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Join Us

CAMRA Podcast

Welcome to Pubs. Pints. People

The Pubs. Pints. People. podcast brings you interesting stories about the world of beer, cider and pubs.

Join Simon Webster, Alison Taffs and Clare Phillips for a new season!

You can listen on most podcast platforms including:

Don’t forget to also follow us on Twitter @PubsPintsPeople


Meet the team

Clare Phillips

host

Clare was first introduced to real ale and CAMRA when she moved to a new job in Suffolk and was invited to the local beer festival by her journalist colleagues. She initially joined the West Suffolk branch and was actively involved with local beer festivals as a volunteer and for a couple of years helped organise a festival in Bury St Edmunds. Living in a rural county, Clare recognises the value of village pubs to their communities and with Suffolk and Norfolk being large barley growing areas, there’s also no shortage of breweries offering a wide selection of ales in her area.

Simon Webster

host

Simon is celebrating being a CAMRA member for two decades this year, having joined at the Great British Beer Festival in August 2002. Since joining he’s gone on to explore the many different types of ale offered by brewers across the UK, but is always drawn to a good stout or porter if given the choice. As a marketing and communications professional who has spent his life working with membership bodies, Simon has previously lent his expertise to CAMRA in a number of different ways.

Alison Taffs

host

Alison Taffs has been a drinks educator for more than 20 years in restaurants, and running tastings with consumers. She founded The Grape Society, running tastings & events about everything from wine to whisky, and Vermouth to Sherry. She is also the co-owner and landlady of The Hop Inn micropub in Hornchurch, which was CAMRA London Pub of the Year in 2021. She loves sharing the love for delicious drinks, converting people to loving real cider & perry as much as she does, and helping cider and perry to regain its place as an appreciated fine beverage. You can follow Alison on Twitter @AlisonGrapeSoc

Helen Smith

host

Helen Anne Smith is a bartender, and content creator working in the beer and cider industry. In their spare time Helen runs Burum Collective, a publication and platform for those working within the drinks industry. Helen has written for Good Beer Hunting and Cider Review, and also has projects underway with CAMRA’s Learn and Discover.

Paul Grant

host

Paul worked in some Scotland’s most beloved, award-winning and iconic cask beer venues. Now he is firmly based in Fife running an online beer store and soapboxing about the great breweries locally.

Sean O'Mahoney

social media manager

Sean O’Mahoney is a craft beer enthusiast and the co-founder of INEVITABLE, an industry-leading technology company specialising in AI (artificial intelligence), based in Manchester. With a strong sense of community, he has attended hundreds of technology and beer events and festivals and has volunteered at or led dozens of them. Becoming a CAMRA member in 2019, Sean was quick to start getting involved, volunteering at several CAMRA festivals and getting involved in the Pubs. Pints. People. podcast since season one. You can follow Sean on Twitter at @Sean12697 or on Mastodon at @Sean12697@mastodon.world.

Geoff Bennett

script-writer

Geoff’s day job is to help provide high-speed transmission capacity to carry the internet under the oceans of the world. Fortunately, the consumption of beer does not seem to have an adverse effect on his ability to do this. He’s been a CAMRA member for many years and has been writing scripts for the #PubsPintsPeople podcast since Series 3 in 2021. Amongst his hobbies, Geoff is a keen photographer and he is also the quizmaster at his local pub in Nottingham.

Mark Lovatt

script-writer

Mark Lovatt is an IT software development specialist and author but more importantly a keen member of CAMRA for the past decade and the Scotch Malt Whisky Society for the past 5. He has had an article in BEER and has been writing scripts for the #PubsPintsPeople podcast since series 3 in 2021. Mark prefers dark beers especially Mild and Porter but given a pub with several real ales on tap, will want to try them all. This makes Mark’s annual visit to #GBBF a slightly frustrating experience.

Dick Withecombe

cider enthusiast

Dick Withecombe is a cider enthusiast who champions traditional cider presented in a modern way. In March 2019 he established Manchester Cider Club, which continues to meet monthly, and helped establish the #RethinkCider campaign. As organiser of the Cider Bar at Manchester Beer and Cider Festival 2020, and others, he has produced guidelines for a Modern Cider Bar with a balanced provision of styles and methods of dispense. Twitter: @ManchesterCider and volunteer for @CAMRA_APPLE

Simon Clark

editor

Simon Clark is a freelance production sound mixer. Chairman of the Institute of Professional Sound he is a passionate advocate for structured training within the Film and TV industry. He is Head of Production Sound Recording at the National Film and TV School and writes regular technical articles for “Resolution” magazine. TV drama credits include 8 series of “Waking the Dead”, “Line of Duty”, “Skins”, “Mad Dogs”, “Burton & Taylor”, “An Adventure in Time & Space”, “Cormorant Strike – The Silkworm “, “King Lear, “Darkness Rising” and “Alleluia”. He was BAFTA nominated for “The Promise” and won the 2016 Sound Craft BAFTA for “Wolf Hall” both directed by Peter Kosminsky

David King

executive editor

David is a life member of the Campaign for Real Ale, joining in 1988. He was head of the West Midlands Tasting Panel for a while, edited the Black Country Good Beer Guide and occasionally judges at beer festivals. He collates the audio versions of CAMRA’s BEER publication for visually impaired CAMRA members, and edits and co-produces the CAMRA podcast. He’s been tinkering with audio since school days, when editing meant taking a razor blade to tape then looking in the bin for the Undo function. In 2017, David started the weekly show Taste Wolverhampton on Wolverhampton’s community radio station 101.8 WCR FM. The programme aims to keep listeners up-to-date with food and drink news, as well as chatting on-air with local food heroes. The Highgate Brewery in Walsall was just round the corner from where David went to teacher training college, and that introduction to real ale has influenced his preference for darker ales. You can follow David on most social media platforms @TasteWolves

Paul Hadfield

editor

Paul is a software engineer, musician, and home-brewer from SE London. He enjoys audio production for his band and the CAMRA podcast. Currently a clone of Elusive’s ‘Oregon Trail’ is in the fermenter. You can follow Paul on twitter @hadfieldp or on Instagram @hadfieldp

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