CAMRA announces pub design award winners

June 5, 2008: The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced the winners of its annual Pub Design Awards, which celebrate the best in vision, imagination and restraint in Britain's pubs.

Pub Design Award judge, architectural historian and writer Steven Arisen, said: “The pub is at the hub of our way of life. And much of the pub's importance derives from its architectural form.

"Pubs depend not just on their beer, their food, or their landlord for their success, but on how they look, both inside and out. Pub design is an element that can make or break a pub — and can, in turn, either enhance or injure its local community.

"And it is this element that the Pub Design Awards aims to celebrate and publicise. Thankfully 2007-8 has been an exceptional year for pub role-model for the future.”

Refurbishment award and CAMRA / English Heritage Conservation award — The Weaver Hotel, South Parade, Weston Point, Runcorn, Cheshire

The judges said: “Carefully conserved by Maddocks Design Partnership, of Altrincham, for Barnsley's Oakwell Brewery, this jaunty former commercial hotel and bar has been through decades of neglect and decline, but has now been restored to something like its Edwardian glory.

“Internal archaeology revealed the original room plan, which was faithfully reproduced. Period light fittings have been installed; genuinely Edwardian paint colours — and, encouragingly, even wood graining — applied; superlative stained glass windows restored; dado tiling and the old column radiators repaired; a new but harmonious bar counter inserted; the original ceilings uncovered; the double-leaf front doors retained, and copied for the former off-sales entrance; and real fires re-introduced. Outside, the brickwork and stone dressings have been sensitively re-appointed, and the roof appropriately re-slated.

“A pub that just two years ago seemed not long for this world has been rescued and rejuvenated. Altogether a highly impressive job, worthy of two awards — and of the notice of pub owners across the UK. Here's a fine example of what can be done to re-invigorate a pub and its surrounding community, using relatively meagre resources but a lot of common sense and well-placed enthusiasm.”

Conversion to pub use award — The Tobie Norris, St Paul's Street, Stamford, Lincolnshire

The judges said: “Rebuilt by local architect Philip Heath for owner Michael Thurlby, this building originally dates back to 1280. The Norrises were local bell-makers, and several generations of ‘Tobies' can be linked to the pub name. Converted from a former private club, the building's original room plan has been largely retained or revived, creating a variety of enticing spaces, upstairs and down, each with its own individual ambience.“

“This interior makes full use of the architectural features uncovered when the 1960s hardboard, which had been tacked onto nearly all the wall and ceiling surfaces, was stripped away. The medieval roof in the main upstairs room is particularly stunning. All rooms have been carefully conserved, and new introductions — for example, of fitted seating in one of the downstairs rooms, plus the new bar counter itself — have been sympathetically inserted.

“The reintroduced panelling is reclaimed 1760s work, and the new plasterwork has been painstakingly recreated to an 18th century recipe. Throughout the pub, open fires, flagstones, old mix-and-match furniture, and appropriate and complementary paint colours — from a rich cream to crimson and leaf green — all create a hugely welcoming and cosseting atmosphere. The overall feel is intimate, historic, and innately ‘pubby': no doubt that within a few years people will be claiming that it has been a pub for centuries. Altogether a worthy and much-praised winner of the conversion award.”

New-build pub award — The Black Horse Inn, Walcote, Leicestershire

The judges said: “For the first time in many years, the judges are delighted to be be able to present an award for a new-build pub. Local architects Twigg and Associates, working closely with the owner, Andy Clipston, have replaced the pub that originally stood in this village. The old pub was deemed by the thoughtless local authority to be ‘too close to the road' and in the way of a planned ‘executive housing estate' — as blatant an instance of urban vandalism and detrimental ‘improvement' as you can get. Then the white knight rode in: a former pub regular, Andrew Clipston, intervened to buy the site and rebuild the pub, ensuring that the new building was now a regulation two metres from the main road.

“This pub has had both critics and defenders, but one which, we feel, on balance, deserves an award, if only to celebrate the phoenix-like rebirth of the village's social focus.”

Steven Parissien concluded the judges' report, saying: “Disappointingly, no submitted entry was deemed worthy of CAMRA's Joe Goodwin award for best street corner local this year. However, the judges have singled out three pubs, all of which, in their own ways, point to a bright — and profitable — future for the traditional British pub. If only more pub owners would begin to realise this.”

Julian Hough, CAMRA's pub director, was very happy to see pubs getting some positive exposure at a worrying time for the pub industry. He said: “Our research shows that almost 60 pubs are permanently closing every month. That means they are being bulldozed or changed into houses and will never be pubs again.

“Pubs are currently facing a lot of challenges, having to deal with the highest beer duty in Europe, some supermarkets selling beer cheaper than water and, of course, the smoking ban. I am delighted that these awards are promoting something positive in the pub industry and I would like to congratulate all the winners on their pub design work and wish them all the success for the future. “