Chester Area
Chester CAMRA Awards
Chester Area
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Chester Pub of the Year 2004
Congratulations to all concerned at the Mill Hotel,
especially bar managers Dale, Chris and 'Big' Pete, on scooping the branch's
Cheshire area Pub of the Year for 2004. Lest anyone doesn't know about
the Mill, it first started selling real ale in, oooh, the early 1990's
but its popularity truly took off when it began stocking unusual, non-mainstream
beers at a time when they were as rare as hen's teeth in Chester. Nowadays
it stocks sixteen or so guests (always including a mild), holds a weekly
beer draw, welcomes ale requests and, in January, stages a beer festival
featuring the previous year's top-sellers - the one just gone was fantastic.
A thoroughly deserving winner. Incidentally, our Welsh area PotY, and retaining its title
from 2003, was the Colomendy at Cadole just off the Ruthin / Mold
road. This cosy, sociable free house will come as a genuine treat to anybody
who's not yet been there. Hats off to them too. |
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Club of the Year 2004
Following on from announcing the Mill Hotel, Chester and the Colomendy at Cadole as our respective Cheshire and Clwyd Pub of the Year winners, there is a further deserving gong (metaphorically not literally) to hand out. Our Branch Club of the Year, and its the first time we've made such a nomination, goes to Boughton Hall Cricket Club which can be found off Filkins Lane tucked between Tarvin Road and Christleton Road in Chester. It beats off a veritable galaxy of other local clubs stocking real ales - er, yes, with a couple of honourable exceptions, we are being sarcastic here. For years this club, which is also home to numerous XI's of varyingly successful Chester Nomad footballers, has sold Tetley's Bitter but the arrival of a brand new pavilion has also brought with it the regular appearance of Weetwood Eastgate. This local brew proved an instant hit and has such a band of admirers that when it was once replaced (by way of experimentation), the usurping ale was quaffed quicker though less enjoyably so as to get the fresh barrel of Eastgate in the cellar on! The cricket season's started and, even if you don't like the sport or the amateur dramatics from one its participants on receiving a dodgy LBW, the upstairs bar and verandah make for a thoroughly pleasant setting to enjoy a pint on a summer's day. The Web-site is worth a look. |
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Chester Pub of The Year 2003 Following keen debate and a complex transferable voting system, the Greyhound at Farndon emerged as Chester & South Clwyd's Pub of the Year for 2003. Congratulations to Marco and Sarah Paoloni and all the staff on beating off some hot competition to scoop the award. The happy mine host first chanced upon the Greyhound when visiting the mother-in-law who lived in the Farndon area. The pub's then incumbents were wanting to retire and gave such a good sales pitch that the Paolini's decided to desert their Watford roots and head north. Although the move is described as not the best financially they've certainly spent an enjoyable time carrying on in their mission to keep the traditional local going. The Greyhound serves Greenalls plus some belting guest ales - obviously in top nick - and does a splendid line, perhaps not too surprisingly for an ex-Italian restaurateur, in pizza and pasta dishes. There's unobtrusive SKY TV, occasional bands at weekends, a real fire, a tidy beer garden, B&B and, as if you needed any further excuse to drop in, just yards up the hill, is the equally meritorious Farndon Arms which likewise can boast a full entry in the Good Beer Guide. |
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Chester Pub of the Year 2001 Belated notice that branch’s English Pub of the Year
was the Albion in Chester. Congratulations to Mike and Christina
at the Alb. For those unfamiliar with the place it is a classic Victorian
corner-street hostelry, just off the Roman walls, comprising of a traditional
three-room layout with bar, lounge and snug. The busiest periods tend
to coincide with when its excellent, good value, home-cooked meals are
being served. At other times, this proudly family-hostile venue has the
sedate, civilised ambience of a gentleman’s club. The long-standing landlord’s
passion is the Great War and the extent to which the walls are adorned
with pictures and artefacts from that era make this part pub, part museum.
Greene King IPA, Taylors Landlord plus a guest are the beers. Three decades
on, CAMRA should still be proud that its reputed birthplace was in a pub
as good as this one. |
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