BRANCH AWARDS

There have been a number of awards made in recent weeks, so this is a good place to do a round-up and let you know about them.

Our major award is the Pub of the Year and this is covered fully elsewhere in the magazine. THE BLACK HORSE won by a very narrow margin with the MALT ‘N’ HOPS in Chorley coming in second. We decided that this year we would award a runner-up certificate for this and will continue to do so in future years. For a few years now we have given a special award to pubs that have reached a significant milestone for consecutive appearances in the Good Beer Guide. Named after a former Branch Chairman, Dave Linley, this award has previously been awarded to the ANCHOR (Lostock Hall), the BLACK BULL (Penwortham) and the CONTINENTAL (Preston) for having reached 10 years in the guide. This year the WHEATSHEAF (Croston) is added to the list of 10 year veterans. This pub manages to combine a smart village local, food outlet and great beer pub into one. This is all the more surprising in that this is pubco owned (and also prone to flooding), so it is great credit to Jon Lilley and his team for the consistency of beer quality that has seen this pub remain in the guide. Even more remarkably, the SPINNERS ARMS (Bottom Spinners) in Adlington has reached the milestone of 20 years.

The current licensee, Suzan Christopher, has been in charge since 2015, having been bar manager for some years previously. This is very much a drinker’s pub, with a snack food menu, but a good range of beers that are always in great condition have kept this pub front and centre when it comes to this part of the branch area.

A new award has been introduced this year, and while we haven’t announced it officially, you may already have spotted something on individual pubs social media pages. The new Certificate of Excellence is awarded for outstanding beer quality, to the top five pubs and judged purely on beer scores from CAMRA members. There is a requirement for at least 20 scores from 10 or more individuals, so it is important to score your beers. The five winners for 2023 are

BLACK HORSE (Preston)

MASONS ARMS (Chorley)

OLD POST OFFICE (Adlington)

PLUG & TAPS (Preston)

RED LION (Wheelton)

Finally, back in the summer, the CROSTON SPORTS CLUB became the Lancashire branches Club of the Year. Unfortunately, due to problems outside our control, we only got hold of the certificate in the New Year, so the presentation was much delayed and low key, but well done to Lisa and her team.

It has been a busy few weeks getting all the certificates into the pubs, and thoughts now turn to the 2023 awards. Over the next few months we will be deciding on our Cider Pub of the Year, Most Improved Pub and Best New Real Ale outlet, so if you have any suggestions for candidates we should be considering, please get in touch and let us know.

ADRIAN SMITH