The annual UK pub awards by CAMRA has dubbed Britain’s Pub of the Year to be Bell Inn – held by the same family for 250 years.
The Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) has been ranking the best pubs across Britain since 1988, assessing them on decor, the welcome and service, atmosphere, community focus, and quality of the beer.
Nominations were received from more than 200 regional CAMRA branches. These were filtered down to a shortlist of 16, before four finalists were chosen, and thoroughly scrutinised by the judges in pursuit of the crown.
The Bell Inn is to be found in Aldworth, a village in Berkshire. It has been owned by the Hunt, McQuhae and Macaulay families since the middle of the 1700s, and the changes since then have been limited. It is Grade II Listed, meaning it is a UK structure “of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve it” and requiring written consent to perform even interior works beyond maintenance. The Bell is one of 8,320 Listed with Historic England.
Inside can be found a sparse, timber public bar adorned with antique photographs and a one-handed clock, served by a bar sporting a few hand pumps with ebony handles, installed by the Macaulay that ran the pub in 1902. The pub doesn’t allow mobile phones or payment by credit card.
These days it’s run by descendent Hugh Macaulay, who says not much has changed since his parents won CAMRA’s Pub of the Year back in 1990. His mother, Heather, has been there 83 years.
“We have kept our interior unspoilt all this time – and intend to keep it that way,” he said at the awards.
Judges for this year’s award were reportedly taken with its Listed interior, open garden overlooking a livestock paddock, and level of service.
“The judges were impressed with how a stranger entering the pub was treated like a regular straight away,” offers CAMRA’s Ben Wilkinson, who organised the competition.
“Nothing can beat the combination of good beer, great food and a warm heritage pub.”
