Nominations opening soon for CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain competition
Nominations will be opening on Thursday 12 September for CAMRA members to vote in the Champion Beer of Britain 2026 award. Once nominations close in November, regional heats will take place across the country before the final judging and announcement in 2026.
All beer judging adheres to a vigilant blind tasting process. Last year, Elland Brewery’s 1872 Porter was crowned overall winner, and previous winners include Surrey Hills’ Shere Drop and Siren’s Broken Dream Breakfast Stout.
Winning the prestigious title is the ultimate honour for UK breweries and has helped many brewers gain both national and international acclaim. Beer lovers will have until midnight on 4 November to make their submission on CAMRA’s Champion Beer of Britain platform and can choose up to five beers across each of the categories. This initial vote is exclusive to CAMRA members.
The beer style categories for Champion Beer of Britian are:
Milds: up to and including 4%
Session Bitters: up to and including 4.3%
Premium Bitters: 4.4% – 6.4%
Session Pale, Blond and Golden Ales: up to and including 4.3%
Premium Pale, Blond and Golden Ales: 4.4% – 6.4%
British & New World IPAs: 5.5% and above
Brown and Red Ales, Old Ales and Strong Milds: up to 6.4%
Session Stouts and Porters: up to and including 4.9%
Strong Stouts and Porters including Imperial Stouts and Baltic Porters: 5.0% and above
Recent research has illustrated how alcohol played a unique role in the life of cites, shaping their development, growth, and identity. Now, Prof Phil Withington and Dr Nick Groat from the University of Sheffield are exploring what the slippery label of ‘craft’ has done for the history and future of Sheffield by putting brewers and beer enthusiasts at the forefront of this conversation.
What do you understand by the term ‘craft’? How are ideas about ‘craft’ changing the way alcohol is made, sold, and consumed in Sheffield?
Our new project, Place, Craft and Alcohol in Historical Perspective, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council,is exploring these questions with the help of locals, brewers, and publicans, and discussing what the city’s relationship with ‘craft’ is. Sheffield’s played a significant role in the ‘craft revolution’, starting back in the 1990s, that helped define the key characteristics of ‘craft’. That relationship between the city and beer though goes back much further, setting the stage for a new ethos of alcohol production that’s flourishing today. We’re mapping the history of alcohol in Sheffield, from when the city came to prominence, to recent explosion of ‘craft’ as a self-identifying term for producers, retailers, and establishments. Understanding how this new idea of craft fits within the deeper story of Sheffield is key to thinking about how the city can, or should, align itself with such an asset.
There’s been much said and debated about ‘craft’ since the term first started springing up. Multinationals buying out small producers, ‘macro’ craft breweries, and the lack of official terminology have diluted any sense of what craft is supposed to mean. Of course, there’s a big difference between ‘craft’ as a label, and the ideology of craft, or what it represents. Independence, sustainability, locality, authenticity, artisanal, premium – all these and more have been rolled into definitions of craft, irrespective of if these values exist in craft producers. For many, this can be a point of contention, but also one of pride and respect amongst wider maker communities.
Aside from brewing, we’re putting this question into a wider historical and modern picture, working with our network of partners including Sheffield Archives and local distillery, Locksley Distilling Co. Ltd to get a multidimensional view on what craft means, and how the city has responded to changes in alcohol culture. We’re hoping to collect a wide understanding of what people think about ‘craft’ and how it influenced the city. We’re looking to talk to beer enthusiasts across Sheffield to hear their personal stories, thoughts, and opinions about how our city has been shaped in response to new trends and styles of beer. We’re wanting to hear from Beer Matters readers as people who are interested in the many faces of beer. So, if you’d like to talk to us about your place in Sheffield’s intoxicating history, visit: http://sites.google.com/sheffield.ac.uk/place-craft-and-alcohol or scan this QR code to get in touch!
In early 2020, Carlsberg and Marston’s announced a joint venture: the Danish corporation taking 60% of the new Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) with Marston’s holding 40% and receiving a cash payment of over £270m. At the time, we commented that we had concerns regarding the future of both the brewery and the internationally unique Burton Union System as used in Marston’s Albion Brewery. http://tinyurl.com/498ss642
So far this year:
the historic Union System has been retired
Marston’s pubs have sold non-cask beer via handpumps, the internationally recognised indicator of cask beer, an action described by CAMRA as the ‘handpump hijack’
CMBC have recently purchased the remaining 40% of the brewing company, leaving Marstons, famous for both Old Roger and Pedigree, as yet another, large pub company.
