Bedford and Wells and Young's July 17th 2007

I can't recall now why (a few years back now) I didn't finish this and post it.

Yesterday was not a work or walk day, but was out at Bedford hearing Wells and Young's Brewing setting out the business plans for developing the products (Charles Wells beers, Young's, and now Courage also they own and have been brewing since last month). The development and marketing strategy, and then where the investment has been going, was quite an insight e.g. £1M alone into the brewing of the different yeast cultures, and adapting the Young's recipes to be made using different brewing techniques and equipment.

Courage beer volunes (Directors and Best) (largely cask conditioned) are miniscule compared to the 1M barrels a year 30+ years ago. The last significant marketing / advertising was apparently in the '80s, with the ubiquitous (?) rockney stars Chas and Dave. Such classics as Gertcha, Margate and Rabbit could be up or down for a comeback, maybe.

I've noticed over the years pubs with Courage signage still quite prominent, though the beers have not been seen for 10-15 years, as Scottish and Newcastle Breweries have favored John Smiths Tadcaster Ales.

Directors and Best still though have a strong presence in certain areas, and keeps and sells well.

I had a couple of hours before the meeting exploring Bedford - not terribly inspirational and medium to heavy showers started soon after getting there. The Cecil Higgins Art Gallery is worth visiting but closed for major refurbishment. The Museum is small, with a new exhibition in preparation, opening next Saturday.

Rather too much of the town centre has disappeared (post-war reconstruction, and 70s/80s clearances) for comfort, and there's still quite a feel close by of rundown and poverty. Some of the photos in the Museum show a lot of what was not an unattractive town centre.

The central shopping area is a bit brutal .... but the sultry weather and angry cloud-scape was ever present, with occasional sunshine, and late afternoon distant thunder. None of the pubs I saw looked particularly appealing, and apparently the CAMRA listed ones are outside of the town centre.

I risked a 45 minute walk out and around by the river Great Ouse, that reminded me of the Milton Keynes to Bedford waterway plan see http://www.b-mkwaterway.co.uk/bedford.htm Presumably before the railway anything would have been moved down river from Bedford into the fens ...