Each pub shortlisted in the category will be given £1,000 and the winner will receive £10,000 to be donated to causes close to their hearts.
- The awards are currently open for entry but the deadline is looming as it closes this Sunday (28 May) so to be in with a chance of being named best in the country, enter now.
The Last Post Memorial Bar in Thornaby, Stockton-on-Tees has been a finalist more than once in the awards. Owner Julia Cooper outlined how the funds donated by CCEP had impacted her business.
Massively positive impact
She said: “We were lucky enough to get through to the Great British Pub Awards shortlist twice and the funds won each time has helped us reach out even further into our community.
“We have been able to help many people and it has had a massively positive impact on everything we do for charity, including more recently enabling us to run a Pensioners Bingo every Wednesday, as well as veterans’ meetings offering tea, coffee and snacks each week for free.”
Last year, the pub took a number of its patrons on a day trip to Whitby with the bus and afternoon lunch having been funded by the prize money.
Increased footfall
Cooper added: [This] helped those living alone and isolated enormously. We’ve continued this and this year, we managed to offer two trips – some of our pensioners had not been out of our town before!
“The publicity that came from Great British Pub Awards has helped raise our profile enormously and people have visited from far and wide to see who we are.
“In hard times like the past few years, it has had a very positive impact on our business, bringing footfall from all over England – we are definitely on the map now and our community events have got bigger and bigger!”
The Pitymee Inn, Wadebridge, Cornwall was a finalist in the Community Hero category last year and operator of the pub Chris Black highlighted how it has utilised the funds donated by CCEP.
He said: "We really enjoy being part of our community and supporting local causes is very important to us.
"Previously we have raised funds for local preschools and food banks. With the money we won from the Great British Pub Awards, we donated to The Wave Project, which supports children's mental health using surf therapy.
"It is a great cause that really benefitted from the donation of £1,000 and was a great way for us to support them."
The 2022 Community Hero winner was the Lion in Treorchy, Rhondda, which donated its £10,000 to Love Treorchy, funding a loyalty scheme for local shops, the town’s annual Christmas parade, five Santa’s grottos and more.
As well as the Community Hero, the full list of categories are:
- Best Pub Garden
- Best Pub for Food
- Best Pub for Families
- Best Pub for Dogs
- Best Pub for Sport
- Best Pub for Entertainment
- Best Pub Chef
- Best Young Pub Chef
- Best Country/Rural Pub
- Best City/Urban Pub
- Best Sustainable Pub
- Admiral Pub of the Year
- Greene King Pub of the Year
- Marston’s Pub of the Year
- Punch Pub of the Year
- Stonegate Pub of the Year
The entry deadline is Sunday 28 May so enter here now.