On Tuesday 12 October, it was the turn of CAMRA’s West London branch to host a Golden Award presentation. This one was to the Grade II-listed Star Tavern in Belgravia, one of two pubs in the branch area which have been so honoured, primarily because they have appeared in every edition of CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide.
Branch members attended in strength, along with many colleagues from other London branches. The presentation was made to the Star’s manager, Ema Harker, and Fred Turner, Fuller’s Retail Director, by Geoff Strawbridge, CAMRA’s Greater London Regional Director (on the left in the photo). The award is now proudly displayed behind the bar.
Before the presentation, those present took the opportunity to raise a glass in memory of the West London branch Chair, Les Maggs, who sadly passed away in early 2021. He is much missed. The Star was one of his favourite pubs, particularly on the rare occasions when Golden Pride was on draught!
Following the presentation, those West London members present tore themselves away from the downstairs bar in order to hold a branch meeting upstairs, their first such meeting since March 2020.
The full address of the Star Tavern is 6 Belgrave Mews West, Belgravia, SW1X 8HT.
The second presentation was to the Buckingham Arms (Young’s) in Petty France (SW1H 9EU). This took place on Monday 1 November. Once again, West London branch’s committee and members joined members of CAMRA’s Greater London Regional team to see Geoff, assisted by London Region chairman, Dave Lands, make the presentation to the pub’s manager, Gavin Stacey. Also present were Mark Loughborough, Young’s Retail Director, and his colleague Jason Wright, the Operations Manager. Young’s very kindly laid on a cask of Winter Warmer for the event.
Paul Charlton