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Awards

The Church InnCongratulations to Carl and Steve (pictured left, with Trafford & Hulme branch's Mark Reeves) and the rest of the team at the Church Inn, Hulme, on winning the 2014 Trafford and Hulme Most Improved Pub of the Year award.

A JW Lees pub, it was refurbished in 2013 with a new kitchen and outdoor drinking area and a warm welcome is always guaranteed. Having successfully run a bar in Macclesfield for 14 years, the Church set them a new challenge, having been off of the real ale map for years and generally a bit run down and ignored. It now serves two Lees ales and has a real community feel with a clientele consisting mostly of locals, students and university staff.

A kitchen fire in 2014 was a small setback but they have shrugged that off and continue to serve excellent home cooked food (the steak and ale pie is a winner, according to regulars). In an area where traditional pubs can be counted on a few fingers we wish them a long and prosperous future, well done!

At the branch Annual General Meeting on 9th October, the branch will be voting for the annual pub & club awards which recognise excellence outside of the quarterly Pub Of The Season and annual Pub & Club Of The Year Awards.

Members are encouraged to visit the nominees to learn about them for themselves before the vote. Click on the pub name to be taken to their WhatPub.com entry which has a map of how to find the pub.

The nominations are:

Best Newcomer

Awarded annually to the pub, bar or club which having opened in the 15 months preceding the award best fulfils the attributes of a good pub, bar or club. The factors to be judged are the same as considered when judging for Pub Of The Year - quality of cask ale (and cider), atmosphere, décor, customer service, welcome, value for money and customer mix. Pubs, bars and clubs which have re-opened after a period of closure shall be eligible if they had been closed for a period of 12 months or more before re-opening under new management.

Best LocAle Pub/Club

Awarded annually to the pub, bar or club which the membership feels has done the most in the preceding 12 months to support and promote the CAMRA LocAle Scheme, serving quality locally brewed ales, encouraging their customers to choose locally brewed products and educating them about the origins of the real ale on offer.

Most Improved Pub/Club

Awarded annually to the pub, bar or club which the membership feels has shown the greatest overall improvement over the 12 months preceding the award.
The factors to be judged are the same as considered when judging for Pub Of The Year - quality of cask ale (and cider), atmosphere, décor, customer service, welcome, value for money and customer mix.

Best Community Pub

Awarded annually to the pub or bar which is considered to best embody the attributes of a true community pub and which has a sense of the pub belonging to the people and the local community. Examples of a pubs role in the community include: Notice boards featuring local events; Sports teams linked with the pub; Pub games team nights held; Hosting of meetings for local community groups; Organisation of charity fundraisers; Organisation of trips for customers; Provision of services to the community (e.g. post office, parcel collection, shop)

 

Additional nominations can be made at the AGM.

 

Stretford Sip Club signThe Trafford & Hulme Branch Pub of The Season for Autumn 2014 is perhaps one of the most unusual "pubs" in the whole of the branch area but one that has made an impression in just six months of trading. Located in former office space above an estate agent's office, the only sign of the Stretford Sip Club's existence is a hand painted wooden sign in the window adjacent to the anonymous door of the premises on the corner of Barton Road and Kingsway.

Step inside the door and assorted casks stacked under the stairs are the first clue to what lies above. Climbing to the top of the stairs and you may think you've been mistaken and you have entered into somebody's lounge complete with sofas and dining table - it's only when you venture to the rear room that you will find the bar complete with it's two handpumps and well stocked fridge.

Opening in April 2014, The Sip Club was the realisation of the dream of landlady Heather Garlick, a born and bred Stretfordian who wanted to bring to her hometown the kind of place she would like to socialise at herself - a cosy and welcoming space offering only genuine quality beers & wines. How the Sip Club has embedded itself into the local area in such as short period of time is remarkable and testament to the vision and hard work of Heather and the band of family, friends and suppliers who have embraced what she set out to do.

Old Market TavernTrafford & Hulme Camra Pub of the season for summer 2014 is The Old Market Tavern in Altrincham - better known as' O.M.T.' to most people.

