John Young Memorial Award
This year’s winner is the London Brewing Company. They were nominated jointly by CAMRA’s North London and Enfield & Barnet branches. LBC started brewing at the Bull in Highgate in 2011, moving to the Good Beer Guide listed Bohemia in North Finchley in 2014. They are now one of London’s oldest independent brewers. LBC remain committed to cask beer and, in their second pub, the Three Lords in Aldgate, handpumps have pride of place. The award is scheduled to be presented at the Bohemia on 1 October. More information will be included in our coverage of the presentation.
Croydon & Sutton Pubs of the Year
On 28 May we presented the certificate for the Sutton borough Pub of the Year to the Hope in Carshalton. Dominic received the certificate on behalf of the pub. He is the driving force behind the successful pub beer festivals.
Next, on 9 June, we presented the award for the Croydon Borough Pub of the Year to the Dark Horse in Selhurst. Emma, one of the owners, is holding the certificate. She was accompanied by her colleagues Harvey (wearing the Dark Horse mask!) and Aidan. This award is especially pleasing because we feared for the pub’s future when Shepherd Neame put it on the market. However, the former licensees of the Royal Standard bought it and have carried out a superb refurbishment. They now serve three or four cask ales from independent breweries, along with a selection of craft keg.
Steve Thompson
North London Summer Pub of the Season
As we all know, it’s been very warm recently, so our branch thought it more than appropriate to have a Summer Pub of the Season and we decided to give this award to the Crown & Anchor in Drummond Street), not far from Euston Station. With so many pubs in our geographic area, this is quite an achievement. A small group of us had previously met at the pub one afternoon and the manager very kindly arranged a table for us to sit together. It is that sort of service that impresses people. The award is, of course, oriented around cask beer. When we discussed who should receive the award, what brought the C&A to the top of the list was the range of beers that it has on tap, the interest that the serving team showed in the beers and their quality as reflected in the NBSS Scores. What we want the award to achieve for pubs is for beer drinkers to be attracted to come and visit a pub that might not be on their radar and so recognise the effort that is put into serving great beer.
Manager Pawel Pierog responded as follows, “We’re delighted to receive the recognition from the North London CAMRA. It’s a huge privilege and personally, I couldn’t be more proud. It always has been my goal to promote real ale in every pub I’ve been working or managing. It’s a unique style of serving beer and truly deserves attention as well as the UNESCO heritage status.” The award will be presented on 4 August but that does not prevent you from visiting before then. And, if you are a CAMRA member, take your card because members receive a discount in this Grade II-listed pub.
John Cryne
Richmond & Hounslow Pub of the Year
In May, during one of the pub’s pizza nights, the branch assembled to present its Pub of the Year award to the Mitre in Richmond. This was the pub’s second such award and so the landlord, Chris French, suggested it be presented to Rudi the pub dog. Branch chairman Bob Gordon tried valiantly to comply but, as it wasn’t edible, Rudi wasn’t interested.
Branch members thoroughly enjoyed a ‘mild month’ tasting at the William Webb Ellis in Twickenham. This tasting of six milds was organised by Clive Donaldson, the ale manager at this popular Wetherspoons house. Clive is pictured pouring the closely contested winner, Gothic Dark from Twickenham Fine Ales. This 4.6% ABV beer is described on TFA’s website as ‘a strong, dark mild brewed using two types of chocolate malt. Full-bodied and malty but with a dryish, chocolatey edge’.
John Austin
South East London Pub of the Year
It was a bold statement that owner Oli Carter-Esdale made on the opening weekend of the uniquely named Hand & Marigold in Bermondsey in March 2025, “I want us to be branch pub of the year.” But, within a remarkably short space of time, this vision has become reality. Oli, together with Alice Hayward, took on an empty shell of a pub and have created a welcoming, traditionally-styled and wet-led free house, utilising a perfect blend of Oli’s experience from running the successful Trafalgar free house in Merton with Alice’s design flair and experience working for Cloudwater brewery. The pub sources its beers and ciders from independent and family-owned producers.
For Alice, Bermondsey was the ideal location to fulfil her dream of running a pub, having traced seven generations of her family to the area. The Hand & Marigold dates from the late 18th century and, in the early 20th century, was leased to Watneys. In the 1990s the pub was bought by Eileen Webb and has remained in the same family ever since. Although COVID took its toll and the pub closed in 2021, the owners were always keen to see it reopen. The large, etched mirror on the wall of the bar is on loan from the Webb family. The picture shows branch chair, Andy Large, with Alice, Oli and the pub team and not forgetting Oscar, the dog!
Steve Silcock
Dulwich Beer Festival
This year’s South East London branch festival, our third at Dulwich Hamlet FC, took place from 21 to 23 May with over 1,600 lovely customers basking in glorious sunshine across all three days. This was an increase in attendance of a staggering 29% compared to last year and so it was no surprise that, by early Saturday evening, all 60 casks had sold out, along with all 26 ciders and perries. Huge thanks are due to our hardworking volunteer team who rose admirably to the challenge of looking after all our extra visitors.
We received many compliments about our beer and cider ranges, which was very pleasing to hear and makes all the hard work of our selection team worthwhile. Undoubtedly, the main talking point was the rare sight at a London festival of Tynt Meadow Trappist ale (ABV 7.4%) in cask, which had been collected from the beautiful Mount St Bernard Abbey in Leicestershire by our cider representative, Mike Allen. There are no prizes for guessing which beer was voted the best of the festival: Tynt Meadow of course! Gregg’s Pit took the honours for best cider/perry. Thanks to the generosity of our visitors, we were also pleased to donate over £230 to St Christopher’s Hospice. With thanks to Gavin A Fernandes for the photo montage.
Steve Silcock