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Introduction
Well who believe that October's weather would be better than July's - it really makes you reassess what the seasons mean in this country. A big thank you to Uley Brewery for entertaining the troops on our recent beer festival - as always great beer, wonderful company and a big old thick head in the morning . . . Stop! Call the drink police, we may have binged! Heavens in megatroid, what ever next!

Brewery Trip to Uley
Another thank you to Uley Brewery for hosting us at their Brewery on the 11th of last month. It was attended by about 25 people and a VERY good trip was had by all. (Click the following photo to see a larger version)


Carbon Neutral Beerfest
On the subject of local breweries, I was made up by the quality of the brews we had on the bar for our carbon neutral beer festival. The Olde English Rose sold out within hours, with Budding and Artist's Ale getting great praise, so big pat on the back to our local brewers.

If you remember, the whole purpose of this event was to analyse our Carbon Footprint and see how we (the pub), local breweries, and you as individuals can help reduce the damage we are doing to the atmosphere. Below are some of our findings . . .

What is the Old Spot's Carbon Footprint? (19th October 2007) Calculations by Dr Chad Staddon, Senior Lecturer in Geography, School of Geography and Environmental Management, UWE, Bristol Everything we do in our daily lives generates carbon dioxide (CO2) and CO2 is a key contributor to climate change. If we want to do our bit to reduce climate change then we have to reduce our CO2 output, and in order to do that we need to know how much CO2 our daily activities generate. There are a number of ways of calculating the carbon output of activities like households, factories and ... pubs. Here are some calculations of CO2 related to the daily operation and use of the Old Spot Pub. In this calculation I have used some fairly standard conversion factors for electricity, gas, water, business-related transport and the indirect CO2 "costs" of things like fixtures and fittings, maintenance and related infrastructure. An attempt is also made to calculate the carbon costs of supplier services including deliveries, etc. Direct CO2 Costs: Electricity 70 kWh/day x 0.46 kg/kWh = 32.0 kg/day Gas 45 kWh/day x 0.2 kg/day = 9.0 kg/day Water 1 m3 x 0.3 kg/m3 = 0.3 kg/day Transport 100 miles/day x 0.24 kg/mile = 24.0 kg/day Indirect CO2 Costs: Embodied CO2       (fixtures, fittings, maintenance) = 8.0 kg/day Maintenance and Infrastructure       (roads, waste disposal, etc) = 15 kg/day TOTAL DAILY CARBON OUTPUT = 88.3 kg/day The average UK household generates about 70 kg/day so you can see that the Spot compares quite favourably - especially since I don't think that too many households receive 100 or so visitors each and every day (more at weekends and beer festivals!). Still, 88 kg of CO2 is roughly the same as the amount generated by a one way flight from Bristol to Glasgow. There are essentially three ways of managing our carbon footprints: reducing the direct and indirect CO2 costs of operation through adopting carbon-efficient technologies and practices such as low energy lightbulbs, better insulation, green energy providers and locally produced goods and services. The two biggest measures involve replacement of incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones and switching to a green energy provider. planting trees to absorb (offset) the carbon generated. This is tremendously complicated, but as a rule of thumb temperate trees may store as much as 10 kg of carbon each year over a 100 year lifecourse whilst tropical species could store twice as much. yet another way of looking at carbon offset is to think about the economic value of excess CO2, which the Chicago Board of Trade recently valued at about £3/kg. So, theoretically, it is possible for the Old Spot to buy CO2 credits from under-producers of CO2 for its excess CO2 thereby achieving a market-derived equilibrium, at least globally. Alternatively, one could argue that any mitigation measures that cost £3/kg or less are cost efficient. So, for example, if planting and maintaining a tree to absorb up to 1000 kg of CO2 costs less than £3000, then it could be argued that this is cost efficient. The debate continues ... See here for more information.

Old Spot Fund Raising
£820 Raised for the MacMillan Trust, the RDA and Poppy Appeal
We were also fortunate to get Uley Brewery to brew us another Reverend Janet - it was divine! Ken, you are a God of ale amongst us mere mortal quaffers. As always Chas was on hand to donate some beer for our fundraising over the weekend. (On a personal note I really appreciate your continual support with what ever we do at the pub, but please enough of the bloody orange juice!!!) With the all monies now in, we managed to raise £575 for the Macmillan nurses, £185 for Riding for the Disabled, with a further £60 going into the Poppy Appeal.    (Please see September's Newsletter for further information)

Old Spot Award Presentation
I hope you were able to attend our CAMRA South West Pub of the Year presentation, it was a great day. Although I fear none of you were able to see the official presentation, you were all able to catch our illustrious local chairman do the PROPER JOB ... Chris Arrowsmith, we salute you! Thanks to Ken and Jody for supplying the tunes - and weather - therefore letting us hold it outside (26th Oct , felt like 26th July, but drier!).

