Champion Beer of Britain 2028
It’s time again for CAMRA members to make their contribution to the Champion Beer of Britain competition (CBoB). On-line nominations opened on 1 September but, unfortunately, this was not notified until after our August/September edition had been published. The competition runs on a two-year cycle, so these nominations will be for the 2028 competition. A full explanation is included on the website. Go to https://camra.org.uk/cbob. Nominations close on 31 October.
Wins for London
In the meantime, the 2027 competition is in full swing. The regional judging round for the Premium Pale, Golden and Blond Ales category for London and the South East was held recently during Wimbledon Brewery’s beer festival. We thank them for their hospitality. This category has produced two recent National Supreme Champions, Bristol Beer Factory’s Independence earlier this year and Crouch Vale’s Amarillo in 2024. It was a close call but the Gold went to Five Points for their Pale, the Silver to London Brewing Co for Top Pocket and the Bronze to Burning Sky for Aurora. The other finalists were Surrey Hills (Collusion), Firebird (Parody) and Kent (Prohibition). Five Points Pale goes through to the final judging next year. The venue for next year’s CBoB final judging has yet to be chosen.
Another regional winner was Twickenham Fine Ales for their Honey Dark. Their award was presented to managing director Steve Brown by their Brewery Liaison Officer, John Austin. With thanks to George Gimber for the photo.
National Club of the Year
Congratulations to our Greater London Club of the Year, the Orpington Liberal Club, which made it through to the Regional Winners round of the National Club of the Year competition, jointly organised by CAMRA and Club Mirror. The overall winner will be announced at the Club Awards dinner on 25 November. The club recently held a very successful cider festival.
Regional cider round-up
The Greater London Cider Pub of the Year is the Cock Tavern in Hackney, a worthy winner with a good range of ciders on handpump and an enthusiastic landlord. The presentation took place on 20 July.
The London one day cider festival held at Rocket Van on 25 April was a success. We started with 22 ciders, seven perries and a mead. This initial stock ran out at 6pm but a restock had arrived at 5.55 and so we were able to continue into the evening. The good weather certainly helped!
The Dulwich Hamlet Festival, held over the bank holiday weekend in May, offered 16 ciders (including five London products), seven perries and four sparking ciders. With excellent weather and attendance up by a third, we sold out. The winner was Gregg’s Pit Perry from Herefordshire. This entailed the cider bar manager travelling to Much Marcle in Herefordshire to make a presentation.
The Miller, just round the back of Guys Hospital recently held a one-day festival with 100 boxes of cider. It was a lively event with a good age demographic. Alas there is a major development in prospect in the area and the Miller, a good example of a 1960s pub, will be demolished; this was probably its last event. A replacement pub is promised.
Ian White
Going boldly…
Captain’s log, Stardate 1-5122026 – the Enterprise has received a distress signal from a planet where the population is desperately short of beer. At maximum warp, we will enter orbit over Hackney’s Round Chapel from 1 to 5 December 2026. Away teams are ready to beam down over 200 cask ales and ciders, along with a range of keg, bottled and international beers. Replicators will be online, serving food every day, and the planet’s inhabitants will be welcomed from midday to 10.30 Tuesday to Thursday, 11pm on Friday and 9pm on Saturday. Starfleet officers and CAMRA members enter free while non-members must pay £5 on the door (£2 on Saturday). Glasses are free but please don’t Klingon to them when you leave. So, set your phasers to fun, and come join us at the fine ale frontier. To miss it would be highly illogical.
Alex Wall
Watford Beer Festival
Sadly, we have to announce that there will not be a Watford Beer Festival in 2026. As you can imagine, such an event takes quite a bit of planning and managing and the same volunteers have been on the organising team for many years. Basically, some of us need a break. We do however recognise that many members will want to see the festival continue in some form, even if on a smaller scale. We are working on it.
Richmond & Hounslow news
The branch Cider Pub of the Year is the Black Dog Beer House in Brentford (TW8 0NF). The photo shows Bob Gordon, the branch chairman, presenting the award to delighted staff. With thanks to Damian Smeaton for the photo.
South East London presentations
Readers will recall that the branch selects area pubs of the year in SE1, Greenwich, Lewisham and Southwark & Lambeth (excluding SE1). The SE1 winner, and overall branch Pub of the Year, the Hand & Marigold, was featured in our previous edition. Further presentations have since been made. The Greenwich area winner was the Green Goddess in Blackheath and the photo shows branch chair, Andy Large, presenting Stephen and Maryann with their certificate. With thanks to Joseph Paul for the photo.
The Mayflower in Rotherhithe was the Southwark and Lambeth (excluding SE1) winner. Andy did the honours once again, presenting the certificate to Ed, the landlord in the company of a number of branch members. With thanks to Maria Freeman for the photo.
Design award presentations
As mentioned in the last edition, the Blue Stoops in Kensington was a winner in CAMRA’s Pub Design Awards. The photo shows Ellie Eames, Greater London CAMRA Regional Director, presenting the award to Jamie Allsopp, with Jane Jephcote of the London Pubs Group looking on. With thanks to Wanda Piontek for the photo.
The Community Local award was won by the Lord Southampton in Kentish Town. Once again, Ellie and Jane did the honours, presenting the award to Phil and Aimee. With thanks to Joanne Scott for the photo.
