Reelin' in the years: the 70s

The 'big six' UK brewers — Allied Breweries, Bass Charrington, Courage, Scottish & Newcastle Breweries, Watney Mann, and Whitbread — applied industrialised brewing processes to the production of 'continental' lagers, reflecting the UK’s entry into the EEC in 1973 and rise of European holidays. However, these were often weak imitations that skipped the weeks-long lagering process.

Nevertheless, heavy advertising helped these lagers to rapidly gain market share.Meanwhile, four friends founded the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), celebrating beers like Young’s Bitter. This cask session bitter was known universally as Ordinary to its drinkers in Young’s London and Home Counties heartlands. 

When virtually all other London brewers had abandoned real ale, Young’s clung to time-honoured methods, using open fermenters and cask conditioning. Although no longer brewed in Wandsworth, Ordinary remains a refreshing bitter with marmalade notes and floral hop aroma — perfect for long CAMRA meetings! 

The Farriers Arms in St Albans features a blue plaque proclaiming, “the first branch meeting of the Campaign for Real Ale was held here 20th Nov 1972” and the city remains CAMRA’s home. It’s still an unassuming backstreet local with two separate rooms and outside toilets. It marks an appropriate birthplace for a consumer movement that preserved a uniquely British style of beer.

To accompany their ale, 1970s drinkers developed a taste for pork scratchings. Said to originate in the Black Country in the 1820s, small bags of roasted pork rind became the snack equivalent of real-ale. Disdained by some drinkers at the start of a night, then as now, they became more enticing as the beer flowed.

More Mediterranean holidays coincided with Eurovision winners Abba’s huge popularity. As pubs attracted more women, Abba’s 1976 dance floor classic, “Dancing Queen”, was perfect for late night pub discos where “the lights are low” and customers could have “the time of their lives”.