Explore the UK’s best pubs serving real ale.
The Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide – the UK’s best-selling beer and pub guide – is celebrating its 52nd edition with not one but two covers featuring two of the UK’s favourite locals: Coronation Street’s Rovers Return Inn, and Emmerdale’s Woolpack. The Guide, which surveys 4,500 of the best pubs across the UK, is the definitive beer drinker’s guide for those seeking the best pints in the nation’s pubs. The Good Beer Guide 2025 is available for pre-order now.
The Rovers Return Inn and the Woolpack represent the familiarity and community spirit of pubs across the UK. This edition of the Guide pays tribute to the communities that are beamed into homes, providing entertainment and companionship to those who may not have a local pub. Research commissioned by CAMRA found that people who have a local pub rate themselves as significantly happier because of it, and have more close friends. The pubs on television reflect this feeling. Some of Coronation Street’s and Emmerdale’s most iconic, touching, and memorable moments have occurred in their respective pubs.
The foreword of The Good Beer Guide 2025 will be written by BAFTA and multi award-winning Iain MacLeod, ITV’s Executive Producer for Continuing Drama. MacLeod has been Coronation Street’s Series Producer for the last 5 years taking the reins in December 2018. He kept the show on air during the Covid pandemic and throughout his tenure the serial drama has won multiple awards and accolades, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2020.
The representation of pubs on television is vital in a time when the trade is under significant pressure. CAMRA’s pub closure statistics for 2023 show that 194 pubs were lost forever due to conversion or demolition, including venues like the Crooked House in Himley, and shocking 1,293 pubs closed their doors to their communities.
Continue Reading →
Haunted Hostelries of Shropshire offers a fascinating insight into some of Shropshire’s most haunted pubs, inns, hotels and licensed establishments. It comes as no surprise that the dramas and tragedies played out over the years within the walls of these properties should result in such convincing accounts of ghostly activity.
Within these pages you will find many new stories of hauntings, together with a fresh look at some of the more traditional tales. An overriding theme throughout this book is the sheer amount of seemingly paranormal activity which is regularly being experienced by both staff and customers alike.
You will discover accounts of phantom children, poltergeists, spectral animals, a cheeky bottom pinching ghost and how a jealous highwayman from long ago still makes his presence felt. Find out which haunted rooms to stay in, or indeed avoid for an undisturbed night’s sleep.
The majority of these haunting stories have been gathered at first hand from the people who have experienced the phenomena for themselves. Visit the licensed properties included here for yourself and who knows, perhaps you will have a ghostly experience to add to the rich heritage of Shropshire’s haunted hostelries.
Continue Reading →
Best Book about Beer and Pubs – British Guild of Beer writers – Winner 2024
Once our ancient ancestors discovered that by settling and cultivating grains they would have a regular and plentiful food source, it was only a matter of time before beer became a part of everyday life. And that beer was mainly made by women. For centuries, women brewers remained key participants in our beer trade, up to the Industrial Revolution when increased mechanisation, alongside Victorian societal constraints, conspired to push a lot of them out. From then on, commercial brewing was generally considered a male-led profession.
But things are changing. With the increase in new breweries, and a growing enthusiasm for beer, women are back at the helm at an ever-growing number of British brewers, large and small, reasserting their dominance in the industry.
This important book, meticulously researched by beer historian Dr Christina Wade, charts the rise and fall – and rise – of women in Britain’s brewing trade, and includes interviews with women working in today’s beer industries. It tells us the whole story, explaining the real reasons why women brewers became marginalised, while also debunking some tired old myths along the way.
Continue Reading →
These files are available for download once purchased and can be found in your ‘My Account’ section under Downloads.
Navman compatible points of interest file featuring all the pubs and breweries from the Good Beer Guide 2024. Installation instructions included.
Help & Information
Continue Reading →
These files are available for download once purchased and can be found in your ‘My Account’ section under Downloads.
Garmin compatible points of interest file featuring all the pubs and breweries from the Good Beer Guide 2024. Installation instructions included.
Help & Information
Continue Reading →
These files are available for download once purchased and can be found in your ‘My Account’ section under Downloads.
TomTom compatible points of interest file featuring all the pubs and breweries from The Good Beer Guide 2024. Installation instructions included.
Help & Information
Continue Reading →
With an unmistakable cover design, we are excited to announce that the foreword for this year’s Good Beer Guide has been penned by Bruce Dickinson, frontman and lead singer of Iron Maiden.
© Campaign for Real Ale – Bruce Dickinson at The Great British Beer Festival 2014
Bruce is the frontman and lead singer of one of the most successful bands to come from the UK, Iron Maiden. He is also a collaborative brewer with Robinsons, producing one of the UK’s most successful real ale beer brands that started with Trooper a decade ago.
His foreword is a personal reflection on his love of beer, pubs, and a job that he describes as ‘the best on the planet’ – which includes brewing and drinking beer!
‘You hold in your hands a voyage of discovery not just through a wonderful world of traditional ales and brewers, but also a lens through which to observe the web of history which weaves around the fabric of that almost unique institution-the British Pub.’ – Bruce Dickinson
CAMRA members logged in to the shop will get an additional £2 discount at the checkout!
Continue Reading →
THE LAST REMAINING COPIES ARE AVAILABLE WHILE STOCKS LAST!
- Hardback cover
- Silver foiling on the lettering
- Red bookmark
This edition is only available direct from CAMRA and is a time-limited opportunity to order!
We are excited to announce that the foreword for this year’s guide has been penned by Bruce Dickinson, frontman and lead singer of Iron Maiden.
[caption id="attachment_147574" align="aligncenter" width="198"]
© The Campaign for Real Ale – Bruce Dickinson at The Great British Beer Festival 2014[/caption]
Bruce is the frontman and lead singer of one of the most successful bands to come from the UK, Iron Maiden. He is also a collaborative brewer with Robinsons, producing one of the UK’s most successful real ale beer brands that started with Trooper a decade ago.
His foreword is a personal reflection on his love of beer, pubs, and a job that he describes as ‘the best on the planet’ – which includes brewing and drinking beer!
This exclusive hardback edition is your chance to get a hold of a copy of The Good Beer Guide which reflects the state of the nation’s beer and brewing industry in a time of high pressure and developing trends.
With a hardback cover, silver foiling on the lettering, a red bookmark, and a striking design, this edition will stand out like no other.
‘You hold in your hands a voyage of discovery not just through a wonderful world of traditional ales and brewers, but also a lens through which to observe the web of history which weaves around the fabric of that almost unique institution-the British Pub.’ – Bruce Dickinson
Continue Reading →
Stories, News and People from the Beer industry.
The Good Beer Yearbook is a must-read for anyone interested in beer, brewing and more in the UK.
With entries curated by leading beer writer Emma Inch, The Good Beer Yearbook is a round-up of all of the current news, stories, events, awards, festivals and more from 2022.
This Book is also looking at innovations, influencers and the people to look out for in the months ahead.
Continue Reading →
