Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Best pubs in the West crowned
APUB in Wiltshire and another in Somerset owned by the same brewery have been named the best in their respective counties for 2024.
The Methuen Arms, in Corsham, and The George Inn, in Norton St Philip, scooped the accolades at this year’s National Pub and Bar Awards.
Each year the competition crowns county winners from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The two venues are owned by Butcombe Pubs & Inns, whose parent company is Jersey-headquartered Liberation Group. Two of its pubs in the South East also won their county titles.
According to Butcombe, the judges were impressed with the way the pubs’ teams demonstrated “excellence” across several areas including design, service, food and drink, style of offer, marketing and investment.
Jayson Perfect, chief operating officer of Liberation Group, said: “To have one pub named as county winner would have been great but to scoop awards for four of our sites is fantastic.”
The Bristol winner was The All Inn pub in Fishponds, in Dorset
the Pure Drop in Ferndown triumphed and in Gloucestershire The Bottle of Sauce in Cheltenham was crowned.
All county winners will compete at the National Pub and Bar Awards final on June 26, where regional winners will be crowned alongside pub group of the year, bar group of
the year and the overall national pub and bar of the year.
Tristan O’Hana, judge at the National Pub and Bar Awards, added: “The fact that we had record entries for the 2024 National Pub and Bar Awards tells us how highly the industry regards these accolades, which is fantastic.”