Friday 24 July 2009

Orange Tree, Newport

Whilst on the subject of Pub closures, I'd thought I'd publish this old photo of the former Orange Tree pub in Pill, Newport. The building was demolished shortly after this photo was taken and as you can see it had seen better days. Housing now occupies the site.
I would take another photo of the site, but being seen with a camera in that part of the City is likely to gain attention from the locals, that is when they are not fighting the British Army in Afghanistan.
What made the Orange Tree special to CAMRA members though, was that in the bleak keg days of the 1980s, the Orange Tree was one of the few pubs in Newport to offer interesting real ales on the bar. Unfortunately the editor was too young to ever venture into the pub during those days and besides that his tastebuds had not yet matured to appreciate real ale as he much preferred the taste of apple juice.
Still it was a regular in the Good Beer Guide for years and all the pubs in Pill are now keg. Not a drop of real ale to be found in any of the few pubs that are still left in that part of the City.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As a student at Clarence Place we used to go there in the mid-80s. Proper bonkers. Locals used to help out during lock-in. One big fat guy serving pints naked.

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