Dolphin, Rock a Nore, Hastings 'old town'! And many thanks for the photograph too, presumably this thanks going to Laura, cheers m'dear! 

In addition to the 3 regular ales always on offer here, including the very hoppy session ale from the Sussex brewer, Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), and the Bishop's Farewell as a guest ale, there are always 6 ales in total, so 3 guests as well as the regulars. Another quality brewery recently represented was from Yorkshire, and goes by the name of Roosters (also brewing 'specials' under the alternative name of 'Outlaw'), an ale I've had up int' North, the excellent pale and bitter Yankee (4.3%). I also have to mention an ale that I found quite magnificent, but not what would be called my 'usual tipple', Yeovil Ruby, a deep red slightly sweet bitter with a malty aroma and clean taste, finishing off nice and dry! 

Whilst reviewing the Dolphin, they have recently started selling 3 'crafty kegs', 2 varying ones from Meantime, to me still tasting 'tinny', which comes from the unnatural gases used to pressurise and dispense the beer, I presume. But also one that is a collaboration between Charles Wells and the American brewery, Dogfish Head, called DNA - New World IPA (4.5%). In effect, this is a weaker version of the Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA (6%), brewed originally last year as a cask conditioned ale, but now a crafty keg. It's not as tinny as the other 2, but I wish I had had the chance to try the real ale version! 

When discussing drinking hoppy ales in Hastings, thoughts immediately go to The Tower in London Road, upper St Leonards. This is like drinking in a certain Sheffield pub, in the Shalesmoor area, but with fewer South Yorkshire accents! Just look at the photograph above, and 3 Dark Star ales, brimming with hops. Regular here is their American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%), semi-regular is the Hophead (3.8%), both well-reported before. The 2nd and 3rd Dark Star ales in the photograph have also been reviewed before, and packed with hops, though slightly darker and dark, the revelation that is Revelation (5.7%), and the dark revelation that proves that it's not just strong ales that pack a punch, so does the 3.5% The Art of Darkness! Louisa has also served up their Six Hop Ale, subtitled "Extreme Hops", a 6.5% full-bodied darker golden ale, packed with fruity hops and a lovely dry bitter finish, quality! 

Another 2 Sussex brewers having their ales served here include the new (old) boy on the block, Burning Sky. 2 of their ales have been quite regularly served at The Tower, both brimming with hops, and well reviewed by me already, the 3.5% Plateau and the stronger Aurora (5.6%), even better quality! Also, even closer by, and featured in the photograph above, number 14 in the Hastings 'Handmade' series, their 3 Cs American Pale Ale (5.5%). The clue is in the name, not their usual 'Handmade' single hop brew, but 3 hops were used for No 14, and I was only 1 out with my guess at what they were, that is Columbus, Centennial and Cascade. You can probably write this for me, but I'll write it anyway: plenty of body, a pale golden bitter with a strong citrus aroma and plenty of varied citrus flavours coming through, finishing off with a pleasant crisp dry aftertaste, not bad at all! 

From further afield have been 2 ales from the apparently very consistent Red Willow, including Mirthless (3.9%), pale, citrus aroma and grapefruit and tangerine in the flavour, finishing off dry and bitter, and Wreckless (4.8%), a bit maltier, with a biscuit aroma, less fruity, and a wee bit darker. I doubt they'll bring out a "Tasteless" or "Hopeless", but they do brew a 4.1% Feckless... Oh, and another newer favourite brewer of mine has been represented too, Tiny Rebel Goldie Lookin Ale (4.5%), a collaboration with the Newport band, 'Goldie Lookin Chain'; though I doubt the music is to my taste! But the ale is, I'm guessing it's 4.5%, because of 45 RPM, sounds about right, and this is a golden bitter with a fresh aroma and tangerine and orange in the flavours, definitely worth a try (the ale)...     

And the new pub? This is The Clown in Russell Street, just behind Queens Road, and very close to the town centre. It's always seemed a bit rough, from observing the clientele smoking away outside, and doesn't look much from outside either, does it? But I'd had a whisper they were selling FILO ales now, so I had to make a visit... It's actually quite a fun wee pub inside, decent juke box, decent banter, and 3 handpumps for real ales. The first time I visited there was just the very good Churches Pale Ale (4.2%) from FILO, but they do still serve up more common ales such as Wells Bombardier. However, I very recently visited and they had 3 FILO ales, the Churches Pale Ale, which is now a regular, plus Gold (4.8%) and Crofters (3.8%). So things are looking up in Hastings Town Centre... 

