Keeping their success – as well as happy customers

Maidenhead: A Hoppy Place wins CAMRA branch Pub of the Year, again

A Maidenhead craft beer pub has retained its title as pub of the year.

A Hoppy Place has taken the coveted number-one spot in the 2024 Pub of the Year competition by the Slough, Windsor, and Maidenhead branch of CAMRA (the Campaign for Real Ale).

CAMRA’s annual competition seeks to find the best pubs in the UK and showcase quality pubs worth seeking out and visiting.

Chair of SWM CAMRA Allan Willoughby presented the Park Street-based pub with the certificate on Saturday and said it was ‘quite an achievement for such a new bar’.

Co-owner of A Hoppy Place Dave Hayward added: “We’re over the moon to have retained our title as pub of the year. Since we opened

A Hoppy Place Maidenhead in June 2022, we’ve put huge effort into making sure our beer is ‘best in branch’ and that our venue is welcoming to all.

“A real community hub, with live events, hosted by locals – I live in town – and for locals. This award was a public vote of CAMRA members and it feels like recognition for all the hard work we do – and gives us a real drive to keep going.

“First and foremost as a fully untied venue, we’re able to provide our customers exactly what they want: the very best, most exciting ale and craft beer from whoever we feel is best placed in the industry to supply it – whoever that might be.

“The beer industry has nowhere enough free-of-tie venues and unfortunately that number is dwindling – a trend seen in the wider industry full stop.

“Our staff also care so much about all of our products – and all of our customers.

We’re very proud of what we do and recognition such as this CAMRA award shows us that this pride is not misplaced. Thank you to everyone who voted for us.”

The shortlisting process involves CAMRA members visiting pubs and scoring them based on the beer quality, cleanliness, community focus, style and decor and overall impression.

After competing against nearly 200 other pubs in the branch area, Maidenhead’s A Hoppy Place will now enter the county round against three other pubs in Berkshire and will progress to the regional round if successful.

Dave and his wife, Naomi Hayward, opened A Hoppy Place in Windsor in August 2019, and won the Branch Pub of the Year award in 2021 and 2022.

Their second outlet in Trinity Place in Maidenhead opened in 2022 and then won Pub of the Year 2023 within a year of opening.