It feels almost churlish to revive this thread after what has been a difficult year for pubs. Many commenters on this forum and elsewhere have noted how good the cask beer has been in the majority of pubs, as responsible, observant and competent licensees have dealt with the slow reopening of pubs by stocking fewer cask beers than before, thereby ensuring that good quality is maintained. Sadly, this has also meant that some city centre pubs, notably in London, have stopped offering cask beers altogether.

Also noteworthy is the way that regulations have brought out the best, and sadly, the worst, in some pub managers. I have tried not to criticise where this has impacted on my experience, but inevitably it is sometimes hard not to let a trace of irritation creep in when writing a review.

Despite having about 30 pubs still to write up on Pubs Galore, I am confident in identifying the very few that have provided poor experiences for me.

No pub that I visited in 2021 merited such a low score as 1 or 2.

The following pubs deserved a rating of 3 in my reviews of visits in 2021:

The Fountain Inn, Ingbirchworth
Rose Villa Tavern, Birmingham

Given that the former at least provided some amusement, and to be fair the beer wasn't utterly dreadful, my award for worst pub of the year must, somewhat reluctantly, go to the Rose Villa Tavern, a beautiful building being run as a pub with what can only be described as an astonishing level of neglect.