Oh, I've only visited early lunchtime, and even the lad behind the bar advised me that I may not appreciate the pub at other times, cheers Alan!     

FILO Beer Festival Report 17-21 April 2014

I visited the beer festival at the First in Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings, only on the first day, Thursday 17th. Due to circumstances, on the day, I only sampled 7 of the 20 ales available, and their own have been reviewed by me before, so were not included this time. In order of strength, below are my reflections on those 6 festival ales, and I was surprised at both my favourite and least preferred ales... 

First, I tried the Elgoods Spring Challenge (3.7%), which was 'pale and refreshing', as the tasting notes said, and with a dry bitter aftertaste, a pleasant start at 6.5/10. Then, I drank the Dark Star Seville (4%), their first ever 'fruit' beer, first brewed 3 years ago, and including a hint of bitter orange, as you'd expect. I'd tasted this at the previous beer festival reported on this blog, and had been a bit underwhelmed. This time, however, I got a lot more flavour, and it was quite bitter and dry, and very good, obviously improved with time settled in the cask, 8/10. The third ale, in turn, I was disappointed with, surprisingly, as I usually enjoy Roosters beers. This Roosters, 41 Degrees South (4.1%), was pale and fruity, dry and bitter, but neither quality was as pronounced as I expect from this brewery, 5.5/10. 

The fourth ale was Hop Back Spring Zing (4.2%), which was very pale, dry and bitter, very refreshing, and very good too, 7/10. Nine Standards Silver Standard (4.3%) was a wee bit different, described as "a classic pale ale", and the hoppy aroma and taste did make me think English hops, though I have no idea what was used, though I'd guess Fuggles if questioned, but please don't quote me on that! It had a light malty aroma, was quite a dry bitter with a nutty aftertaste, not bad at 6/10. My final ale, or finale, was the slightly stronger Cairngorm Wild Cat (5.1%), all the way from Scotland! This had a malty aroma with a hint of burnt oats, and received 6/10 too.

Today, I sampled my seventh ale, Elgoods Golden Newt (4.1%), which was also pretty good, and I think I may have had this before. The malts used seem to include lager malt, at lest that's what my tastebuds told me, and this is, apparently, dry hopped. The dry aftertaste supports the dry hopping, and there was a fruitiness about it hat I just couldn't quite distinguish, but, considering this is near the end of the cask, in very good nick and got 7/10!  

Consequently, I was surprised that the Roosters came last in my marking, perhaps my high opinion of the brewery made me more critical as a judge? Whatever, the local Sussex brewer, Dark Star, came out tops in this small sample, their Seville being much more to my taste, even more so than it did when I tried it for the first time a couple of weeks ago!

Cheers!   

Another Beer Festival starting tomorrow! In Hastings this time...UPDATED 17th April

For this weekend, From Thursday 17th in the evening to Monday 21st of April, though I doubt all the planned ales will still be available by Easter Monday, and to be held at the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'Old Town', East Sussex TN34 3EY. The 'festival' ales will be sold in the room at the back, and FILO's own ales will be available at the bar, of course...  

The photograph below shows last years offerings, but this year include: 

FILO Mike's Mild (3.4%) 

Elgoods Spring Challenge (3.7%) 

Moles Moles Gold (3.8%)
Dark Star Seville (4%) 

Hammerpot This England (4%) 

Elgoods Golden Newt (4.1%) 

Roosters 41 degrees South (4.1%) 

Hopback Spring Zing (4.2%) 

Lymestone Flagstone (4.2%) 

St George's Midas (4.4%) 

Wharfebank Golden Ticket (4.5%) 

Cairngorm Wild Cat (5.1%) 

As you can see, ales from all over the country, and many typical of the month, ie Spring and St George's Day 'specials', plus FILO Crofters Best, Churches Pale Ale, Old Town Tom (flavoured with ginger), Cardinal Sussex Porter and Gold in the main bar. No doubt a couple of surprises will appear on the bar, indeed, today (17th) there is Nine Standards Silver Standard (4.3%), plus 2 real ciders will be available as well: Westons 1st Quality and Thatchers Cheddar Valley, plus food...

Thursday evening 18.00-20.30 Indian Thali. 

Friday and Saturday evenings 18.00-21.00 Hot bar snacks. 

Monday evening 18.00-20.30 Tapas.

Friday, Saturday and Monday Lunchtimes 12.00-14.30 Regular FILO menu. 

Not sure when the Beermeister will be there, but it has to be done and enjoyed, cheers! 