This new £206m deal means that Carlsberg now own the Marstons Albion Brewery (Shobnall Road, Burton), and the brands brewed on that site (including Jennings, Marstons and Wychwood). After almost 200 years of brewing, Marstons now have around 1370 pubs and a long-term brand distribution agreement with CMBC.
Carlsberg have also acquired soft drinks company, Britvic, for £3.3b. They now have a UK business, covering beer and soft drinks, from which they expect to make some £100m of annual savings from combined distribution costs etc. In volume, they are 4th in UK brewing. The UK is now the companies’ biggest market. As I wrote a few short months ago: Carlsberg seem to have no care for the brewing heritage they have acquired in the UK. In Denmark, they have a reputation as a patron of the arts and a respecter of heritage and tradition. However, not in the UK, where a race to the lowest common destination continues to be the plan
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is making its mark in the 2024 General Election by announcing its Manifesto and e-lobby campaign. As one of the UK’s most successful campaigning organisations, CAMRA is calling on its members up and down the country to lobby candidates in every constituency to make sure MPs elected in this election are committed to protecting and promoting thriving community pubs and great beer and cider.
CAMRA’s Election Manifesto outlines six key campaigning priorities, these are:
Fair tax for beer and pubs.
More rights for beer drinkers and pub goers.
Access to market for small and independent breweries and cider producers.
Recognising traditional cask ale under UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity
Better planning protections for pubs. [England-only]
Change the business rates system to make it fairer for pubs. [England-only]
Election campaigns are a prime opportunity for politicians to be seen pulling a pint behind the bar of their local, but this doesn’t always translate into action that supports pubs, social clubs, brewers, cider makers, and consumers. CAMRA is asking for candidates to commit to the campaigning priorities outlined in its Manifesto, and back policy and legislation that can truly help the pub trade, brewers and consumers.
To ensure that prospective MPs are pledging their support, CAMRA is enlisting its thousands of members to contact their local candidates to ask for their support for beer and pubs if elected. The e-lobby can be accessed here: https://action.camra.org.uk/page/151385/action/1
CAMRA is also providing a campaign pack for members and pub goers to promote the manifesto and e-lobby, including election guidance and social media assets. As well as this, CAMRA will be providing resources for parliamentary candidates to pledge their support for beer, pubs and CAMRA’s key campaigning asks.
As each party announces its manifesto, CAMRA will be commenting on them to let consumers know what is being offered to them. To keep up with all CAMRA comments, news and social go to our Media Centre.
Responding to the publication of the Liberal Democrats General Election manifesto, CAMRA Chairman Nik Antona said:
“It is encouraging to see commitments to overhauling the broken business rates system in England which is desperately needed to help save our pubs, as well as on strengthening powers to allow community assets like pubs to be protected and introducing a dedicated Minister for Hospitality and Tourism.
“Whilst the devil will be in the detail, the Liberal Democrats plans to replace the current business rates system with a new Commercial Landowner Levy based on land value rather than entire capital value could see more proportionate business taxes for the hospitality sector in many parts of the country and an end to the current system which disincentives investment in pubs.
“It is vital that the next Government radically reforms the business rates system to stop pubs overpaying by around £500 million each and every year – and to make sure online businesses pay their fair share compared to bricks and mortar businesses like much-loved community pubs.
“CAMRA looks forward to working with Lib Dem parliamentarians and those of all parties in the next Parliament to make sure that business rates and community ownership policies better support and protect the nation’s much-loved locals.”
Responding to the publication of the Green Party of England and Wales’ General Election manifesto, CAMRA Chairman Nik Antona said:
“CAMRA welcomes the Green Party’s continuing commitment to reducing VAT for the hospitality sector alongside their proposals to review planning regulations to protect the night-time economy and give local councils the powers to exempt socially essential local enterprises from paying business rates – which we would argue should definitely apply to pubs which are a vital part of our social fabric.
“We look forward to working with Green parliamentarians and with the next UK Government to explore how these ideas could be implemented to safeguard pubs and social clubs at the heart of community life up and down the country.
“This should include cutting the rate of VAT specifically on beer and cider sold in pubs in recognition of their community value, including for traditional ‘wet-led’ pubs that do not serve food. This would help to reduce the rate of pub and brewery closures which deprive consumers of their much-valued locals.”
Responding to the publication of the Conservative Party General Election manifesto, CAMRA Chairman Nik Antona said:
“It is encouraging to see the Conservative manifesto reconfirming the party’s commitment to the new system of alcohol taxation and the lower rate of duty charged on draught beer and cider served in our pubs, social clubs and brewery taprooms – so that tax on pints in pubs is always lower than that on supermarket alcohol.
