To celebrate the 50th edition of the Good Beer Guide, CAMRA’s premier publication featuring the very best pubs to find a great pint in the UK, award-winning author Laura Hadland has showcased the local beer highlights across the North West of England.

Writing in a bespoke foreword for the North West section of the Guide, Hadland notes that Manchester has a lot to offer beer and cider lovers and highlights the fantastic array of pubs to visit across Liverpool, Chester, the Lake District and Southport.  

Hadland recommends Cumbrian Ales, Great Corby and Hesket Newmarket Breweries, as well as towns off the beaten track such as Chorley, which boasts a healthy pub scene due to the boom in micropubs in the area.  

The Good Beer Guide, which is published annually by CAMRA, helps beer lovers take a barometer of the local beer scene. As well as covering 535 of the very best pubs across Merseyside, Cheshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, and Greater Manchester and more, it keeps track of brewery numbers, and notes a net loss of 14 breweries across the counties. 

CAMRA National Chairman Nik Antona says: “For nearly five decades, the Good Beer Guide has been a comprehensive guide to the UK’s breweries, their ales, and the best outlets to find them in across the country.   

“The Good Beer Guide has always had an important role in acting as a barometer of the beer and pub industry. We believe information gleaned from the Guide is absolutely vital in the drive to save our pubs from closure and campaign for policies that better support pubs, local brewers and their customers. 

“Whilst we experienced a boom in the brewing industry over recent years, it’s clear that the effects of COVID-19 and subsequent cost of living and cost of goods crisis has been keenly felt. I’d encourage everyone to use this Guide to seek out the very best examples of pub excellence and support these locals by visiting them.”  

Merseyside is home to one of the ‘Famous Five’ pubs that has been in every single edition of the Good Beer Guide – the Roscoe Head in Liverpool. The pub will be celebrating with the local CAMRA branch today at 2 pm. 

Licensee Carol Ross said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be one of the famous five pubs featured in the Good Beer Guide for 50 years.  I am very proud to be listed amongst the other four pubs the Star Tavern and Buckingham Arms in London, Square & Compass, Dorset and Queen's Head in Cambridge, my customers and I feel very honoured.  They are all fabulous pubs. A lot of hard work has gone on behind the scenes to save the Roscoe Head pub and I want to say a very big thank you to all my customers old and new for their continued support over the years.” 

The Good Beer Guide, which reviews over 4,500 pubs across the UK, is the definitive beer drinkers’ guide to the very best pints in a variety of styles of pubs to suit individual tastes. Compiled by thousands of independent volunteers, it helps identify significant trends and themes locally and nationally. 

The Good Beer Guide, sponsored this year by Cask Marque, is set to be published on 27 October 2022. Paul Nunny, Director of Cask Marque said: “Cask Marque has sponsored the Good Beer Guide for a number of years, because it is important that we recognise great pubs with a CAMRA endorsement. 50 years of actively supporting our industry is a great achievement and coincides with Cask Marque championing beer quality for 25 years!” 

Discover all of the pubs listed, and more, with CAMRA’s new Good Beer Guide app, available on iOs and as a web-based app at https://gbgapp.camra.org.uk 

To order your copy, visit https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2023/