Posters back beer feedback campaign

February 2, 2005: The Cornwall branch of the Campaign for Real Ale is utilising National Pub Week later this month to launch an innovative poster campaign.

As pubs throughout the county hold special events designed to encourage more people to visit their locals, some of those locals will be pinning up new 'Loved it? Loathed it?' posters - the brainchild of Cornwall CAMRA press office Fran Brennan and her cartoonist husband Nick.

The posters invite drinkers to use Cornwall CAMRA's new online feedback facility to report on the quality of the ale that's being served to them in the county's pubs.

"Consistently brilliant beer should be the cornerstone of any truly good pub," said Fran. "Our online feedback form will help people let us know where they're finding it and - just as importantly - where they're not!

"Drinkers have always been able to use traditional methods of contact to tell us about the quality of ale they're discovering when they're out and about, but by also providing people with the opportunity to feed this information back to us via the web we're hoping to vastly extend the number of pubs and the types of beers that we get to hear about."

Branch chairman Rod Davis is very enthusiastic about the idea. He said: "We're extremely lucky in Cornwall and have some really excellent pubs which do a great job of keeping and serving out ale in great condition, but, as with all areas, we also have some which could do with raising the bar, so to speak.

l Regulars at the Oddfellows Arms, Falmouth, salute Cornwall CAMRA's 'Like it? Loathe it?' initiative. Pictured centre is landlady Vicky Sear

"We strive to keep a comprehensive database of beer quality in the region's pubs and to that end feedback from drinkers is crucial. We hope our poster campaign will encourage people to get out there, try the beers that our pubs have on offer and let us know how they feel about them".

Pub landlady Vicky Sear, of the Oddfellows Arms in Falmouth, is one of the growing band of enthusiastic supporters of this campaign. "The posters are a really great idea," she said.

l National Pubs Week runs from February 19-26 - see the national CAMRA website

Cornwall CAMRA's online feedback facility can be found at www.camrakernow.org.uk/beersurvey For copies of the poster, e-mail Fran.