20 Feb 20

Folk Night

The Sally house band (Sally and the Hamonites) will be playing in the front bar of the Sally on the third Thursday of every month. Expect screaming fiddles, rattling banjos and heaving accordions with some traditional Irish jigs and reels! As Shane MacGowan once described it, it’s “heart, b*lls and feet music”!! Music usually starts about 7.30pm.

22 Feb 20

Beat Chef Brian – Scotch Egg Making Competition

Having tried his Scotch eggs on New Year’s Eve, we reckon Chef Brian is the Scotch Egg Supremo (a certain Mr Cook among others might have something to say about that) so to settle this once & for all (well for 2020 anyway) we’re hosting a Scotch Egg Making Competition. See if you can beat Brian with your eggs (no violence please) – bring along your Scotch eggs to be sampled, tasted & tested in the hope of winning the prestigious Annual Scotch Egg Award Trophy (currently behind the bar). You’re also invited to bring along other goodies to eat & share – hot snacks, cold cuts & moderately warm fare. From the beginning of March (Saturday 7th to be exact) Chef Brian will be cooking up a storm in the kitchen to provide Saturday evening meals at the Sally – yes, you heard it here first! Details (including sample menus) to follow. So this is an opportunity to enjoy a “last D.I.Y. supper” at the Sally AND win big! Starts at 7 pm.

24 Feb 20

Hot-pot and Pint Night

Monday’s are tough enough to deal with as it is without having to think of something to cook in the evening as well. You’ve got another week of drudgery and work ahead of you and the last thing you need is to worry about is whether you’ve got enough gone-off mushrooms to scrape together another bl**dy Jamie Oliver pasta bake. Let’s face it, with this level of depression and gloom you’re definitely going to need some kind of beer-based anaesthesia to get you through and a deathly dull bottle of Doom Bar from the Co-Op just isn’t going to cut it. What you need is the Sally to take all this pain away from you. What you need is a steaming hot bowl of a delicious, comforting stew all made with quality, local ingredients. What you need is a fresh, foaming pint of perfectly conditioned ale to sup your troubles away. What you need is the cheery company of others who can understand and alleviate your Monday blues. What you need is the gentle crackle of a log fire to warm and soothe your soul. What you need is the Sally Hot-Pot and Pint Night. Yep that’s right, every Monday night the Sally Hot-Pot and Pint Night will bring you a different hotpot, stew, casserole or chilli plus a pint for just £8 with food served between 5pm and 8pm. That’s Monday sorted, just got to get through Tuesdays now….!! This week’s dish is pork & root vegetable hotpot served with crusty bread and butter.

24 Feb 20

Locals Behind the Bar Night – Jen & Gail

Local’s Behind the Bar Night is back! This can only mean one of two things – either the Sally is short staffed once again (we are by the way), or it’s a ruse to have a laugh at our beloved locals expense as we watch them mis-pouring pints, messing up the till and falling for the old “Guinness shandy” request. The concept is pretty simple. We give our locals the chance to step behind the hallowed Sally bar and see how difficult (or easy) it is to do our job after only 15 minutes till training. Each set of locals will serve for an hour and a half (from 6pm till 7.30pm) and will have the opportunity to collect tips and rattle buckets for the charity of their choice. Any way to win favour with the customers and collect more tips (fancy dress, working on one leg, bribery with homemade sausage rolls etc) is highly encouraged. As an added incentive to perform well, for the locals which take the most amount of cash behind the bar in that hour and a half, we’ll donate all of those takings to their chosen charity. Expect queues, expect chaos, expect lots of fun! Next up are Jen & Gail who will be raising money from donations towards their chosen charity of Teckels Animal Sanctuary at Whitminster. The target to beat on takings during their shift from 6 – 7.30 pm is £330 so come & support them, enjoy a hotpot or two & spend well.

27 Feb 20

The Sally Cheese Club

One of the few things that we love almost as much as beer and cider here at the Sally is cheese. Being based in Berkeley we are also steeped in cheese-making history with the town once famous for being the cheese capital of the county (Double Berkeley anyone?!). Given this, we’ve decided that we need to celebrate, nay worship, our favourite booze accompaniment on a monthly basis. Ladies and gentlemen, may we present to you The Sally Cheese Club! Our resident cheese connoisseur Jerry (no, not a cartoon mouse but actually a cheesemaker for the legendary Jonathan Crump) will take all you fans of fromage through a hand-picked selection of world cheeses that would make Wallace and Gromit wet themselves. Jerry will be pairing each cheese with a sample of perfectly paired beverages from some of the world’s finest beers and ciders and some alright wine as well. Sally Cheese Club will run on the last Thursday of every month starting at 7.30pm . Tickets are £17 each (available to book in advance now from the bar) and include a selection of and introduction to six different cheese and drink pairings from our man Jerry.

