IT WAS a Dee to remember.

Veteran York landlady Dee Ralph threw a party for regulars and invited guests to celebrate notching up 20 years at the Bay Horse, in Blossom Street.

The pub legend, who is one of the city's longest serving landladies, was given a baptism of fire on her first day behind the bar in 1983.

"I started on Magnet Cup race day and the place was packed with loud Geordies who brought in their own pork pies and beer cans," Dee recalls.

"It was chaos because I hardly had any staff on - my hand was shaking on the beer pump. It's never been that bad since."

Dee, who serves a delicious pint of John Smiths and other guest ales, says she has been a great matchmaker over the years - introducing more than a dozen couples who went on to marry.

"I've always fought to keep this pub - I love it," she said. "I'm a lover of people."

Dee gave herself the day off on Magnet Cup day this year - to join the Geordies at York races!

BAR Talk was right, there wasn't just one week of summer this year, so we felt we would have been justified in bringing you even more beer gardens.

(Contrary to what some of you believe, our lives do not have to revolve solely around the office and the pub. We choose to live this way.)

However, while contemplating which one to invade next, a beer fact sheet from CAMRA caught our eye. This compared beer this week with beer on August 3 1990, the last record-breaking hottest day. Instead of looking for beer in the sun, we are going in search of the £2 pint in the shade, or the sun, we really aren't that particular.

This is a bit of a jump from 1990, when we all went in search of the £1 pint, according to the figures. So it is not surprising that in that time our beer consumption (the UK's, not 'ours' personally) has fallen by two per cent to ten billion pints a year.

And so, if anybody wants to nominate a pub for the cheapest pint in our area, get in touch with us here at Bar Talk.

AS THE Great British Beer Festival draws to a close, rumour has it CAMRA was there with a petition - to save a lager, of all things.

It's all true, but this isn't any old lager, it's Budweiser Budvar, an authentic lager from the Czechs, rather than the usual mass-produced commercial slosh. CAMRA is trying to stop Budvar from falling into the hands of a global brewer such as Anheuser Busch (the owners of American Budweiser, the sort with frogs), Scottish & Newcastle or Interbrew.

Having a penchant for expensive lagers in this warm weather, Bar Talk is in favour of the campaign, and for the sake of small breweries of any sort anywhere, we recommend the rest of you to follow suit. Details can be found on: www.camra.org.uk

Updated: 10:37 Saturday, August 09, 2003