The Best Football Club

Leyton Orient 0 v Sheffield United 1

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Twitter @ball_sup

This piece is mainly in praise of the Leyton Orient Supporters Club Bar.  Maybe similar bars exist at other clubs - although I’ve yet to find one. In my experience, it is non-league clubs are more likely to have well functioning & welcoming bars like the one at Orient.

Simply. The set-up that Orient have should be the aspiration & model for all football clubs.

Readers can go online to find the details & the story.  I’m just going to give a personal perspective. The Bar is outside the ground (in the sense of accessible from the street).  It’s partly staffed by willing volunteers. On the occasions I’ve been in after games, I’ve had to wait outside for the Orient supporters to applaud their team off the pitch, zip round to the Bar, get behind it, let the masses in and shout “who is next?”. Marvellous.

Of course the model is simple & circular. Serve a range of good beer. Draw people in. Sell a reasonable volume. Put new casks on. Thus extending the range of beer. Thus drawing more people in. Allowing you to sell a reasonable volume. Rocket Science.

It’s essentially a Members Club - hurray to that. It has recently won the CAMRA East London & City and Greater London Club of the Year awards.  I understand that on occasions, (popular games, etc) they have to restrict entry to Members. But, they’ve never failed to let me in. For guests, it’s free for CAMRA Members or a quid on the door.

Staff & punters never fail to be welcoming. 8 handpulls when I walked in. Hackney, Harbour, Black Country, Mighty Oak & Colchester all present.

I was enjoying myself too much to make tasting notes. So it's a list.

Hackney - American Pale Ale 4.5%
Harbour - IPA 5%
Colchester - Pontisbright 4%
Mighty Oak - Captain Bob 3.8%
Mighty Oak - Oscar Wilde 3.7%

Not a bad shift by the Blades. Scored early. Hung on.

After the game I went into The Leyton Technical. Very handy for the Tube & the ground.

Siren - Under Current 4.5%
Ilkley - Lotus IPA 5.6%
Summer Wine - Ten Malt Porter 5%

Not much in it. But I'll give stand out beer of the day to Siren Under Current.