This month at the Sally Cheese Club we offer a Tour de France. Discover the character and flavour of traditional French cheese and journey with us on our cheese-lovers’ tour. Starting in the farmhouses of Normandie before journeying on to the Loire Valley for a picnic of local cheese in the beautiful countryside. Try the best from the cheese markets of the Dordogne, then nestle at the foot of the Pyrenees with a wonderful mountain cheese. Learn how the cheese is made and what makes it so delicious and special when touching down in Lyon. Finally, taste the character of Burgundy cheeses and wonder at the breadth and quality of choice of French cheeses tasted on this special evening in February. Six great cheeses to taste, each paired with a different drink, each with a story to tell.

Starts 7.30pm. Tickets available at the bar just £17.

29 Feb 20

Belgian Beer and Cheese Festival

Belgium and its capital have sadly been known for something other than delectable food and drink in the last three years. A pilgrimage to Bruges or Brussels to sample its delicious chocolate, cheese and most importantly beer, is the highlight in any foodie’s calendar.  The beers of Belgium are some of the most exquisite in the world and as a nation it is considered one of the greatest brewing nations in the world alongside Germany, the USA and of course, Britain. The same can be said of it’s cheeses – some of the very finest in the world. At this very special event we’re going to be showcasing and celebrating the great beer styles of Belgium – from rich, dark fruity Trappist ales, to vibrant zingy hoppy pales to the tart, funky and acidic lambics and gueuzes of the Seine Valley. We’ll have a number of beers brewed of course in Belgium in both bottle and keg as well as a few British interpretations including two from our own Tiley’s Head Brewer and self-confessed Belgian beer obsessive Floz Hodgkinson. Floz will be brewing a strong dark Belgium Quad specially for the occasion as well as a dry, refreshing pale Grisette. To accompany these fine beers, our Cheese Club host and fromage fanatic “Jerry the Cheese” will be presented a divine selection of Belgian and monastic cheeses each perfectly paired with a different beer. If that wasn’t enough of an exciting gastronomic proposition for you, our incredibly talented Chef Brian will be providing a menu of classic Belgian dishes including of course their famous moules et frites!

Beer and cheese will be available from 2pm onwards with hot food from 5pm. Make sure you don’t miss this!

01 Mar 20

The Sunday Sally Singalong – first Sunday each month from 5pm

The late afternoon/early evening Sunday session in the Sally is one of our favourites. Sunday lunch is all washed up, you’ve kicked out the relatives, Saturday’s hangover is starting to clear and before you even start thinking about another working week, there is just one last treat to squeeze in. Time to get out of the house, have a brisk walk up to the Sally and sink a few relaxing pints with friends sat by the warm fire. Well, those Sunday evening sessions just got even better since we found hand-clapping, foot-stomping, ivory-tinkling, Elton John-eat-your-heart-out, piano playing legend “Mike The Piano” (OK we’re not sure what his surname is). Mike is the most gifted pianist and can pretty much play any number you ask guys for (“Do you know your monkey’s stolen my pint? “No but if you hum it…” etc etc). American Pie, Crocodile Rock, Hey Jude, you name it and he will play it (and we’ll probably butcher it trying to sing along). The Sunday Sally Singalong takes place on the first Sunday of each month from 5 pm (please note the slightly earlier time)  and is brilliant way to round off your weekend and is well worth delaying Mondays for.

12 Mar 20

The Great Sally Alley Quiz

Yes that’s right Ladies and Gentlemen, roll-up roll-up roll-up your sleeves, its time to start swotting, sweating and rubbing those brain cells together for The Great Sally Alley Quiz!

“What’s so great about it?” we hear you cry. Well, it’s at the Sally of course!

“We thought you said you’d never do a quiz – running out of ideas are we?” Aah sod off!

