Nominations open for CAMRA Pub Saving Award 2023

05-Sep-2023 - Last updated on 05-Sep-2023 at 15:41 GMT

Inspiring: nominations for CAMRA's Pub Saving Award 2023 open until mid-November (Pictured: current title holder the Plough Inn, Hampshire)

Nominations for the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) Pub Saving Award are now open.

The award looks to celebrate and honour people who have saved pubs from demolition or conversion as well as raise awareness for pub-saving campaigns to encourage others to “save their local”.

Any group that has carried out campaigning activity to save a pub from closure over the last 12-months can be put forward. Nominations will remain open until mid-November.

CAMRA’s Pub Saving Award coordinator Paul Ainsworth said: “This award shows the sheer determination and passion people have for our beloved pubs.

Determined campaigners

“We are seeing too many across the country close their doors against a backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis, energy bills and the shadow the pandemic continues to cast.

“However, determined campaigners across the country are working tirelessly behind the scenes and CAMRA wants to celebrate these amazing people, while inspiring others and highlighting the steps they can take to save their local.”

This comes as figures from the consumer organisation last month estimated 772 sites closed during the first six months of this year, equivalent to 30 pubs a week, while 95 were converted or demolished with 31 of those lacking the relevant planning permission.

Moreover, the fire and subsequent demolition of Britain’s “wonkiest pub”, the Crooked House in Staffordshire, in August has seen campaigners call for the site to be rebuilt and “rise from the ashes” after two people were arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

Fantastic achievements

An Admiral Taverns pub in Scunthorpe, the Lincoln Imp, was also recently found to be at risk of demolition to make way for flats.

The current title holder is the Plough Inn, in Longparish, Hampshire, after locals lobbied planning officers to deny permission to turn the pub into a residential site following its closure in 2015.

Grants, donations and a community share scheme were sought – which attracted more than 300 investors – to purchase the pub, which dates back to 1721, in conjunction with the Parish Council, in February 2021 and the pub is now trading with a 99-year lease from the council.

Ainsworth added: “The Pub Saving Award aims to showcase the fantastic achievements of these community groups around the country and inspire others to fight to save their local pub from closure.”