News from Hereford Hopvine

I'm feeling rather depressed today, having woken up to find myself on the losing side of history, so to cheer myself up, I'm thinking about beer.
I went into Hereford today, and picked up the Hereford Hopvine at the Lichfield Vaults (owned by a Greek chap who does really good Meze).
One thing I'm looking forward to is Beer on the Wye, on July 8th, 9th and 10th at the Rowing Club. They have a new, bigger marquee this year and over 120 cask beers, 40 World Beers and 120 ciders and perries to choose from. My Young Man is coming that weekend, and we're planning to go on the Sunday, which is Family Fun Day, with a folk band called Emma & the Professor. I don't think we'll be having our faces painted, though it is an option that's available. There'll even be a Ladies' Morris Side, Jenny Pipes from Leominster, dancing there.
On the Saturday, we'll be at Mallyfest, which is on the Hay Festival field this year.
On the bus into Hereford I noticed that the Boughton Arms in Peterchurch is closed - the Hopvine says this is because of the landlord Alan Hughes' untimely death.
Meanwhile the Nag's Head, up the road in Peterchurch, has re-decorated, and re-surfaced their car park.
The Rhydspence Inn seems to be doing well under new landlord Mark Price, who now has Swan Gold real ale at the bar, from the new Swan Brewery in Leominster.
The Bells at Almeley, which I visited last year, has just won the BBC Award for Best Food Retailer of 2016! They have survived as a pub by turning half the building into a local Market and Deli shop, full of interesting local produce.
There are a lot of new and interesting bars in Hereford - which I never seem to have time to visit on my shopping trips (and of course there are no evening buses). There's a micro-pub now where a laundrette used to be, just outside the ring road on the way to Sainsbury's, and another in Bastion Mews, called Shack Revolution.
Firefly has opened where the Orange Tree used to be, near the Cathedral, part of a company from Worcester, and there are finally plans to knock down the Ship Inn, which has stood empty on the roundabout near Asda for as long as I can remember, to replace it with flats.