Wonston Arms, Wonston

Where: Stoke Charity Rd, Sutton Scotney, Winchester SO21 3LS

Wonston Arms serves four real ales from local breweries plus 160 gins.

Hailed by CAMRA judges as “a true community pub”, it has all the trappings of your well-known pub group offers, with a local feel. It opens on Mondays for darts matches, a fish and chip van visits Tuesdays, curries are delivered Fridays and a fishmonger visits on Thursdays. Folk music takes place on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month and it is also home to regular jazz sessions, quizzes, and a photography club. The pub has been named Branch Pub of the Year three years running, and has a focus on raising money for charity.

Nigel Jones, CAMRA’s Regional Director for Wessex and the Channel Islands said: “Matt and his team have created a fantastic rural village pub with a great atmosphere by shaping it around the community and its needs. They have realised that it takes something special to create a sense of real belonging so that people want to come out of their homes and back in the pub.

The Wonston Arms serves excellent cask ales and is a great social environment for all. There is also a community business benefit which both emanates from, and contributes to, Matt’s success. Regular “pop-up” hot food, music, community, charity and educational events add to the “must be there” feel. In these testing times for pubs it is a real credit to them that it is so popular. This pub really deserves to go all the way in this competition.”