Enough with the awkward questions, here’s how it works; on the second Thursday of every month we’re inviting a different Berkeley charity to set the questions, act as quizmaster and trouser all the entry fees. There will be six rounds of different topics chosen by the charity, including one specific to their own cause. They ask you questions, you try and answer them. The team with the most correct answers wins beer. We’re allowing teams of up to six people and entry fee is £4 per person. Register your team for 7.45pm and the great quizzing commences at 8pm. It’s going to be great…I don’t know why we didn’t think of this before?!?!?

This month’s quiz is set & hosted by Sally legends, Cobweb Corner aka Glenny & Jeanette – they will be donating all entry fees & raffle proceeds to the CLIC Sargent, a charity which fights tirelessly to stop cancer destroying young lives.

14 Mar 20

Live Music – Holly Carter

With a residency at our sister pub, The Butcher’s Hook in Thornbury, Holly Carter has been wowing the crowds each month with her own ‘Blues Collective’. We thought it was about time that the Sally got treated to a set as well. If you haven’t seen her before, Holly is an incredible multi-instrumentalist and fingerstyle guitarist and singer who has been gigging and recording professionally for over 8 years. Specialising in alt-country, folk and Americana she’ll be performing her own arrangements of songs from the likes of Chet Atkins, Paul Simon, John Martyn and many more. Music starts at 8pm – you’re in for a treat!

16 Mar 20

The Monday Night Sew and Sews

UK consumers spent approximately £3.5bn on clothing last Christmas with an estimated 8m of those garments to be thrown away after just one use. The trend for cheap, throwaway clothing or “fast fashion” as it is known raises serious moral and environmental concerns. In 2015 the global fashion industry produced 1.2bn tonnes of CO2 – more than international flights and the maritime shipping industry combined. If this trend continues the fashion industry could account for a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050. Un-ironed check shirts aside, you’ve probably noticed the Sally isn’t exactly a focal point for fashionistas (less Milan more Ham) but nonetheless we can still do our little bit to help. May we introduce to you a drop-in clothing repair service called the Monday Night Sew and Sews, headed-up by Jeanette Palmer of “Havin’ A Hoots Crafts” and Berkeley’s “From Home”. If you’ve got an old shirt that needs a new button sewing on, a pair of trousers embarrassingly ripped across the buttocks or a favourite jacket in need of a new zip then bring it into the Sally and if you buy her a drink, our Sew and Sews will fix it for you. So for the price of a pint you can have your favourite clothes fixed, save money on buying new ones and you can even have one of our “Hotpot and Pints” whilst you wait. If you’re a dab hand at sewing and want to join the Sew and Sews for a needle and a natter then the more the merrier! She’ll be there every other Monday from 5.30pm – 7.30pm. Best get there early though as she might just get a tiny bit slower as the evening goes on!

28 Mar 20

Haydon’s Saturday Night Soiree – Music of the 1960s

Sometime Sally barman, Ham resident and general local legend Haydon Knapp is the biggest musical obsessive that we know. Haydon’s musical knowledge is surpassed only by the internet and even then it’s a bit touch and go (probably). Given our confidence in Haydon’s unsurpassed encyclopaedic expertise in the arena of song, we’ve asked him to host a series of soirees where he takes us through the definitive sounds of each decade starting from the 1950s up to the present day armed only with a sound system, an iPhone and his sidekick, “Haydon’s Friend”. Having completed his tour through the rock n roll of the 1950s back in November, this time Haydon starts work on probably the most important revolutionary musical decade in living memory – the 1960s. As rock n roll and pop start to evolve into pop rock, blues rock, beat and folk rock we see the emergence of the likes of The Beatles, The Stones, Simon & Garfunkel, Dylan and many more. This evening’s musical odyssey begins at 8.30pm – don’t tell your parents and don’t be late!

09 May 20

Fish, Chips and Sea Shanties with the Frampton Shantymen

The Frampton Shantymen are back! Like a male voice choir but more rambunctious. Like a traditional folk sing-a-long but more rousing. Listening and singing along with the Frampton Shantymen on an evening is the whole reason why pubs like the Sally exist. The camaraderie of communal song, the stomping of feet, clattering of hands, the bellowing of lungs, chiming of glasses and of course the swilling of the world’s finest beverage – BEER! The swooping and soaring harmonies of the Frampton Shantymen booming out traditional sea shanties is enough to warm the cockles of the coldest heart and gladden the saddest of souls. To accompany this fantastic musical extravaganza we will of course be serving up traditional fish and chips, chip-shop style wrapped in paper and everything. You cannot miss this! Shanties start at 8pm, fish & chips served from 6.30pm.