27th July 2007
A Pub Full of Cad's?
Licensees John and Trisha Bellinger of the Bell Inn at Adderbury expect to be inundated with Cad’s, all checking their little black books and comparing conquests! On 11 August the couple will launch The Bell Inn Cask Ale Drinkers Club (CAD’s Club) at a party to mark their second anniversary as hosts of this popular Hook Norton Brewery pub.
“The idea came about when John was having one of his What more can I do to promote Cask Ale moments’, said Trisha. “Because the Bell has got such a good reputation for excellent real ale, he wanted to reward the many customers who make it their first choice when visiting the pub. “Once he’s got a seed of an idea it just grows and grows. It started off as just discounting the beer one night a week and soon it had become the Cad’s Club.”
Membership of the club is open to anyone who is a member of the North Oxfordshire branch of CAMRA, the consumer group that campaigns to keep real ale and community pubs across the country alive. Members’ night will be every Monday evening when there will be 10 per cent off all cask ales, with prices rounded to the nearest 5p. The same offer will be made on the first Saturday of each month, when other activities such as blind tasting evenings, brewery visits and visits to pubs in other parts of the country will be organized.
Every Cad will be issued with a little black book, which they can record their conquests in. The book has spaces for the members to keep a note of up to 12 pints of different cask ales they have purchased over a six month period. Once their ‘little black book’ is full, they can exchange it for an engraved tankard, so they will always have their own glass when they visit their club.
“The idea of the club is not only to bring in extra customers to the pub”, said John, a CAMRA member himself, “but to reward my regulars for their loyalty in a fun sort of way. With CAMRA membership costing less than £1.70 a month, members will soon be able to recoup this with the discounts they receive and now with a smoke free atmosphere in which to enjoy our award winning beers, there’s no better time to join! Real ale used to have a reputation as being a drink for ‘boring anoraks’ but this shows that it’s far from it and we have quite a few under thirties, male and female, who now prefer cask ale to the cold fizzy stuff they used to drink before they realized there was something better!.
Our customers now have a choice of up to six cask ales, including all of the Hooky beers, seasonal and guest ales, or they can choose from our range of ‘Cocked Ales’ listed on the chalkboards above the bar. Also available to drinkers of Cask Ale is the £1.00 off a four pint sharing jug offer, which is available when the 10 per cent discount isn’t!”.
CAMRA members can pick up an application form to become a CAD at the Bell during normal opening times. Those who aren’t CAMRA members can join on line at www.camra.org.uk/joinus or by picking up a leaflet at most pubs serving real ale!
For more information contact:
John Bellinger – 01295 810338
info@the-bell.com
