Drinkers in a Derry pub not happy to see the demise of the crockery bottle and cork top for Guinness.
At the Ritz Bar in the Waterside area of Derry, customers are unhappy that the use of the crockery bottle with a cork top for Guinness is to end. Publican Willie Donnelly has been informed by Guinness Brewery that he must use crown tipped bottles. The tin crown top for bottles is more hygienic than the old style cork. They are also cheaper to manufacture. The brewery insists that the standard of stout does not suffer by this change in the new way Guinness is bottled. The regulars in the Ritz Bar say that the quality of the stout does suffer.
We come here mainly because the Guinness is much better, we find, than anywhere else.
The loyal customers believe that the Guinness at the Ritz Bar is better than anywhere else and they put this down to the crockery bottle and cork top. One man claims that the Guinness served by Willie Donnelly does not give you a hangover. The publican claims that the secret to the flavour of the stout is enhanced is by the level of gas that is released through the cork.
Willie Donnelly is the last publican in Ireland to use crockery bottles and one of the last to use cork tops.
This episode of '7 Days' was broadcast on 7 April 1970. The reporter is Rodney Rice.