“CAMRA is calling on the next UK Government to commit to extend the discount on tax for draught beer and cider to turbocharge this new alcohol duty system and give consumers, local pubs and independent breweries the boost they need to survive and thrive.
“Committing to extending the Community Ownership Fund is also a welcome pledge which would make sure that local groups can access funding they need to save their local pub as a community hub if it is under threat of closure, conversion or demolition.
“In addition, the Conservative proposal to review the night-time economy in England with a view to reversing the decline in pub numbers would provide an opportunity to show how transforming tax, regulation and planning laws could help save the nation’s much-loved pubs being lost to the communities they serve.”
Responding to the publication of the Labour Party’s General Election manifesto, CAMRA Chairman Nik Antona said:
“CAMRA members will be pleased to see that Labour’s manifesto includes a commitment to change the outdated business rates system to make it fairer between online enterprises and bricks and mortar businesses like pubs which are massively penalised in the current system.
“Any changed system must make sure that pubs no longer pay a disproportionate share of rates and that a new, fairer business rate regime recognises their community value to help keep our locals open and thriving as a vital part of our social fabric.
“Whilst it does not feature in the manifesto, CAMRA looks forward to working with Labour MPs in the next Parliament to develop their policy for a ‘community right to buy’ giving local communities in England a right in law to have first refusal on buying privately-owned community assets which would be a gamechanger for people who want to save and take over the running of their local pubs if they are under threat of closure, conversion or demolition.”
Laura Hadland wins CAMRA’s Campaigner of the Year 2024 award
Laura Hadland, campaigner of the year. Photo by Lily Waite.
Drinks writer Laura Hadland (pictured above) has been awarded CAMRA’s top campaigning award at the organisation’s Members’ Weekend, AGM and Conference in Dundee. Her nomination spoke of a long list of impressive achievements this year, particularly her commitment to inclusiveness, responsible drinking and her work championing small producers and venues.
Laura was a key voice in calling national attention to the destruction of the Crooked House through her blog, interviews about pub protection for local radio stations across the country, and on social media. The Crooked House case began in August of last year, when the famously wonky 260-year-old pub near Himley in the West Midlands was heavily damaged in a fire and then abruptly bulldozed without authorisation by its new owners. Through Laura’s campaigning, more people were made aware of this scandal and in February the owners were ordered to rebuild the pub.
Her nomination also praised her work on her award-winning book, 50 years of CAMRA where members’ stories and memories of CAMRA were recorded. The nominator highlighted that this research preserved oral histories which would otherwise have been lost.
The award also recognised for her championing of cask beer, introducing it to new audiences through her advocacy, and by hosting beer-tastings including the first ever dedicated cask tasting at Ludlow Slow Food Festival last summer. She is a beer judge for prestigious national and international competitions, including the Champion Beer of Britain, SIBA and Great Taste awards and a trusted voice in the world of food and drink.
CAMRA Campaigning Awards Director Laura Emson said:
“Laura was the clear winner, even with all the other fantastic nominations this year. Her campaigning has been a fantastic help in raising awareness for the Crooked House scandal as well as consistently putting her voice out there via local radio stations to help protect our pubs.
“It’s a pleasure to formally recognise her hard work and dedication to making sure that pubs are protected in this most challenging of times for the industry.
“This Campaigner of the Year Award is a testament to the positive impact that Laura has had on the industry, and I look forward to seeing her work in the years to come.”
Accepting the award, Laura Hadland said:
“A huge thank you for bestowing this amazing honour on me. It’s just wonderful how I’ve been welcomed into the CAMRA community.
“Back in 2019, when I first got the commission to write 50 Years of CAMRA, I never expected that my involvement with the organisation would really become so all consuming, but it’s just a huge part of my life now.
“I hope that that we can all keep spreading the good word about cask ale. I think there is loads of great work we can all continue to do, and it’s really, really kind that you’ve recognised the work that I have been doing up until now. I hope that all of you within CAMRA keeps supporting diverse voices, talking about great beer.”
The legend that is John Beardshaw recently celebrated his 80th birthday. John is a CAMRA member who has been volunteering since the early days of our local branch!
I have recently had my 50,000th different UK cask beer and thought that warranted having a few special beers brewed to mark the milestone, but first I thought I would take a look back over the last four decades.
