As noted in a previous edition of MerseyAle, the 2020 Liverpool and Districts Pub of The Year went, and deservedly so, to the Lion Tavern on Moorfields. At the time that announcement was made, just over a year ago now, nobody truly appreciated what would unfold over the ensuing months. As a result, although we did manage to present Dave Hardman, the licensee of the Lion, with his Pub of The Year certificate and shield, in line with national CAMRA advice, and government guidelines we were unable to have a presentation ceremony or an awards event. At the time of writing (mid-May 2021), we have still been unable to do so, nor present a banner for Dave to display outside the pub, due to the variety of further lockdowns that have occurred. However, given the latest easing of restrictions, we hope to be able to do so in the not-too-distant future
It was decided by the branch at our AGM in November that we would not hold a POTY competition this year and to carry the 2020 winner over to 2021. As it turned out, our fears that not all pubs would be able to open fully whenever restrictions were eased (not serving food, not having an outside drinking area, the sheer layout of the building being unsuitable for allowing people to drink inside whilst still obeying social distancing rules, and so forth) came to pass. As our Pub Of The Year contenders are chosen initially by the scores submitted by members via CAMRA’s WhatPub scoring database, if only a small number of pubs could open in line with the government’s guidelines, it would mean, of course, that not all establishments would receive scores from members, so it wouldn’t be a full and fair process, this time around. In a similar vein, POTY judges would have been unable to visit pubs on the final shortlist of 5, to assess them and give their scores.
We hope to resume as normal for 2021/2, in the anticipation that the situation will have returned to normal, meaning pubgoers can visit all the many and varied pubs within our branch area, and score them on WhatPub as before, so that we can determine the highest-rated pubs for this years’ POTY competition, with a view to forming the initial shortlist. We also hope, at some point during the year, to hold an awards event at which in addition to a formal presentation of our Pub of The Year certificate to the Lion, our Pubs of Excellence 2020 will be recognised along with our Lockdown heroes amongst other award winners yet to be announced.
Many thanks for your patience and understanding. As I said above, we hope to be in a position to run the 2022 Pub of The Year competition as normal. And, again, congratulations to Dave and all at the Lion.
