Congleton quartet make 'CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2025'
We may be 90 days away from Christmas, but it may feel like Christmas has come early for cask ale lovers.
That is because the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2025 has been released.
The gospel of real ale hotspots and top quality boozers, was first published in 1972 by The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
And in 2024, a huge amount of local pubs and bars have made the list.
Four Congleton venues have made the list.
BarleyHops, of 29 High Street is first to make the guide alphabetically.
The Guide praised the 'beer cafe' for its 'excellent cask beers and a laid-back ambience', as well as the cast of four rotating cask beers.
Beartown Brewery venue Beartown Tap made the cut, with their Willow Street pub being situated just around the corner from their Spingle Street Brewery.
Beartown Brewery, which will celebrate their 30th anniversary in April 2025, saw their pub commended for their six Beartown beers on cask, plus a guest ale and cider.
The Queen's Head on Park Lane has also made the list. The pub, saved from closure a few years ago, was praised for guest beers from 'local and regional breweries', including a house beer made by Beartown.
The recently-reopened Throstle's Nest has also featured. The pub, of 11 Buxton Road, has five cask beers and discounts to boot. The guide highlighted the pub's recent CAMRA Newcomer Award in 2023, and now it has made the guide too.
The Campaign for Real Ale's (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide is the UK's best-selling beer and pub guide.
Unique to this year, its 52nd edition will feature not one but two covers, starring two of the UK's favourite fictional locals: Coronation Street's Rovers Return Inn, and Emmerdale's Woolpack.
The Guide, which lists 4,500 of the best pubs across the UK, is the definitive beer drinker's guide for those seeking the best pints in the nations' pubs – and costs £14.99 online.
Despite the tough trading environment facing a lot of licensees, they continue to battle against the odds, and the 2025 Guide boasts over 900 pubs that are new to this edition.
Information in the Guide is collated by thousands of CAMRA volunteers who give up their time every year to select the best of the best across the UK. As well as covering 143 of the very best pubs across Merseyside and Cheshire, it includes 36 new pub entries across the counties.
With two of ITV's flagship soaps being referenced on the cover, the foreword of The Good Beer Guide 2025 has been written by multi award-winning TV executive producer Iain Macleod.
In his foreword, MacLeod writes: "...the story which threatened one of our pubs the most was also the one which most resonated with our times."
"In 2023, the Rovers Return closed its doors. A combination of the lingering legacy of the Covid lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis meant that landlady Jenny Bradley couldn't afford to keep it open. The characters – and the viewers – lamented the news like the loss of a loved one. If it were needed, it was a timely reminder of the central place the nation's pubs have in our lives and in our affections."
The amount of pubs continues to decline in the UK, but CAMRA shines a light on these businesses. In total, there were 38,175 pubs in the UK at the end of 2023, down from 41,015 a decade earlier. (Source)
Ash Corbett-Collins is the national chairman of CAMRA.
"The Rovers Return Inn and the Woolpack represent the UK's love of their local, and to have them featured on the covers for this year's Guide is very exciting," said Ash.
"CAMRA's mission is to ensure support from the Government as well as tangible legislation to protect pubs in this country. By next year's edition of the Guide, we want to be talking about the beer and pub trade growing with the support of communities and parliament alike."
This year's Guide is sponsored by Midland Snacks Traditional Pork Scratchings and endorsed by Cask Marque.
The Good Beer Guide 2025 has been released, today, 26 September 2024, and is available to purchase now from this link.
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