Cambridge & District CAMRA writes:
One of the pubs included is our 2021 Pub of the Year, the Haymakers in Chesterton.
Sadly two of our Guide regulars are absent from the new edition. Our 2020 Pub of the Year, the Live & Live on Mawson Road, is currently closed and looking for new licensees. Sadder is the closure of the Flying Pig as a result of Justine & Matt’s lease not being renewed by the developers who own the pub but think that public support for it hinders their plans to redevelop the area.
Alistair Cook, Pubs Officer said “With over 200 pubs in our branch area, being selected by local CAMRA members as one of our 26 entries is a big achievement in itself. 2021 has again been a depressing year for pub licensees and their customers. We hope that finding their pubs have made it into the 2022 Guide will put a smile on many faces.
“Our branch selection process is based partly on the scores that CAMRA members give for ales drunk in our pubs all year round. We also ask local CAMRA members to submit nominations. The beer scores and nominations allow us to draw up a shortlist of potential entries. We then ask for local CAMRA members’ opinion of the shortlisted pubs. The top 26 eligible pubs are submitted to go into the Good Beer Guide. It’s all very democratic.”
The Guide is usually released in mid-September. The release of the 2022 Guide was again delayed so that, following the third Covid shutdown, branches across the country could reassess their pubs.
The 2022 Guide features, on page 2, a colour picture of the Queen’s Head in Newton by local pub, beer and photography enthusiast Helge Nareid. The Queen’s Head is one of a handful of pubs nationwide to have appeared in every edition of the Guide. Another picture by Helge, of the Three Horseshoes in Stapleford, appears in the Cambridgeshire section of the Guide.
The forward to the 2022 Guide is by singer-song writer, record producer and pub owner, James Blunt who tells us that “buying a pub is the best thing I’ve ever done”. That might raise the eyebrows of many of our publicans! James, who owns the 170 year old Fox & Pheasant in Chelsea also says “But there’s more to a pub than its bricks and its bar. It’s the people inside who give it life and its character.” This brings us back to the sad plight of the Flying Pig. Its body (currently) remains but its soul has been evicted.
CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale) has 190,000 members, 5,000 of whom are in our branch area. The Cambridge & District branch covers the City of Cambridge, most of South Cambridgeshire and some of East Cambridgeshire.