Pub of the Year

Pub Of The Year 2025

Pub of the Year

The winner of Branch Pub of the Year 2025 is the Bell, Waltham St Lawrence
Runner up is the Retreat, Reading

Club of the Year

The winner of Branch Club of the Year 2025 is the Sonning Golf Club
Runner up is the Wargrave & District Snooker Club

Cider Pub of the Year

The winner of Branch Cider Pub of the Year 2025 is the Bell, Waltham St Lawrence
Runner up is the Castle Tap, Reading

Congratulations to all the winners and to every place that was shortlisted.

The winners now go on to a county round where they face off against the best pubs, clubs and cider pubs in Berkshire.

County "of the year" competitions

We have been informed that this year is the first year of a modified "of the year" competitions. In between the Branch and Regional "of the year" judging's, there will be an additional County "of the year" round. This means that you get the opportunity to vote on the best pub, cider pub, and club in the county of Berkshire. The winner of the county competition will then be entered into the Regional competition.

The format of the vote is the same as for our branch version: Complete the Berkshire POTY Voting Form for all the entrants within a category and submit the completed form(s) to Allan Willoughby, moc.liamg@9999wpa. Voting is open until the 10th of May, and you must vote for all entrants in the category (including the one from our branch). You can enter votes for 1, 2, or all of the categories, as long as you visit and vote for all the entrants in that category.

The entrants in this round of voting are below:

Pub of the year (note that 2 are on the Ale Trail)

  • The Newton Pippin, Bracknell
  • The Bell, Waltham St Lawrence
  • The Windsor Trooper, Windsor
  • The Bell, Aldworth

Cider Pub of the year

  • The Bell, Waltham St Lawrence
  • The Windsor Trooper, Windsor
  • The Cow and Cask, Newbury

Club of the year

  • Sonning Golf Club
  • Maidenhead & Bray Sports Club, Bray
  • The Hungerford Club

As most of the entrants are outside of our branch you can claim reasonable travel expenses for travelling outside of our branch. This is either the cost of the public transport ticket, or 35p a mile if driving, although please ensure you are safe and legal to drive if doing so. Expenses can be claimed by submitting the Expenses Template with copies of tickets or similar, to our branch chairman David Lawton, moc.liamtoh@notwalmdivad.

Help with scoring criteria

Here is a guide to help with judging criteria Pub of the Year Judging Criteria

What is Pub Of The Year?

Every year, the Reading & Mid-Berkshire CAMRA branch awards its Pub of the Year (POTY) title to the pub voted for by branch members. It's the most prestigious prize we can bestow and the more people voting, the better.

Our winner plays off against the other three Berkshire branches in order to decide who is Berkshire POTY. It can then proceed through a number of larger inter-regional rounds and, if it's judged best in class all the way through, end up as the National Pub of the Year.

How does it work?

First we invite all members to suggest the pub that they think should be the next Pub of the Year. From those and the pubs that are at the highest level of beer quality scores (Any pub that has had over 20 'visits' is eligible and we almost always pick the top pubs in % terms of 'good' scores to go through to POTY (the 'best of the best' if you will). A shortlist of ten pubs will be prepared to go to the next available Branch meeting. From these, the meeting will choose five-six finalists. The ten on the shortlist will be published at least a week before the meeting. Therefore those who cannot get to the Branch meeting can nominate another member who is going to be their proxy and cast their vote for them. Our branch rules on proxy voting only allow the members present to cast their own and one proxy vote.

The result of the selection of finalists are announced before the end of October and from then on any time you visit one of the finalists, you can rate it according to the national criteria set out for deciding the branch, regional and national pubs of the year.

The criteria are laid out below:

  • Quality and Condition of Product
  • Promotion and Knowledge of Product
  • Cleanliness and Staff Hygiene
  • Service, Welcome and Offering
  • Style, Décor and Furnishings
  • Community Focus and Atmosphere
  • Sympathy with CAMRA's Aims
  • Overall Impression and Value

Can I join in?

Yes! If you're a member of CAMRA or an affiliated organisation. We only insist that you score fairly and honestly.

How and when can I vote?

Details to come for the Berkshire round of the contest. Watch this space for details on how to vote.

You need to submit scores for all shortlisted pubs for any of your scores to count.

You must be a CAMRA member, and you are welcome to score any of the pubs more than once – particularly if your ratings are significantly different on different visits. Multiple votes will be compressed to form an average once the voting has closed.

For more information, please Contact Us.

Cider Pub of the Year

The National Cider Pub of the Year is an award for the pub or club in the UK that best promotes and encourages the sale of quality real cider and perry.

There are 4 stages to the competition:

  • Branch Judging (January to mid-March) (to award a Branch Cider Pub of the Year)
  • Regional Judging (mid-March to mid-May) (to award a Regional Cider Pub of the Year)
  • Super-Regional Judging (mid-May to mid-July) (to award Finalist for the National Cider Pub of the Year)
  • Final Judging (mid-July to mid-September) (to award National Cider Pub of the Year)

The winner of National Cider Pub of the Year is normally announced on 1st October to start our October Cider & Perry Month.

The Reading & Mid Berks branch will be using the criteria recommended by CAMRA nationally. This is to score pubs for the following:

  • Quality of cider or perry
  • Promotion/knowledge of product
  • Atmosphere, style and decor
  • Service/welcome
  • Community focus
  • Sympathy with CAMRA aims
  • Overall value

Club of the Year

CAMRA has a Club of the Year award scheme for clubs that like our Pub of the Year award judges clubs on the basis of their being a community asset and providing a wide range of facilities, and focusing on quality in everything they do, including the real ales they offer.