{"id":5915,"date":"2025-11-26T12:17:57","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=5915"},"modified":"2025-11-26T12:17:59","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T12:17:59","slug":"the-final-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2025\/11\/26\/the-final-four\/","title":{"rendered":"The final four"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the previous edition I listed the 16 finalists in CAMRA\u2019s National Pub of the Year.  These have now been narrowed down to four.  Sadly, none of them are in London but, if any of you are on your travels, I\u2019m sure that they are all worth a visit.  Two of them are previous winners while one of them has already won this year\u2019s National Cider and Perry Pub of the Year award.  The judging will, as ever, be on the basis of their atmosphere, d\u00e9cor, welcome, service, inclusivity, overall impression and, crucially, the quality of their cask beer, real cider and perry.  For those pubs that have won the award previously, credit should be given for their ability to maintain their standards.  In alphabetical order, these are the four.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackfriars Tavern<\/a><\/strong>, Great Yarmouth. CAMRA\u2019s current National Cider and Perry Pub of the Year.\u00a0 A Victorian street corner pub with its own brewery.\u00a0 As well as cider and perry, it specialises in cask ale from East Anglia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pelican Inn<\/a><\/strong>, Gloucester. Grade II-listed and dating from 1679, a traditional community pub handy for the cathedral and the Kingsholm rugby ground.\u00a0 It features beers from the Wye Valley brewery, among others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamworth Tap<\/a><\/strong>, Tamworth. A part Tudor, part 16th century building featuring a courtyard drinking area close to the Norman castle.\u00a0 It is the tap for the Tamworth Brewing Company and also sells a wide variety of cask ale from other breweries around the country.\u00a0 It won the National Pub of the Year award in 2022 and in 2023.\u00a0 It boasts a complete set of Good Beer Guides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Volunteer Arms (Staggs)<\/a><\/strong>, Musselburgh. Run by the same family since 1858, it is a traditional bar with wooden floors, wood panelling and mirrors from defunct local breweries. \u00a0The interior features an attractive Victorian gantry with old spirit casks. \u00a0It won the national award in 1998 and made the final four again in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the previous edition I listed the 16 finalists in CAMRA\u2019s National Pub of the Year.  These have now been narrowed down to four.  Sadly, none of them are in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5916,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camra-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5915"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5917,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5915\/revisions\/5917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5916"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5915"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5915"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5915"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}