{"id":6535,"date":"2026-07-28T16:25:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=6535"},"modified":"2026-07-28T16:28:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T16:28:50","slug":"news-and-events-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2026\/07\/28\/news-and-events-july-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"CAMRA News and events – July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John Young Memorial Award<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s winner is the London Brewing Company.\u00a0 They were nominated jointly by CAMRA\u2019s North London and Enfield & Barnet branches.\u00a0 LBC started brewing at the Bull in Highgate in 2011, moving to the Good Beer Guide<\/em> listed Bohemia<\/a> <\/strong>in North Finchley in 2014.\u00a0 They are now one of London\u2019s oldest independent brewers.\u00a0 LBC remain committed to cask beer and, in their second pub, the Three Lords<\/strong><\/a> in Aldgate, handpumps have pride of place.\u00a0 The award is scheduled to be presented at the Bohemia on 1 October.\u00a0 More information will be included in our coverage of the presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Croydon & Sutton Pubs of the Year             <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 28 May we presented the certificate for the Sutton borough Pub of the Year to the Hope<\/a><\/strong> in Carshalton.\u00a0 Dominic received the certificate on behalf of the pub. \u00a0He is the driving force behind the successful pub beer festivals.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Next, on 9 June, we presented the award for the Croydon Borough Pub of the Year to the Dark Horse<\/a><\/strong> in Selhurst. Emma, one of the owners, is holding the certificate. \u00a0She was accompanied by her colleagues Harvey (wearing the Dark Horse mask!) and Aidan.\u00a0 This award is especially pleasing because we feared for the pub\u2019s future when Shepherd Neame put it on the market.\u00a0 However, the former licensees of the Royal Standard bought it and have carried out a superb refurbishment.\u00a0 They now serve three or four cask ales from independent breweries, along with a selection of craft keg.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Steve Thompson<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

North London Summer Pub of the Season<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a><\/strong> in Drummond Street), not far from Euston Station.\u00a0 With so many pubs in our geographic area, this is quite an achievement. \u00a0A 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. \u00a0It is that sort of service that impresses people.\u00a0 The award is, of course, oriented around cask beer.\u00a0 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\u00a0interest that the serving team showed in the beers and their quality as reflected in the NBSS Scores. \u00a0What 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.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n

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Manager Pawel Pierog responded as follows, “We’re delighted to receive the recognition from the North London CAMRA. \u00a0It’s a huge privilege and personally, I couldn’t be more proud.\u00a0 It always has been my goal to promote real ale in every pub I’ve been working or managing. \u00a0It’s a unique style of serving beer and truly deserves attention as well as the UNESCO heritage status<\/em>.”\u00a0 The award will be presented on 4 August but that does not prevent you from visiting before then. \u00a0And, if you are a CAMRA member, take your card because members receive a discount in this Grade II-listed pub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Cryne<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Richmond & Hounslow Pub of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In May, during one of the pub\u2019s pizza nights, the branch assembled to present its Pub of the Year award to the Mitre<\/strong><\/a> in Richmond.\u00a0 This was the pub\u2019s second such award and so the landlord, Chris French, suggested it be presented to Rudi the pub dog.\u00a0 Branch chairman Bob Gordon tried valiantly to comply but, as it wasn\u2019t edible, Rudi wasn\u2019t interested.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n

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With thanks to George Gimber for the photo.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Branch members thoroughly enjoyed a \u2018mild month\u2019 tasting at the William Webb Ellis<\/a><\/strong> in Twickenham.\u00a0 This tasting of six milds was organised by Clive Donaldson, the ale manager at this popular Wetherspoons house.\u00a0 Clive is pictured pouring the closely contested winner, Gothic Dark from Twickenham Fine Ales.\u00a0 This 4.6% ABV beer is described on TFA\u2019s website as \u2018a strong, dark mild brewed using two types of chocolate malt. \u00a0Full-bodied and malty but with a dryish, chocolatey edge<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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John Austin<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

South East London Pub of the Year<\/strong>             <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a bold statement that owner Oli Carter-Esdale made on the opening weekend of the uniquely named Hand & Marigold<\/a><\/strong> in Bermondsey in March 2025, “I want us to be branch pub of the year<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 But, within a remarkably short space of time, this vision has become reality.\u00a0 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. \u00a0The pub sources its beers and ciders from independent and family-owned producers.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n

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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.\u00a0 The Hand & Marigold dates from the late 18th century and, in the early 20th century, was leased to Watneys. \u00a0In the 1990s the pub was bought by Eileen Webb and has remained in the same family ever since.\u00a0 Although COVID took its toll and the pub closed in 2021, the owners were always keen to see it reopen.\u00a0 The large, etched mirror on the wall of the bar is on loan from the Webb family.\u00a0 The picture shows branch chair, Andy Large, with Alice, Oli and the pub team and not forgetting Oscar, the dog!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Silcock<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dulwich Beer Festival<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.\u00a0 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. \u00a0Huge thanks are due to our hardworking volunteer team who rose admirably to the challenge of looking after all our extra visitors. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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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. \u00a0Undoubtedly, 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.\u00a0 There are no prizes for guessing which beer was voted the best of the festival: Tynt Meadow of course! \u00a0Gregg’s Pit took the honours for best cider\/perry.\u00a0 Thanks to the generosity of our visitors, we were also pleased to donate over \u00a3230 to St Christopher’s Hospice.\u00a0 With thanks to Gavin A Fernandes for the photo montage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

John Young Memorial Award This year\u2019s winner is the London Brewing Company.\u00a0 They were nominated jointly by CAMRA\u2019s North London and Enfield & Barnet branches.\u00a0 LBC started brewing at the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6535","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\/6535","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6535"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6574,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6535\/revisions\/6574"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/londondrinker.camra.org.uk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}