good pub guide 2015
"Do I know where hell is? hell is in hello"
Big Fat Zero!
The Good Pub Guide's a load of old cobblers anyway.
Ditto.Originally Posted by Quinno
'And where he supped the past lived still. And where he sipped the glass brimmed full' John Barleycorn, Carol Ann Duffy.
I've been in one - pretentious and food led and it's not in the "dining pub", ie restaurant with beer, section. Yes a load of self selecting cobblers.
The only truly independent dead tree pub guide is out next week (even though it's months out of date).
I've been to the winner. They sold a lot of Greene King.
7 in total.
Been to the Church Inn Uppermill several times.
The Ashetton Arms in Downham is a good pub full stop, never mind the dining bit.
In general the guide's a pile of poo though.
Last edited by ROBCamra; 04-09-2014 at 12:37.
A pub is for life not just for Christmas
Not zero from the longer list Quinno, you've reviewed at least Norwich Fat Cat and Kelham Island Tavern.
I think I counted 6 or 7 for me.
As I've said before, I think the GPG is good if you are looking for somewhere with accom, decent food and some real ale. It has its place, I've used it with a good degree of success in the past. (after cross-referencing, of course...)
Ah, nine it is then
originally they just listed the winnersAh, nine it is then
The mail shot I got...Greene King are superheroes, now you know.
The 2015 edition of the Good Pub Guide is out now!
The pub scene has changed utterly from the days of decrepit boozers with dull beer and freezer-pack food to a thriving industry that's now finding ingenious ways of pleasing millions of new customers. And this transformation has taken place against a background of hard economic times that have driven many less alert pub businesses to the wall. A handful of people have played vital roles in this. The following seven men, each at the forefront of a key development that has proved crucial to the new mood of forward-looking confidence in the pub world, are today's Pub Superheroes.
We first came across Bill Sharp in 1994, when he was delivering a keg of a beer we'd never heard of to a little Cornish pub. We tried that beer and liked it a lot. Bill had just started a small brewery in the nearby village of Rock, and was beginning to attract a keen local following. The business grew, and was sold in 2003 and again in 2011 - but Bill Sharp's beers have stayed the same. On the quality foundations he'd laid down, Sharps Doom Bar has become a top seller, found in pubs throughout Britain. His success has been an inspiration to hundreds of other brewers, now producing literally thousands of different beers - a revolution in drinks choice for pub lovers.
Another success story is Greene King, a brewer on an altogether bigger scale, and one that owns a flourishing pub chain. Its achievement is down to Rooney Anand, chief executive since 2005 (and manager of the brewing side before that). He steered the business through the credit crunch by avoiding the debt pitfalls that sank some other pub cos, and is growing it by focusing sharply on what customers want. Under his guidance, good value food has become a central part of the mix. Providing proper jobs for over 20,000 people, he's proved that sound management pays off.
Greene King's growth has brought under its wing several other beer and pub companies. One of these is Ridleys, a small chain of Essex pubs. Jocelyn Ridley has since then bought one of his family's former pubs, the Compasses at Littley Green, and runs it as the very archetype of an unspoilt country tavern. Concentrating on a truly warm-hearted atmosphere, simple traditional furnishings, honest hearty food and well-kept beers (including one brewed nearby by his brother), he's shown that a cheerful pub can win plenty of happy customers without a fancy menu or fashionable trappings.
The Wetherspoons chain has nearly 1,000 pubs. When we started this Guide in 1983, Tim Martin, the chain's founder and boss, then still in his twenties, had just four pubs but had already found the formula that has driven his success - good motivated staff, cheap beer, remarkable value food, plenty of space and character, and usually no piped music.
The pubs that don't just survive but really thrive, are those that keep evolving, anticipating what customers will want. More and more, this means nibbles, tapas-like small dishes and ?Sharing boards', with anything from baby honey and mustard bangers through mini barbecued ribs to wild boar and quail egg scotch eggs. Andres Alemany of the Purefoy Arms at Preston Candover in Hampshire is a past master at this art of creating mouth-watering tapas.
Back in the 1980s, Jerry Brunning and his business partner Graham Price had a dim view of prevailing pub standards. Instead, they tried to create a pub that was more attractive compared to what people could get at home - real comfort, inviting décor, appetising and interesting food, good but not expensive wine and a better range of beers and other drinks than those offered by the competition. We're always impressed, too, by their exemplary staff. This formula has fuelled the successful growth of the Brunning & Price group, now with over 40 pubs.
To recap, these are the Pub Superheroes:
• Bill Sharp - inspiring a new generation of craft brewers
• Rooney Anand - showing how a national brewer with 1,600 pubs can flourish
• Tim Martin - a powerful force in giving us good value food and drink.
• Jocelyn Ridley - champion of the unspoilt traditional pub
• Andres Alemany - top of the new tapas tree
• Jerry Brunning and Graham Price - pub visionaries, never satisfied with less than all-round excellence.
In this edition, we've picked 329 pubs that qualify for one of our Beer Awards - each is outstanding for the quality and, often, the range of what they sell.
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