basis. You’ll always get some that’ll
pop in once or twice a month; you’ll
get others who’ll pop in 3 or 4 times
a week; we have some members who
are here practically every evening.”
Here, these members get inexpensive
beer, as the boss says: “Our beer
prices are quite a bit cheaper than
the pubs. My most expensive pint is
Guinness at £3.10. My cheapest is Toby
Bitter which is £2.50 a pint. We are the
only place in Carterton that is a Molsen
Coors brewery; we’re the only place
in Carterton that sells Coors Light. In
a normal pub you’re talking £3.50-
60 for Coors Light: we charge £2.90.
Our premium lager is Grolsch – £4.50
normally – here it’s £3.00.”
Membership is also not costly.
Annually it’s £10 for adults and just
£4 for juniors (16 - 18 yrs) and OAPs.
Membership is granted to anyone
above the age of 16, and it’s something
that will hopefully take care of the
club’s existence for years and years
to come. “We are very much an old
school establishment”, Graham says,
“but we are getting a lot more younger
members, late 20s and early 30s,
who have got families. We’re a social
club but we’re a family social club: if
you don’t embrace families, where
are the next generation of members
going to come from?” The club is now
also open daytime during the week
for coffee, rolls and other beverages,
showing it to be a warm family-friendly
facility for the Carterton community.
So family is there, along with
enthusiasm, ambition and loyalty. It
must be remembered that it is part of
the wider offering that is Brownes Hall;
there for the people of Carterton, be
it for a church meeting, bingo session
or line dancing class. Perhaps it is a
storage unit of sorts; insofar as it’s a
facility where community spirit and
tradition are kept safe. Carterton’s best
kept secret is one Graham Fitzgibbon
is shouting about, and one unlikely to
stay secret for long.
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