Worcester City Chess Club, turned out and homeless as a result of a decision by their former summer venue to offer food during the evenings have found a new summer home. It's the Cardinal's Hat, Friar Street, at Worcester's historic centre. The bar staff are friendly and will to chat if you are the first of your party to arrive. For location and a picture of this historic pub, click here.

"The Hat", as locals call it, is one of the oldest pubs in England and traces its roots back to Worcester annals in 1497. It was then the place where the citizens kept their fire hooks. It is now the summer venue of Worcester City Chess Club ("re-founded 1824") and a gathering place for Civil War re-enactors. For a short period of its history during the height of the anti-Papist movement in England in the mid-18th century, it was called the Swan and Falcon. In 1814, the name was changed to the Coventry Arms, to gain favour from the Earl of Coventry, then Recorder of Worcester. The Hat's original name was restored in the 1950s.

Landlady Andrea (centre) is delighted with the flowers and chocs, the City Chess Club's prezzy, at the end of the summer season at The Hat in 2009. She is flanked by Club Secretary Steve Mellor (right) and team member John Clark (left). Picture: Ray Collett

Now, the pub is run by Andrea Schutz, an Austrian by birth. She first took over the pub after it had been derelict for two years. She introduced fine Middle European lagers and sold them in litres and Stein. This brought a notable confrontation with Trading Standards in 2002, but supported by two West Midlands MEPs, The Metric Martyrs Defence Fund, John Wadham, the Director of Liberty, and the UK Metric Association, she continues to serve lagers in continental volumes.

In 2009 we have welcomed visitors from the Irish Republic (attending an education conference at the University) and Lithuania. At the end of the 2009 summer season at The Hat, grateful members presented Andrea with a thank you.