It is almost 40 years since I started keeping a record of the different beers I drank. My earliest notes relate to attending the University of Sheffield Students’ Union Beer Festival in May 1985, where I sampled Wadworth 6X, Courage Directors, Simpkiss Bitter, Jennings Mild, Gales HSB and Adnams Bitter, all priced at around 80p a half. Before that my staple diet was Brains Dark whilst at university in Cardiff in the late 1970s and Wards, Stones and Tetley’s whilst living back in Sheffield.
For the next few years my records only relate to beer festivals attended. The year 1985 was also the first year I attended The Great British Beer Festival with my friend Paul, initially in Brighton but now settled in London. We continued to make this in to a holiday every year until 2000, although I have continued to visit this event for a day each year ever since. My records show that I visited three festivals in both 1985 and 1986, eight in 1987 and 13 in 1988. You can tell which way the trend was going and the number of beer festivals I attended peaked at 109 in 2004.
My first record of drinking in a pub in Sheffield is in the Fat Cat on 21 April 1987, although I must have visited it many times before as it opened in 1981, but I never recorded my beers on those earlier visits.
Two early large festivals stand out for me as these specifically marketed themselves as having new beers and new breweries. The first Frodsham Beer Festival in May 1993 with thanks going to Dave Brown for the beer order and the Glastonwick Beer, Music & More Beer Festival, organised by Alex Hall and Attila The Stockbroker at Southwick near Brighton, which started in 1996 and is still going strong.
In the early days I think it was fair to say that most of the festivals I attended were run by CAMRA, but as time went on there were more and more very enjoyable pub festivals in the calendar. Two particularly memorable ones occurred over the weekend of the 50th anniversary of VE Day in June 1995. The festivals were at the Red Lion in Aldershot and the Prince Albert at Stow-cum-Quy near Cambridge. Both these featured a plethora of VE Day celebration beers and of course attracted a good number of beer tickers.
There was a period of about ten years from the mid 1990s when the Greater Manchester area provided five pubs which ran very popular and well attended festivals. These were the Beer House and Smithfield in Manchester, the Crescent in Salford, the Station in Ashton and Stalybridge Buffet Bar. Between them they had many festivals over this period and provided a wide range of new beers for tickers to enjoy.
The nineties and noughties saw me and Brian Moore spend many Saturdays traveling around the UK to visit beer festivals, be they CAMRA events or pub festivals. If festivals were too difficult to get to or we wanted to visit several in a day, then we would take my car. I would drive there and then Brian would take over as he would bottle his beers for consumption later, while I drank mine. To fill the car we would take a couple of guests – Alastair, PJ, Darren and others have accompanied us on these trips. One of the most memorable trips was in June 2002 on the weekend of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations. Our destination was the Cow & Plough in Oadby, Leicestershire as they were having a Jubilee festival with loads of appropriately named and required beers. After leaving there and driving through the Leicestershire countryside we passed through Ashby-de-la-Zouch and saw a sign advertising a beer festival at the Ashby Court Hotel. We knew nothing about this but on entering we discovered a large marquee full of more Jubilee themed beers. Needless to say I didn’t recall much (nothing!) of the journey home.
When travelling up and down the country, as well as seeing all the different beers, it is always pleasant to meet many fellow beer tickers. Some of these have acquired very unusual and amusing pseudonyms and here are a few examples: Alefinder General, Aston (to whom I attribute my beer ticking interests), Badger, Beige, Chief, Crimewatch, Desperate Dave, Dicko, Ding Ding, Father Christmas, Gazza, Jimmy Hill, Jingling Geordie, Lord Mayor of Croydon, Meatloaf, Mick The Tick, Molly, Mr & Mrs Ler, Mr Wild To You, Planey Wayne, Pogo, Rockin Robin, Roly, Sleeping Scooper, Sooty, Spoon, Swaaan, The Vicar, Trolley Gary and Unpro. This list is by no means complete, but sadly some of those mentioned are no longer with us.
During the tenure of previous owners, Neil & Sheila Clarke at the Cask & Cutler (now having reverted back to its previous name of the Wellington) held many successful beer festivals which were very popular with beer tickers. It was to one of these festivals that I first took my future wife to be, Philippa, to meet Sheila. Much to Philippa’s horror I introduced her as a work colleague, which was totally untrue, but fortunately it did have a happy ending as we got married in September 2008. In the May of that year as a precursor to our wedding and to celebrate Philippa’s birthday we arranged, with the help of Mike Knowles and various breweries and pubs, a beer festival around the Fat Cat, Harlequin, Kelham Island Tavern and Wellington featuring amongst other things about 12 special birthday/wedding beers for us.