John Glover with his wife Linda and family 'took over the reigns' in March, 2005 and quickly set about making the pub what we see today. However when they first entered the building it was in a mess having been closed for a period of time and certain 'undesirables' had broken in and the place had been vandalised with many items 'gone missing'. Over the years the pub has been transformed into a thoroughly enjoyable place to participate drinking some fantastic beers.

2008 was the year that saw the OMT re-enter Camra's Good Beer Guide and has been in every edition since. Also the same year saw it voted as Trafford & Hulme's Camra Pub of the Year.

Although the OMT is owned by Punch Taverns, John has an excellent agreement with them which allows him to choose which beers he wants. Six beers are permanent - Caledonian Deuchars IPA, George Wright's Drunken Duck & Northern Lights, Taylor's Landlord, Phoenix Arizona and Facers DHB, with a futher five handpumps reserved for guest beers from far and wide.

cityarmssmallThe Trafford & Hulme Branch Pub Of The Year 2014 is The City Arms, Kennedy Street, Manchester.

While hype rages about the "Craft Beer Revolution" and the press raves about specialist beer bars, the City Arms is testament to the enduring popularity of a well run traditional pub. The pub is nestled away on Kennedy Street, a quiet narrow back street which runs parallel to Princess Street, one of Manchester's busiest streets. Despite being so close to Albert Square and the heart of the city, once inside you could forget you are in the city and imagine yourself in a lively suburban local, the kind of which there are sadly fewer and fewer of these days.

The Trafford & Hulme Branch Cider Pub of The Year 2014 is The Font, Chorlton.

Former Regional Cider Co-ordinator Steven Swain tells us why:

When the guys at FONT told me they were opening a sister pub in Chorlton with an even greater choice of cider than the Manchester bar (and 2013 Branch Cider Pub Of The Year), I thought it was great, as I had been instrumental in the "birth" of cider there.

What we got when the pub opened was a choice of 8 draught ciders, although not all real by CAMRA standard, the choice was well thought out, there is also an amazing choice of bottled cider, much more than the alcopop style of cider, so popular with the youth of today, you know who you are, try a bottle of Sheppy or Thistly Cross next time.

They also offer a massive 25% off real cider to CAMRA members on production of a valid membership card

The presentation will be on Tuesday 20th May from 8pm. Come along - even if you don't like the choice of 10 ciders, there will be 8 ales as well!

Although I now live in Stafford, I'm returning to run the Cider bar at Chorlton Festival in July where there will be about 85 tubs of cider & perry, I'm sure you will be able to find me in FONT with a cider over the weekend

PS the 25% discount is also available on real ale

The Trafford & Hulme Branch Pub Of The Season for Spring 2014 is The Vine Inn, Manchester.

The Vine InnSituated on Kennedy Street, just off Princess Street near to the Town Hall, The Vine is one of the city's oldest pubs sporting an impressive tiled frontage and stained glass windows. The pub is an excellent example of how a pub can offer a real sense of community built around it's regulars despite being right in the heart of the city, yet still offers a warm welcome to the many visitors to our city who cross its threshold. Much of this is built around long time landlady Rachelle Stringer whose enthusiasm for life and people is infectious to both staff and customers.

Locals and visitors alike have long been able to sample excellent ales from the two handpumps crammed onto the bar of the small ground floor servery, with Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Wychwood Hobgoblin having been the only permanent ales. However, December 2013 saw the biggest change at the pub since the original ground floor bar was expanded into the building next door in the 1970s. That expansion created the upstairs area and a cellar bar which in recent years has served as the pub's restaurant and function area but late last year, the cellar bar was transformed into Malt & Cask - a pub within a pub.

More Articles ...

  1. Club Of The Year 2014
  2. Pub of the Season Winter 2013/14
  3. Pub Awards 2013
  4. Pub Of The Season Presentation
  5. Pub & Club Award Criteria
  6. For Those About To Rock - Pub Of Season Autumn 13
  7. Pub Of The Season - Summer 2013
  8. Pub Of The Year 2013 - Costellos
  9. Pub Of The Season - Spring 2013
  10. Pub Of The Season - Winter 2012/13

Subcategories

Pub of the Season Article Count: 65

Pub Of The Year Article Count: 18

Pub & Club Annual Awards Article Count: 14

Club Of The Year Article Count: 8

Cider Pub Of The Year Article Count: 6

Cask Champion Award Article Count: 1

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