Smoking Ban
Another month into England's smoking ban and we're still open. Yes, all the doom mongering and panicking seems to have been a little over exaggerated. Its really great seeing lots of new customers coming into the pub for the first time and other customers using it more often, with over 90% of our clientele saying that the whole pub experience is so much more enjoyable. Of course there are those of you that have to face the freezing temperatures and my heart goes out to you ,so if you have any ideas that may make the torturous journey into the freezing night air a little easier (that is within the law) please mention to myself or the bar team and we will see what we can do. But in the mean time I have sourced some gel hand warmers which will be behind the bar for a small deposit.



Returning Staff
We would like to welcome Tom Parkinson back into fold. With both Parkinson brothers behind the bar now, we can sit back and wait for the sibling rivalry to start raising its ugly head . . . by the way Bob, any more kids I can have, what with Xmas coming 'an all, it's a busy time!!!

Building Works Saga -
Inconveniences?
A spot of bad news . . . unfortunately, the new loos wont be ready for our festive season. Please don't ask me why, but needless to say, join up the following words and make a sentence! Planners, asses and kicked. But this leaves us an opportunity for a new loo launch in jollyless January (wow, all sorts of images are being conjured that I don't care to print). So you've got to make sure you attend that one!

... And a Merry Christmas to All ...
Unfortunately, your favourite bar tabloid (this newsletter) may not be available through December because its "DECEMBER", and things strangely enough are a little busy.! So all that remains for me to say is Merry Xmas and Happy New Year form me, Belinda, the team, Jack - pub dog of the year, and Cleo - bitch cat from hell.

Christmas Food Times
Sorry, no normal evening meals will be available from the November 30th through to January 21st, just those who pre-booked Xmas meals.

Christmas Opening Times, 2007
Christmas Eve - CLOSED BETWEEN 3pm and 6pm
Christmas Eve Evening - DOORS CLOSED AT 10PM - No Exceptions
New Year's Eve - DOORS CLOSED AT 10PM - No Exceptions

Xmas Eve (Mon, 24th)	12.00 pm - 3.00 pm (no food)
	6.00 pm - late
Christmas Day (Thur 25th)	12.00 pm - 2.00 pm (no food)
Boxing Day (Wed 26th)	12.00 pm - 12.00 am (no food)
27th - 30th December	12.00 pm - 12.00 am
New Year's Eve (Mon 31st)	12.00 pm - 3.00 pm (no food)
	6.00 pm - late
New Year's Day (Tue 1st)	12.00 pm - 11.00 pm (no food)
Then as normal ....... see below:

Our NEW YEAR (2008) Food Service Times . . .
Fri, Sat, Sun:	12.00 pm - 3.00 pm
Mon, Tue, Wed, Thur:	12.00 pm - 8.00 pm
Our normal Opening Hours remain as ...
Monday - Saturday:	11.00 am - 11.00 pm
Sunday:	12.00 pm - 11.00 pm

Forthcoming Events
:: Wed 14th Nov
- Leon Daye

:: Thur 15th Nov
- Meet the Brewer - Adnams

:: Thur 29th Nov
- Butcombe Brewery Tour (tbc)

:: Sun 23nd Dec
- Old Gits Christmas Lunch


The Old Gits Xmas Party
The 'must be seen at' event of the year, otherwise known as "The Old Gits Christmas Party" is approaching fast and is set for the Sunday, 23rd Dec. It is the perfect opportunity to make new friends, get acquainted again with old ones, or just sit there, get drunk and fall asleep in your Xmas pudding. If any of the above appeals to you, put your name down behind the bar with your pre-order and a £5 deposit.
Remember, Old Gits are for life and not just Xmas!

Cheers!
Steve Herbert
November 2007THE OLD SPOT INN

For the Newsletter Achive including PDF downloads, go to:
oldspotinn.co.uk/news

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