IN the serious business of real ale Gwent has pulled one over on arch-rival Cardiff. For when Cardiff-based magazine for drinkers Malt 'n' Hop went bust, Gwent members of the Campaign for Real Ale created their own - Beer Necessities.

The chatty little mag with a circulation of 2,500 every three months now has thousands of Gwent beer lovers lifting their glasses in appreciation.

"It's one of those occasions when Gwent is able to put something over on the capital," said Campaign for Real Ale member and Beer Necessities co-editor James 'Arfur' Daley, (pictured) 30, of Court-y-Bella Terrace, Pill.

"Cardiff CAMRA's magazine was pretty good, to give them their due, but at the end of the day they have one large local brewery which controls a lot of the outlets, while we in Gwent have the world as our oyster.

"There are real ale pubs serving traditional beer all over our county. At the end of the day we had more variety than them."

'Arfur' - as he is universally called - came to love beer as a geology student at University College, London.

He joined the Newport CAMRA branch as soon as he returned home from university. Now, once every three months, he and other contributors 'meet' to discuss the content of their 'nice little earner'.

"We used to meet in a pub to run through editorial policy, but what with us all being beer lovers they tended to run on!" he said.

"So we decided to conference by e-mail. Once every three months, when Beer Necessities comes off the press, I shove hundreds of copies into a huge rucksack and set out on my rounds.

"I personally take magazines to 40 pubs in and around Newport which sell real ale, and we have 250 members across Gwent who make sure we reach our target audience. "We have even reclaimed Islwyn by putting the magazine into pubs there.

"There is some poetic justice in that. It's nice that Gwent seems to have got one over on Cardiff for a change."

He added: "We started off with 16 pages, but it's now double that, with healthy advertising which makes money for the branch.

"We pick up on stories that have been carried by the Argus and other newspapers, and also from the Internet, but we also have our loyal band of correspondents. "In addition to the members, who are drawn from every imaginable section of society, we also have contacts in the breweries and the licensed trade who pass us snippets of the latest news.

"You could say they keep up an unending supply of leaks!"

The Great Welsh Beer and Cider Festival opens At City Hall, Cardiff, tonight until Saturday.