Why isn’t this pub in the Good Beer Guide?

September and the publication of the latest CAMRA Good Beer Guide (GBG) always heralds this question from fans of certain pubs, landlords, or even the general public who find it surprising that the pub they are sat in doesn’t feature. This article is about explaining how a pub or club gets into the GBG in the Rochdale Oldham and Bury (ROB) branch. I’ll add a rider here – other branches procedures may differ slightly, but generally speaking it’s about featuring pubs and clubs which serve top quality real ales, and do so in a welcoming and inclusive manner.

ROB is a big branch in CAMRA, and as a consequence we are allowed 35 of our pubs and clubs in the guide, but we do have circa 330 pubs/clubs in contention for those places, so the competition is fierce. First and foremost the pub/club has to serve real ale, and it is served in the optimum condition i.e. its fresh, clear (unless advertised as Hazy) and served at the right temperature – around 12/13C. The service should be welcoming and friendly, polite and prompt. The guide sells not just to CAMRA members but the general public as well, many of whom regard it as a bible for seeking out good pubs, not just good beer, and we have to be mindful of this in selection.

Selection of pubs starts literally almost as the latest guide hits the bookshelves. Come late October we e mail all of our branch members to ask them to nominate any pub/club they think are worthy of inclusion in the guide and meet the criteria we set. They can nominate any number of pubs/clubs but the nominations are only open to ROB branch members. The pub/club has to have been open for at least 6 months, so no establishment that opened after 1st April will be eligible. The same applies for new landlords/managers of pubs – whilst this may seem a bit harsh particularly for pubs/clubs already in the guide, a new landlord may completely change things and may not be an experienced cellar person, given we have so many pubs eager to get in, it would be unfair to take a punt, unless the new person has a previous known history in real ale, for example has run pubs before which are in the GBG and has a proven record of keeping a good cellar.

The 35 pubs already in the current guide get an automatic nomination for the next stage, although we do ask members to cast a vote for those that they think should retain their place, which helps gauge the support for them, and can give some of them an automatic nod through into the guide if they get through the next stage. This is all done electronically, and once the deadline is reached for nominations – usually mid / late December, the next stage of the process can start. We typically get 60/70 nominations and the next stage is to go out and visit them and conduct a survey. This is not as onerous as it sounds, and indeed is quite a pleasant task, but If there’s much more than 60 nominations the committee may look at paring the number down to make surveying them all feasible, principally by considering both the number of nominations they get and what their beer score is. Surveying a pub involves filling in a form which acts as a question prompt to the pub staff – we check things like opening times, beers on sale, landlords name etc and ask you to describe the pub for its entry into the guide, the description can contain comments on the decor, history, location, beers – the floor is yours to create an interesting resume of the pub – and later see your words in print, although they may be edited by yours truly to fit in with CAMRA’s style guide! The survey may also flag up some crucial selection issues – typically where the beer quality or welcome doesn’t meet the expectations of the GBG, and these facts are essential to inform the next stage.

Once surveys are completed, we hold a selection meeting. Usually held at the end of February / early March dependent on the deadline to submit our selected pubs/clubs, its open to all branch members to come along and have their say. If a pub/club which is in the current guide and has got above a set number of nominations, and passed its survey with no problem, then it will get an automatic nod through into the next guide subject to the meetings approval. In 2023 we had one pub which would normally have automatic inclusion but had some adverse reports on service and beer quality which meant it went back into the pot to be voted on. We take each borough in turn, and every pub/club on the list is discussed before being put to the vote. The discussion will also take into account its beer score, which is why it is important for members to score their beers whilst in a pub. As a branch we only use beer scores as an advisory indicator, but other branches do their complete initial selection on beer scores.

Members can only vote for the number of places available for that borough so if for example after automatic inclusions Rochdale has 7 places available and 12 pubs to be voted on, each member gets 7 votes, and the 7 pubs with the highest number of votes get in the guide. Each Borough has a guaranteed 11 places in the guide, the remaining two being filled with the pubs/clubs which get the highest number of votes. A further 6 reserves (2 for each borough) are taken on the next highest votes. And that’s it, 35 pubs or clubs, 6 reserves job (almost) done until starts again in 6 months’ time.

It’s all about transparency and fairness, with the accent being on quality of both beer and service. At the end of the day a pub or club only stands a chance of getting in the GBG if a branch member nominates it. If you want your say in it, the answer is if you are a member, then nominate pubs – if you are not, then join CAMRA and feel free to do so!

Andy Cooper

GBG Coordinator

ku.gro.armac.bor@gbg