CAMRA is running its Pub Design Awards competition again this year. The deadline was 17 November for projects that were completed between 1 July 2024 and 30 June 2025. Details were issued only after the previous edition had been published. The categories, as before, are New Build, Community Local, Historic England Conservation, Conversion to Pub Use and Refurbishment.
Last year there was a London winner, with the Forester in West Ealing winning the Community Local Award. CAMRA’s London Pubs Group has identified a number of projects that look to be likely candidates and has encouraged the owners to enter the competition. More details can be found at https://camra.org.uk/awards/pub-design?selected_year=2025.
Red Bull, Peckham. Having been used as a shop and then a restaurant in recent years, the Red Bull returned to being a pub last year.
The interior has been modernised but it has retained some marvellous tiling, believed to date from 1875, which forms a mural depicting the trial of Catherine of Aragon, a scene from the Shakespeare play, Henry VIII. The trial took place in 1529 in Blackfriars and was part of Henry’s campaign to annul his marriage. The tiling was the work of W B Simpson & Sons. Consequently, the pub has now been added to CAMRA’s National Inventory, rated one star. The pub does not however sell cask beer.
