{"id":5910,"date":"2025-11-26T12:07:22","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5910"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:07:24","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:07:24","slug":"making-the-supreme-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/making-the-supreme-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"Making the supreme effort!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever wondered how pubs get into CAMRA\u2019s Good Beer Guide<\/em>?  Unlike some guides, entries into the Good Beer Guide<\/em> are based entirely on the assessments of CAMRA members over the course of a year.  Beer scores play a major part in this.  During the year, thousands of scores are collected on London pubs alone and it is only the consistently highest scoring pubs that are considered for the guide; a pub cannot buy its place.  The number of pubs allocated to Greater London is only 293 even though there are 2,426 pubs and clubs selling cask beer within our area.   It is no easy task to be chosen to be included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A place in the guide is a label that says \u2018We sell great cask beer<\/em>\u2019 and, for that reason, pubs are delighted when they find out that they have been included.\u00a0 It reflects the hard work and dedication of the whole of the pub\u2019s team over a considerable amount of time. \u00a0The reward is usually an increase in footfall and a raising of the pub\u2019s profile, particularly for those who have made it into the guide for the first time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind each new entry is a story. \u00a0Take the Duke<\/a> <\/strong>in Bloomsbury.\u00a0 Bill and Maddie took on the pub in 2023 and gradually started building a reputation for good quality beer, making this historic 1934 Art Deco pub a place to go to other than for the d\u00e9cor.\u00a0 Coming from a family connected with pubs (Bill\u2019s dad runs the Old Red Lion in Holborn) Bill had a good idea as to what he was doing and the Red Lion is not yet in the Guide! \u00a0A bit of family rivalry!<\/p>\n\n\n

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There is also the Northumberland Arms<\/a><\/strong> in Brentford. \u00a0This pub is unusual in that the licensee, Ivo Penev, originally from Bulgaria, brews his own beers at a nano-brewery on a tiny island on the Thames. \u00a0This includes Dark Matter, a 5% ABV porter that has twice won the beer of the festival award at the Twickenham Beer Festival. \u00a0Ivo also serves a changing range of interesting, often dark ales from other breweries and there is live music from local groups five days a week.\u00a0 This a special pub.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Our third example shows how the expertise in getting one pub into the GBG can be used to do the same with another. \u00a0Nick Bailey took over the Robin<\/a> <\/strong>in Stroud Green after running the renowned Southampton Arms in Kentish Town; a regular GBG entry. \u00a0Using his knowledge and team building skills, the Robin won CAMRA North London branch\u2019s Cider Pub of the Year award in the Spring and now it has its first entry into the Good Beer Guide<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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These are just three of the great London pubs in the guide.  In all, the guide features 4,500 pubs across the UK and also includes a unique and comprehensive listing of UK breweries (both cask and keg).  At only \u00a314.99 plus postage (with the discount for CAMRA members: cover price \u00a316.99), it makes a great Christmas present for anyone who loves pubs or even a treat for yourself.  To buy your copy and support CAMRA go to https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/GBG2026<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All CAMRA members can and indeed are encouraged to enter beer scores for any pub visited. \u00a0Simply find the pub\u2019s entry on CAMRA\u2019s pub database (https:\/\/camra.org.uk\/pubs<\/a><\/em>) and then click \u2018beer score\u2019 beneath the photo of the pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christine Cryne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever wondered how pubs get into CAMRA\u2019s Good Beer Guide?  Unlike some guides, entries into the Good Beer Guide are based entirely on the assessments of CAMRA members… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camra-news","category-pub-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5914,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5910\/revisions\/5914"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}