Hello, everyone, Matt, your Pub Of The Year co-ordinator here. Nobody could have predicted, 2 years ago, what would unfold on a global scale, nor the impact events would have on things like our annual Pub Of The Year competition. As has already been well-publicised, we could not hold the competition last year, so it was decided to carry over the winner for 2020, The Lion Tavern on Moorfields, as the winner for 2021 also.

I thought the latest edition of MerseyAle  (our first physical, rather than online-only, copy for a while) would be an ideal opportunity to remind you of the procedure for deciding upon our branch Pub Of The Year for 2022- will Dave and the team in the Lion retain the title they won in 2020, or will it be someone else’s turn, this time around?

As some of you may remember, the current system was agreed at an EGM which was held in October 2018, and is as follows:

• Pub scores will be based upon ratings given through WhatPub. This will be used to produce a list of 10 pubs (WhatPub scoring is also used to determine the pubs that we put forward for the annual Good Beer Guide, therefore whatever pub is crowned POTY is guaranteed to also be an entry in the GBG. However, for POTY purposes, unlike entries in the Good Beer Guide, only WhatPub scores submitted by members of Liverpool & Districts branch itself will be considered). Members have until Friday 17^th December 2021 to submit their beer scores.
• Scores will then be collated to produce a list of the 10 top-scoring pubs, which will then go forward to the nomination process, this list will be published on Tuesday 28^th December 2021.

• Between Friday 31^st December 2021 and Friday 28^st January 2022, members can nominate up to 3 of the 11 top-listed pubs to go forward to the judging process. This can be done online using the voting form, or by emailing me direct with your nominations at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Liverpool & District branch members ONLY)
• The initial list of 11 pubs will be whittled down to 5, which will then progress to the judging process. Any Liverpool & Districts member can put their name forward to be a POTY judge via email (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), or in person at any of our social events etc. However, judges cannot work for any of the shortlisted pubs. The deadline for offering to be a judge will be Tuesday 28th December 2021
• Friday 14^th January 2022- 11 judges will be selected at random from the names submitted. This will be ratified by our CAMRA Regional Co-ordinator, Doug MacAdam.
• Saturday 29^th January 2022- the names of the top 5 pubs will be announced.
• Sunday 30^th January 2022 to Friday 11^th March 2022- judging to take place in line with national guidelines. Each judge must visit each nominated pub twice. Any judge that is obviously not scoring fairly will have their scores disregarded. Judges’ scores for each pub will be published anonymously, to ensure transparency.

Sunday 13^th March 2022- our Pub Of The Year 2022 will be announced

Thanks, and I hope you will all submit your beer scores to help with the process- and put yourselves forward to be judges when the time comes.

Matt Valentine POTY Co-ordinator