Congleton bar added to CAMRA Good Beer Guide for eighth year

A Congleton bar has been included in the CAMRA Good Beer Guide for the eighth year.

The Young Pretender, on Lawton Street, has once again been featured in the coveted guide of over 4500 of the country's best pubs, bars and breweries.

CAMRA – the Campaign for Real Ale – compile their guide based on which establishments have the best cask beers available for beer lovers.

Their Good Beer Guide is the UK's best-selling impartial guide to pubs, bars and clubs where you can enjoy a great pint of traditional British beer.

The organisation of beer lovers, founded in 1971, believe that finding a great pub to enjoy a good pint is not easy.

They say: "In today's world of homogenised and bland, where one beer tastes just like another, it can be hard to find a great pub that serves interesting and well-kept real ale.

"Every pub or bar listed has been carefully selected by volunteers who have visited every one and tasted their beers.

"These experts know what makes a great pint of beer and which venues serve it best."

Their guide highlights pubs selected by local CAMRA members as places to savour good beers from small breweries as well as cask-conditioned lagers and world beers and ciders.

The Young Pretender – part of The Beer Parlours which also includes Macclesfield's Treacle Tap – is a craft beer and real ale bar situated in Congleton's town centre.

The bar opened in 2012 in a building previously used as a post office and a toy shop.

Company director Bronwyn Riley (45) said: "It's always important to us to get recognition for the

hard work we've put into the bar and looking after the beer. "We set up systems for the way the beer should be selected, looked after and served, and do have high standards and expectations of the team." Riley stressed the importance of the bar's inclusion in the guide after a difficult period for the hospitality industry. She said: "Being included in the guide is really important to us, and we love sharing the news with the hardworking staff and our customers. "Of course we hope that it also means that potential customers visiting the area might be more inclined to sample our beers and support our family business, which is more important than ever after the 18 months we have had." She acknowledged the competition for inclusion in the Good Beer Guide, as Congleton's local branch of CAMRA is limited in terms of the number of pubs and bars they can nominate. She said: "There are so many great places, competition is stiff. "We never 'expect' to get in the GBG, but we are really happy when we make it in." The team of beer connoisseurs at The Young Pretender are led by managers Jamie Woodfine and Chris Thomas, who have a combined 36 years of experience in the industry. The bar features a rotating selection of the finest local craft beers, ales and ciders, as well as a

wide selection of bottled beers from around the world.

They also boast a wide ranging food menu consisting of burgers, wraps, chillis, and their

ever-popular pies. The Young Pretender is located at 30-34 Lawton Street. The CAMRA Good Beer Guide can be purchased here. The bar is even hosting live music tonight - and every Friday. You can follow The Young Pretender on Facebook and Twitter. Other Congleton watering holes to get recognised by CAMRA this year include Beartown Tap, Cheshire Brewhouse Tap and the Wonky Pear. After a job in Congleton? Please click here to access the Congleton Nub News Jobs section. Please consider signing up for our Friday weekly newsletter containing each week's top 10 Congleton news stories, and one FREE exclusive article. 2900 of you lovely people have signed up already. Simply enter your email address into the shaded box below. Free from pop-up ads, or unwanted surveys, Congleton Nub News is a quality online newspaper which produces 15-25 stories a week for our town. You can also find us on Facebook or Twitter.