The FILO's own website is www.thefilo.co.uk 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

Bexhill Beer Festival Part IV (Final Resolution)

OK, back to Bexhill for the second day, and a new pale hoppy bitter had been put on upstairs in the Club bar, ie Lacons Affinity, a 4.5% fruity bitter, not bad at all, but not on a par with the 3 mentioned at the end of the previous blog, which I had to try again before comparing beers, of course, if only for scientific purpose... Anyway, here goes for the darker beers... 

I started from the weakest again, and one that others had spoken with great warmth about yesterday, whilst dunking bourbon biscuits in their pints (true!), the Sonnet 43 Brewery Bourbon Milk Stout (4.3%). Yes, the biscuits did work with this stout, very pleasant, though I didn't 'dunk', just ate a few. However, I found it a bit 'thin', hardly surprising as it was the weakest stout/porter here. Then I tried the very good 4.8% Deeply Dale Breakfast Stout, which had much more body. lovely and well-balanced, and a wee bit bitter too, it hit the spot!

Actually, I came to find that the 4 darker beers downstairs were all very good, and not too much to chose between them really. The next 2 had mucho body, the Londinium (5.5%), brewed by Roosters Brewery, was very well balanced again, I tasted more coffee than the tasting notes suggested, too easy to drink at the strength though! The final stout I drank was the impressive 7.4% Russian Rouble, brewed by Flipside Brewery, another very good beer, if a wee bit too sweet for me. I liked them all! 

I had to try the 3 real ciders too, it would have been very poor not to, and quite a few visitors to the beer festival, certainly seemed to be here for the cider, not the ales! Memories of the old Cider Bar in Newton Abbot came to mind, in the days when I first went there and they still had only 3 draught ciders, before their expansion in the 1980s, and, like there then, Geoff had brought in dry, medium and sweet ciders. So a good choice, and all 3 certainly were true rough-ish ciders, one was even called a 'scrumpy', the 'dry' PalmersHayes Kneebender Scrumpy (6%), which, like they all did, did what it said on the label, it was dry and real cider, indeed, very good!

The other 2 were similarly true to their labels, the 'medium' cider, Hancock's Real Devon Cider (6.5%), was also quite dry really, and very nice (I could have drunk this all day if there hadn't been ales to drink). The stronger 'sweet' cider was the cloudier Gwatkin Yarlington Mill Cider (7.5%), which was certainly a wee bit sweetish, but with a nice dry aftertaste. All in all, 3 pretty decent real ciders reminiscent of my years living in the West Country, cheers! 

Anyway, I changed my mind and gave the Derventio Cleopatra (5%) the winners certificate, well, there wasn't a certificate, but you get the meaning... after resting the night and certainly developing, and my directly tasting all the leaders from the day before, it just shaded it from the Niamh's Nemesis (5.7%)in second place; with Deeply Vale Breakfast Stout (4.8%) coming in third, best of the stouts! As regular readers will know, I do like hoppy bitter beers, so this may not surprise them...

An excellent beer festival, indeed, and another will be held very soon at the First In Last Out in Hastings (more to come very soon, as it will be held over the Easter weekend), I shall be able to stand back and make more critical judgement as I'll not be working there, unlike I did at the Bexhill festival, cheers!

5th Bexhill Beer Festival 4-6 April 2014

The 5th Bexhill Beer Festival is to be held at The Albatross Club (Royal Air Force Association), 15 Marina Arcade, Bexhill-on-Sea TN40 1JS, at the end of this week, with free admission to all of legal age!  

Friday 4th April, 11am - 11pm 

Saturday 5th April, 11am - 11pm 

Sunday 6th April, 11am - 7pm.

All real ales will be £3 a pint; £1.50 a half-pint; £1 a third-pint... Planned ales: 

5 Towns Niamh's Nemesis 'IPA' 

Big Hand First Hand 

Dancing Duck 22 

Dark Star Seville 'Spanish Orange Bitter' 

Deeply Vale Breakfast Stout 

Dervento Cleopatra 'Pale Apricot' 

Flipside Russian Rouble 

Hand Drawn Monkey What would Jephers Do? 

Heavy Industry 77 'Big Amber IPA' 

Hopstar Lush 'Copper' 

Kirkstall Pale 

Red Willow Headless 

Rooster's Londinium 'Coffee Porter' 

Sonnet 43 Brown Ale 

Also, bottled 'craft' beers from Tiny Rebel Brewery at £3.50, including Fubar, Urban IPA and Hadouken, and 3 real ciders at £3 a pint; £1.50 a half; £1 a third-pint.

