Sunday 23 August 2009

Pub of the Year

You may have noticed that I have not disclosed the winner of the CAMRA Pub of the Year for the London region. That news is embargoed until mid September to coincide with the launch of The Good Beer Guide in order to gain maximum publicity for the Guide and the regional winning pubs. It is not necessarily an embargo that I personally agree with but I have had sufficient bollockings from CAMRA's leadership to observe it. You can probably discover the winner elsewhere on the web but I am pleased to say that, for once, I am in line with the CAMRA directors' preferred way of doing things.

Given that I am no longer a judge of the next phase of the competition I may even refrain from commenting on the pubs in the super regional competition for fear of being accused of prejudicing one pub against another (and another scolding) - I cannot promise though.

Something I can disclose is the short list for the SPBW London Pub of the Year :

Bree Louise, Euston
Bricklayers Arms, Putney
Calthorpe Arms, Clerkenwell
Crosse Keys, Bishopsgate
Duke of Hamilton, Hampstead
Old Fountain, Old Street
Old Monk Exchange, Victoria
Pembury Tavern, Hackney
Red Lion, Ealing
Royal Oak, Borough
Wenlock Arms, Hoxton
Willoughby Arms, Kingston

Judging will occur in September and October.

4 comments:

Chick Micklemas said...

SPBW? Who are they?

Never heard of them, etc, etc...

John Paul Adams said...

Some Pesky Beer Weirdos?

The Beer Justice said...

The SPBW is a very, very secret organisation. If I disclosed any more I would be betraying their confidence. The annual membership fee is very reasonable £5 but to become a fully fledged member I believe there is a masonic style graduation ceremony. Many have aspired to be raised to the third degree of SPBW, few have made it.

Find out more at www.spbw.com

M. Barrymore (Mrs) said...

They sound like my kind of people!