These days many festivals publish their beer lists in advance so that they can be studied for new beers before we get there, but in the early days this was not possible so we had to wait until we got there before discovering what delights awaited us.
When I first started recording my beers everything had be done with pen and paper. I made the decision some years ago to continue with this method rather than digitising all my records, as obviously this would waste valuable drinking time. To this end I am indebted to Alan Douglas who for many years (at least since 2002 when I bought my first copy) has produced the G.O.B.B.S (Guild of British Beer Samplers) book. This is a list of all current British breweries and their beers that Alan is aware of and in my view is an invaluable guide to the beer ticker. This is available in hard copy only. Also worthy of recognition is the Quaffale directory of UK based breweries, which is available online.
Since Covid I do not travel as much as I used to which in part is due to trains becoming increasingly unreliable and much more expensive. However, the excellent beer ticking pubs of Sheffield are well supplemented by those in Derby which is only 30 minutes away by train. In particular I frequent the Alexandra, Brunswick, Smithfield, Flowerpot, Furnace and Victoria.
Bringing things right up to date now and the beers I had done to celebrate my 50,000th beer. These were grouped under the Morton’s Milestone banner (thanks to John Chapman for this catchy title). The brewers involved were Abbeydale, Big Trip, Blue Bee, Lost Industry, Tigertops and White Rose and the pubs they featured in were the Fat Cat, Kelham Island Tavern, Lost in West Bar, Shakespeares and Two & Six Micropub. Hopefully a Steel City beer will feature in the series soon. Many thanks to all those pubs and breweries who helped me celebrate this milestone and I hope that some of you got to try and least some of the beers.
In the March edition of Beer Matters, we reported that Carlsberg Marston’s Brewing Company (CMBC) were ending the use of the Burton Union brewing system at their Albion brewery in Burton-on Trent. This is a method of brewing using an arrangement of wooden barrels and pipes which recirculates beer and yeast during the fermentation period.
Marston’s established their Union System in 1898: described by Roger Protz as, ‘The Cathedral of Brewing,’ housed in a single brew-house, they had ten sets of Burton Unions, mostly used to produce, Pedigree (4.3% abv). They were the last remaining brewer to use this system, originally developed in 1838.
While the world was watching the snooker final, CMBC posted on both LinkedIn and X. Locally-based Thornbridge Brewery have been gifted one of the ten Burton Union sets. It is being installed at their Riverside Brewery (Bakewell), CMBC providing guidance both on the set-up and maintenance.
Apparently the success of this transfer is due to the intervention of well-known New York brewer, Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery. Oliver has had a close relationship with Thornbridge and Brooklyn has a longstanding commercial relationship with Carlsberg.
Oliver said: “When I heard that the unions were slated to go silent, I immediately thought that Thornbridge would be the perfect inheritors of this beautiful piece of British brewing heritage. I’m thrilled to provide the ‘assist’ on this historic play.”
The plan is to initially brew a special batch of Jaipur (5.9% abv). The Union will then be used to brew other established beers, some brand-new new beers and collaborations with other brewers who are keen to see what a union-fermented version of their beers will look like.
However, there is no news on what will happen to the remaining nine Union Sets – they still seem destined for the tip. One down, nine to go – anyone want a Burton Union Set?
Richard Hough is well known on Sheffield’s real ale scene, having worked for a number of local breweries over the years such as Abbeydale and Acorn as well as founding Blue Bee Brewery. During May he has curated an exhibition of pump clips from these breweries, displayed on the wall of the Dorothy Pax bar at Victoria Quays.
After over 200 years, the Big Gun (13-17 Wicker, S3 8HS) closed in September 2023. Building work has since taken place. This includes the creation of a new shop front and the replacement of windows.
Sheffield City Council Planning are aware that these works have been carried out without appropriate permission. No planning application has been submitted and they are not aware of a proposal for a change of use in the building. Their Planning Enforcement Team is currently investigating.
The Big Gun has an interior of special historic interest and, as such, is listed on the national CAMRA Pub Heritage website: ( https://pubheritage.camra.org.uk/pubs/12118). We hope that the owner has not destroyed the many unique features, especially the Victorian fixed seating and the, possibly unique, draught screen. If this is the case, we expect that SCC will use their full powers to ensure that appropriate remedial action is taken.
A beer house has been on this site since 1796. The present building was built around 1900 by Messrs’ Wheatley and Bates Ltd, a local wine, spirit and cigar merchants. At the time of closure, there were many heritage features. For example, the right hand side of the snug had two bays of Victorian fixed seating with decorative bench ends that resemble a (acanthus) leaf.