Great ales, excellent value, and good company too! 

www.drinkaware.co.uk

300th BLOG!

300th blog, so what do I write about? Obvious really... I love pale and hoppy ales, I've been hither and thither recently, and even discussed beers from over The Pond, but have had some crackin' ales since my last blog about beers in the UK, so where better to start than looking at the 4 excellent ales served from The Tower bar in the photograph immediately below, and then discussing them?!? 

With my love of hops, The Tower, 251 London Road, St Leonards, Hastings TN37 6NB, produced a masterpiece with this choice of 4 hoppy ales, and I've seen Louisa, and the new barmaid, Sheena, regularly too, I can't complain! This particular day and I was really stumped what to drink, but had to start with my  new favourite, Burning Sky's 3.5% Plateau, brimming with hops, with a lovely refreshing aroma, dry grapefruit taste, dry and very bitter, quality! There were also the 2, very well reported on by me already, Dark Star ales, American Pale Ale (APA, 4.7%) and its big brother, the hoppy revelation that is Revelation (5.7%). But there was a new one for me too, Red Willow Mirthless 'Pale Ale', 3.9%, with a fresh citrus aroma, a wee bit 'malty' flavour not detected in the others, not so dry, but still quite bitter... What a choice for me!

Oh yes! And I've also recently had Dark Star's Art of Darkness (3.5%) and Hophead (3.8%), both oozing hop flavours and reported on regularly too; the 'classic' that is Hop Back Summer Lightning (5%), which amazingly seems 'old hat' these days hop-wise; another local brewer keeping the hops 'ultra', Franklins Citra IPA (5.5%); and a wee bit darker amber bitter, Hogs Back HBB or Hogs Back Bitter (3.7%) with a hint of 'peach' in the flavour, and dry and bitter, great stuff, Louisa, cheers!     

At the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings 'old town' TN34 3EY, there was the usual array of their own FILO ales, including the hoppy threesome, varying in their styles, Gold (4.8%), Churches Pale Ale (4.2%) and Crofters (3.8%), and more about the FILO ales coming up in the near future... But there was also an ale from Yorkshire, possibly the birthplace of pale and hoppy ales, ie Roosters Cogburn, nice cowboy pun! The Cogburn is a "Robust Pale Ale", according to the pumpclip, and I have to concur, it is a pale bitter, indeed, 4.3%, with a fair amount of body, quite dry and hoppy, I gave it a smiley face in my notes; cheers to Adam (and not forgetting Mike - Bigg Senior - and Tony, the brewer, manager, etc etc) !   

... and what of the Dolphin, Rock-a-Nore, Hastings 'old town' TN34 3DW, the local CAMRA reigning Pub of the Year? OK, many will be aware I have the nickname 'Hophead' here, because I do enjoy drinking one  of their regular 3 ales, the Dark Star Hophead (3.8%), and just how many times have I reported on and analysed Hophead? But they also have 3 quest ales at a time, which is soon to rise to 4 guest ales, so will be 7 ales in total... So what other hoppy ales have I had here recently? 

There has been the ultra-reliable Stonehenge Danish Dynamite (5%), pale and full flavoured, reported on a-plenty; local brewer 1648's Gold Angel, another 5% pale golden ale with a biscuit aroma, plenty of body, slight roasted malt flavour, quite dry and bitter; West Berkshire's Full Circle (4.5%), a pale golden bitter, dry and pretty good, indeed; and Kent brewer Pig & Porter's Penhuist Pale Ale (4.5%), a deep amber colour, with a fruity aroma and a hint of peach in the flavour, drying out into a very nice bitter, cheers Mark & family! 

Well, that was the 300th blog, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did, cheers!     

Beer Festival at the FILO

I missed the beer festival at the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings this weekend just passed, but! There were still some ales left by the Sunday evening, and at only £3 a pint for all festival ales still available, or £1.50 a half for me, and Daniella, the wonderful Londoner of Italian descent, mother of Big Mike's Grandson, and Adam's wife, behind the bar, what could be better? 

I only tried 3 of the ales on offer, though had 3 halves of the last one. First, I tried the Roosters Fort Smith, a 5% pale bitter, advertised as an IPA, and named after Rooster Cogburn's residence; and I thought he was just a fictional figure! Anyway, Chinook and Citra hops from the USA are used to create a fruity and rather good bitter, and it was bitter, nice one. Also, I tried a half of Burton Bridge Hardy's Kiss, a 4.5% 'golden' ale, Admiral and Aramis hopped, that was more bitter than the description of "citrus flavours with a floral hint" hinted at, not bad either. 

