The Campaign for Real Ale & David Jesudason’s Desi Pubs
Earlier this year a pub in Grays Essex was investigated by police after complaints of racism. Whether any action on that will occur is not clear. Certainly the Home Secretary wasn’t keen but it’s a matter for the police and the CPS.
The pub subsequently closed because Heineken and ABInBev refused to supply it.
It had been a local CAMRA Award winner and a Good Beer Guide entry. If the pub is the hub this was a very selective one.
CAMRA has good policies on discrimination and inclusion but practice must follow theory.
Actually it has. CAMRA has just published David Jesudason’s guide to Desi-Pubs. British-Indian pubs that sell restaurant quality Asian food in a pub setting. The book is political and reveals a whole genre of good pubs that may have passed many by
I have reviewed the book for the Cultures Matter site
https://culturematters.org.uk/index.php/culture/dining/item/4278-desi-pubs
Take a look at the site anyway, there is lots of interest and politics and culture including beer.
The fact that CAMRA has published the book is important. As Jesudason notes there is a link between Asian food and lager. Perhaps not many of the Desi pubs listed would make the Good Beer Guide. Jesudason does note however that some are selling cask and craft beer and there is no reason why more cant.
The point is that CAMRA is of course about beer but it’s also about good pubs which are inclusive of community and promote the kind of democratic social life that should and could promote a better Britain.
The book is available from CAMRA
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