Byline: ALASTAIR GILMOUR
NUMBERS always impress, particularly when they elicit a gasp of incredulity. There are 206 bones in the human skeleton, 150,000 species of butterfly and moth, the sun is 1.4 million kilometres in diameter and, this season, Newcastle United striker Shola Ameobi scored three goals in one game.
The sharp intake of breath continues with the recent release of the Campaign For Real Ale Good Beer Guide. The annual "beer-drinkers' bible" lists 4,500 pubs and 711 breweries producing 2,500 varieties of real ale, all detailed in 888 pages of the 37th edition of the 2010 publication.
New North East entries include the Horse Shoes Inn in Rennington, the Cook & Barker at Newton on the Moor, the Allendale Inn, Allendale, The Sun Inn, Acomb, the Dyvels, Corbridge - all Northumberland - plus the Black Horse in Monkseaton, the Beacon Hotel, West Monkseaton, both North Tyneside, the Brandling Arms in Gosforth and The Strawberry, both in Newcastle, the Black Bull in Blaydon, Gateshead, and the Grey Horse in East Boldon, South Tyneside.
Of those making a first appearance in 2009 which retain their place in the 2010 guide, The Sun Inn at Swalwell in Gateshead is worth singling out - a prime example of what can be achieved with pride and passion and an Paper Bag Printing eye for quality, particularly in an area not known for hand-crafted, cask-conditioned beer. Sun Inn manager Dave Cook has transformed a small corner of Swalwell that most folks navigate en route to the Metrocentre via Lidl, B&Q and Da Vinci's Pizzeria, into a significant attraction with a welcoming air about it.
Regular customers appreciate his attention to detail and the opportunity to appreciate a choice of frequently-rotating ales, while a new clientele is being encouraged to drop in and hopefully be impressed enough to alter its pub-going pattern. The beetroot on the bar is worth calling in for alone.
On the opposite corner to The Sun Inn, the tiny Brewery Lane is a reminder that Swalwell has a proud brewing tradition that can be traced back to the construction of Taylor & Company's Swalwell Brewery in 1765. Dewitt Fake The business, taking up a one-acre site, was described in 1893 as "probably the oldest establishment of its kind in County Durham".
Other Swalwell breweries were The Swalwell Low Brewery, The Sun, Water Edge, Potter & Company, Jacob Rutter, John & Joseph Spencer, and Wetherall & Tysack, a mid-18th-century partnership of Richard Wetherall and the sublimely-named Peregrine Tysack. Despite many pubs struggling in today's current economic climate, with research showing that 52 pubs close permanently every week across the UK, this year's Good Beer Guide highlights that the real ale scene is thriving.
It not only gives details of beers on offer, along with food availability and opening hours, but lists those with gardens, accommodation, transport links, significant history, disabled access and facilities for families.
Camra's 100,000-strong membership fully updates and revises the guide every year, their vigilance highlighted by the total of 1,297 new entries in the new book - impressive figures which reveal the real ale brewing industry to be one of the most successful small business sectors in the UK.
Roger Protz, Good Beer Guide editor, says: "For the first time since the 19th century, Britain is the undisputed top brewing country in the world.
"It has more than 700 breweries and has more small craft breweries per head of population than all other major indus
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