Bohemia Village Voice

Drip’s new tenant Dave Ayres

Dave Ayres, new tenant of the Dripping Spring, is full of enthusiasm and knowledge about real ale. He has always worked at real ale pubs, starting at the Star Inn at Norman’s Bay as a potman when he was fourteen years old.
“There wasn’t much to do in the winter because it’s so quiet out there, so they threw me down in the cellar! That’s where I got my training.   After a few years I became cellarman and bar manager. Then I went to the Jolly Boatman in Newhaven.” Later he had the George at Robertsbridge. It was the Drip’s tradition of real ale that made Dave decide to take over. Dave keeps a list of real ales from all over the country at the bar, as the customers are true connoisseurs of their beer. Many are CAMRA members. On weekdays there are four or five real ales, at weekends up to seven and there is real cider from the cask.
“When I came in and had a look I thought straight away, ‘This will work’. It was the general welcoming of the customers, the real ales, and I loved the two bars. It’s so rare nowadays to get two bars.”
“There’s 500 plus real ales you can chose from. In the eight weeks I’ve been here I’ve tried forty or fifty. We’ve got the spring and summer honey beers coming in now. Any beers suggested I write on a slip of paper. When I do the ordering I just pull a slip out of the box and order that one!”
Dave will be having a beer festival in the summer, “probably in August, as we’re expecting a baby on 30th June!” Currently he is trying out all the ales from local breweries and judging them on a points system for the festival.
“When we’ve picked the final ten we’re going to collect them ourselves and have a tour of all the pubs!”
“Robin and Joan ran this very well, and I’ve inherited all that. Robin and Joan take the credit. I don’t see any need to change it. I’ll just take it forward by having beer festivals. When we have a complete refit of the cellar we can start entering some competitions and getting some prizes. Perhaps we’ll even brew our own!”