CAMRA shines a light on pubs that uphold the nation’s heritage
The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has named the pubs that celebrate communities who have rallied together to fight conversion and demolition. db looks at a few of the nation’s watering holes that have retained their heritage.
The association named the Hull Community Pub Society which saved the New Clarence in Hull, – as winners of its Pub Saving Awards 2025 and also revealed the Vine in Pittshill, Stoke-on-Trent – which dates back to the Victorian era – as the winner of the Heritage Award.
According to CAMRA, the Pub Saving Award runner ups were Ashton Hayes Community Hub Ltd, who rescued the Golden Lion in Ashton Hayes, Chester and the George Community Pub (Wickham Market) Limited who campaigned for the George in Wickham Market, Suffolk. Additionally, the Crown Inn in Stockport was runner up for the Heritage Award.
The awards, which set out to put these campaigns in the spotlight, have also led to inspiring others to investigate community ownership for their local pubs.
The pressure on pubs has become ‘death by a thousand cuts’ according to UKHospitality, which spoke to db this month. Last summer, db also outlined how more than 200 UK pubs shut in six months, with the sector continuing to face threats from rising costs, rates as well as the threat of property developers that flout permissions in a third of pub building closures.
Community-owned
The New Clarence is Hull’s first community-owned pub and is the first city pub to win CAMRA’s Pub Saving Awards. CAMRA has identified that the high land value of high streets and city centres makes pubs an enticing target for developers, and as a result, much harder for campaigners to save than their rural counterparts. In the face of these struggles, the judges noted that they were incredibly impressed with the group’s achievement of saving the New Clarence.
After closing in 2023, developers submitted planning applications to convert the New Clarence to a House in Multiple Occupation. However, the Hull Community Pub Society was formed, fighting off the applications and subsequent appeals. The society then raised almost £250,000 plus a £300,000 backing from the now discontinued Community Ownership Fund to buy the pub last February. The New Clarence then reopened its doors again on 6 September.
Joint runner up in the Pub Saving Awards was the Ashton Hayes Community Hub Ltd (AHCHL), which rescued the Golden Lion in Ashton Hayes, Chester. This situation began with it being the only pub in the village and yet still facing risk of being turned into private housing when the 300-year-old building closed in early 2013 and was neglected for 12 years.
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Luckily, the local community spent more than a decade campaigning to save the pub. By raising almost £250,000, and a £360,000 grant from the Community Ownership Fund, the local community completed the purchase of the Golden Lion in June 2024 and reopened 7 August 2025.
Restore and reopen
George Community Pub (Wickham Market) Limited who saved the George in Wickham Market, Suffolk was also runner up in the Pub Saving Awards. As the last remaining pub in the village, the George was known to be a 500-year-old Grade II listed pub which was devastated by a fire in 2013. This was the start of a 12-year campaign to restore and reopen it as a community-owned venue. 450 shareholders investing more than £400,000 and the Lottery Heritage Fund awarding the campaign £1.5 million, alongside other grants such as the Community Ownership Fund, meant the restoration project was given the go-ahead in July 2023. The pub reopened on 7 June 2025.
The Heritage Award, which was open to all pubs on CAMRA’s National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors, sets out to promote and preserve the interiors of historic pubs and highlight people that have saved or revived a heritage pub.
The Heritage Award winner was the Vine in Pittshill, Stoke-on-Trent, a back-street Victorian local which had closed during the pandemic. The Grade II pub has an interior of outstanding national historic importance and was bought at auction by Steve Burke and his partner Lisa Combes, who restored it to its former glory. Renovations over time by the duo have been made to the roof, basement and a small beer yard, but the layout of the historic pub has been preserved as it always has been.
Restoration
The runner up for the Heritage Award was the Crown Inn in Stockport, a pub with an interior of special national historic interest. Following years of decline, the Crown Inn closed at the beginning of 2025 with locals worried about the pub’s future. The lease was taken on by Alan and Chris Gent of the award-winning Petersgate Tap who embarked upon a full restoration of the Crown, breathing new life into the pub. The Crown reopened in August 2025 and is once again a real asset to Stockport’s pub and beer scene.
Paul Ainsworth, Pub Saving Award Coordinator said: “These community champions and heritage heroes deserve to be applauded. I continue to be amazed by the dedication and grit of these campaigners, who spend years or even decades campaigning to save pubs.”
Ainsworth added: “If we want more communities to be able to do this, they need support from the government. The Community Ownership Fund provided cash for groups to take ownership and the running of community facilities that would otherwise be sold, converted or demolished. This was wound up by the Government and has not been directly replaced. The forthcoming Right to Buy scheme must come alongside a dedicated programme of advice, guidance and funding to make sure community pubs go from strength to strength.”
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