Finally, 3 halves of the excellent Dark Star Green Hopped IPA, brewed with Simcoe hops with "fresh green Target hops infused into the slowly conditioning beer". 6.5% of an "extreme" hopped pale bitter, loved it, Dark Star, eh?!? 

Cheers!

Albatross Club 2013 Beer Festival

As I've already alluded to, there was a beer festival at The Albatross Club (RAFA) in Bexhill on Sea at the weekend, which I attended on the first day, ie Friday, all ales at £2.60 a pint, and mostly gravity fed, thank you very much!  There were 15 ales on, all told, including 2 from Thornbridge Brewery, old favourites, Jaipur (5.9%), and my personal favourite of their's, the excellent (grape)fruity pale bitter, Kipling (5.2%), which is currently on sale at the Dolphin in Hastings, by the way.

There were 1/3 pint glasses available, for those wanting to try most, if not all, the ales, but I mostly stuck to half pints, and I shall only detail the ales I tried myself, starting with the lower alcohol beers, and working my way up.  Indeed, the lowest gravity ale was my favourite for most of the session, ie the Redemption Trinity, only 3%, but the combination and volume of hops (and malts) used provided more body and flavour than I'd though it would, lots of peach in the nose and, quite frankly, a surprise, very good!  

Also were Ilkley Mary Jane (3.5%), another good pale hoppy bitter, and Joshua Jane (3.7%), a slightly darker dry bitter; Tyne Bank Jamaican Mild (3.8%), a dark copper coloured mild with a spicy and slight fruity taste; Roosters Wild Mule (3.9%), a pale bitter with a weird aftertaste, maybe 'roasted' grapefruit, not quite what I expected from past experience of their ales.

 

In addition, I tried Boggart Hole Clough I Am Beer (4.2%), a much too sweet malty beer for me, virtually liquidised Caramac; Liverpool Organic Josephine Butler (4.5%), a full-bodied smooth beer, quite sweet again; and Binghams Space Hoppy (5.2%), which was slightly sweet to start (may have been influenced by what I drank before it, but a nuttier roasted flavour as it went down, not bad at all.    

But my favourite of the day was left until last, Ascot Ales Imperial Stout, 8% of a rich dark, full-bodied, beer, as you'd expect.  Strangely, for all the flavour it packed, not much aroma, but much liquorice domination, and coffee and chocolate coming through too, liquidised christmas pudding...  Very enjoyable, cheers!  

11th December and London SE1.

Started off early last Tuesday, 11th, walking along the Thames Path from Putney to Tower Bridge and a new pub for us both, Simon the Tanner, which is situated near the Tower Bridge end of Long Lane, and pleased we were to have made it at last, just after opening, so it was empty... 

 

This is another great find for me, yet another lovely pub near my Victorian paternal forebears' south east London homes, the interior is nice and simple, bare floorboards, and wooden tables to seat fifty or so.  Of course, the real cider and 3 real ales served from handpumps was my main quest and delight. 

 

The cider was Crazy Goat Lilley's Cider (6.8%), actually a cider and perry blend, and the 3 ales were O'Hanlon's Port Stout (4.8%), Saltaire Bavarian Black (4.9%), and Titanic White Star, which we both drank.  I have to own up, I love Titanic ales, and the 4.8% White Star is no exception, a full-bodied pale ale, a peachy aroma, but more of a dry bitter grapefruit flavour, and beer flavour, of course, loved it! 

 

We then ventured back to Borough Market, and decided to go to The Rake this time, which was serving up Summer Wine Brewery (SWB) Mokko Milk Stout (6%), Coniston No 9, an 8.5% barley wine, and Roosters YPA (Yorkshire Pale Ale), a 4.1% pale and hoppy, yet smooth drinking ale. I also had a bit of a debate about pubs in West Yorkshire with a fellow customer, which I won, of course, though I did later check on one of my assertions with the Teameister up int' Haworth, who confirmed my belief.

 

We then walked back westwards and, coincidentally, a BBC film crew we had seen in the Bricklayers on the Monday were this day filming on the south bank opposite the Houses of Parliament.  I guessed they must have been covering the following days mass lobby of Parliament in connection with the extortionate beer tax, which seemed a reasonable reason to be interviewing someone in the Bricklayers, and the exact same half a dozen people filming opposite the home to democracy in the UK... but no! I later found out that the person doing all the talking is an Oxford professor, and they were filming a programme to come out on BBC about Oliver Cromwell, oh well... 

Cheers!