City ‘wood-panelled gem’ is honoured with a top Camra award
Landlord stunned to be only one of two pubs in the county recognised
ALANDLORD was left stunned after his traditional Southsea pub was one of only two Hampshire pubs to be honoured by an ale consumer group with a prestigious award.
Jon McKerracher, who runs the Hole in the Wall in Great Southsea Street, said it was ‘absolutely amazing’ after his pub was handed a Golden Award by The Campaign for Real Ale to celebrate 50 years of the organisation’s campaigns.
As part of its anniversary celebrations throughout
2021, Camra is recognising people, groups or businesses that have made a ‘significant contribution’ and ‘helped us get to where we are today’.
The Hole in the Wall – which Camra describes as ‘a wood-panelled gem that offers a wide range of beers from an ever-changing selection of local and national breweries’ – was the only pub awarded from Portsmouth and among just three from Hampshire and Dorset.
Jon said: ‘I didn’t know much about the award but it is absolutely amazing especially when those awarded are so sparse from the region. I thought more pubs in the area would win.
‘It is really good news after 16 months of trouble for the industry. Hopefully we can start to get back to some kind of normality. During the pandemic early on we were doing a lot of delivery and takeout drinks and were selling 1,200 pints a week in April 2020.
‘Recently it has been the worst-case scenario as we do not have any grants and staff are off furlough and with social distancing we have not been able to take a great deal of money.
‘But to get through it and end up with an award is good.’
The pub offers a range of beers including favourite Goodens Gold from the Flower Pots Brewery. Beers from Thornbridge Brewery are also in high demand.
The Prince of Wales in Farnborough was the only other pub in the county to be honoured. Camra’s awards director Gary Timmins said: ‘Winners have been chosen for their successes in standing the test of time; for being convivial, characterful and community-focused, and of course for consistently pouring great pints.’
There were 32 pubs in total awarded across the country, including five that have appeared in all 48 editions of the Good Beer Guide, the longest standing communityowned pub in the country, and the current Pub of the Year title holder.