Cheers! Macclesfield pubs praised in 'CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2025'
By Alex Greensmith
26th Sep 2024 | Local News
We may be 90 days away from Christmas, but it may feel like Christmas has come early for cask ale lovers.
That is because the CAMRA Good Beer Guide 2025 has been released.
The gospel of real ale hotspots and top quality boozers, was first published in 1972 by The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA).
And in 2024, a huge amount of local pubs and bars have made the list.
And Macc Nub has reached out to the local businesses featured.
Wincle Brewery has made the list once more.
The rural Macclesfield brewery, established in 2008, was praised by the guide for serving their cask ales at their microshop and bar room just metres from where their cask ales are brewed.
Wincle Brewery was also praised for serving Macclesfield's Forest Gin, and also mentioned elsewhere in the guide as being on cask at many other Macclesfield venues.
Giles Meadows is the founder of Wincle Brewery.
"We are very proud to be included for the third year in a row," said Giles.
"It is still very much the benchmark for quality cask beer. [Being included in the Guide].
"That is something which is very important to us, and it is obviously very nice to be recognised that we are serving the best beer in the local area.
"We would like to thank everyone.
"Thank you to CAMRA, thank you to our dedicated brewing team, to the team that run the brewery tap and ensure that the beer is served to the standard it should be, and of course our customers for continuing to drink it."
The inclusion comes just days after the launch of Wincle's latest cask beer.
The brewery and taproom is located at Tolls Farm Barn, Wincle.
Bollington Brewing Company has venues from Macclesfield and Bollington in the Guide.
The Park Tavern on Park Lane has featured, and The Vale Inn on Adlington Road is also included.
"We are very proud to have two great pubs in the Guide once again," said Bollington Brewing Company founder Lee Wainwright.
"Our staff work very hard to bring the best customer service, beer quality and overall pub experience and we are looking forward to being in the guide for many more years to come."
It is the 19th year for The Vale in the Good Beer Guide, under the current ownership.
It was previously in the Good Beer Guide when it was open in the 1980/90's as an independent pub.
And The Vale is not the only featured pub in Bollington.
And there must be something in the water (or the pump lines) on Ingersley Road, as The Poachers Inn and The Cotton Tree both feature in the Guide.
Helen Ellwood is co-publican at The Poachers Inn.
"As always it is a pleasure to be acknowledged and recognised by CAMRA for our 25th year at the helm of The Poachers," said Helen.
"The award should be shared by our amazing, loyal and supportive customers and friends who actively encourage our discoveries of new vibrant breweries - producing inovative beers for everyone's enjoyment.
"We really appreciate all of the support we have been given over the years."
Christina Blackshaw from The Cotton Tree is proud of the achievement.
"We are thrilled to be in the Good Beer guide again," she said.
"As advocates of a good English pint, we are trying our upmost to keep cask ale alive.
"Having held a mini beer festival this past weekend where we had 11 cask ales and 31 ciders on, it was great to see so many people enjoying decent beer and conversation amongst friends (despite the weather).
"There is a lot of talk in the midst regarding smoking in beer gardens and threats to the good old English pint, with pubs shutting at a daunting rate, these are interesting times where you have to adapt constantly.
"A pub is a heart of a community; how many conversations and ideas have come about from being drawn on a beer mat, relationships formed, old friends remembered and tale told. For many of our customers it is the only conversation of the day they get.
"England is notorious for a good old pint, and as the current custodians of The Cotton Tree we aim to continue on with our small contribution to the cause."
And we are not done with local inclusions in The Good Beer Guide yet!
The Castle Inn in Macclesfield has had a very CAMRA-centric week, with two reasons to celebrate.
Not only has the pub been included in the Guide every year since it reopened, but the pub will also be presented with a separate award by local CAMRA representatives this weekend.
A CAMRA event celebrating mild beers, asked punters to vote for their favourite participating pub.
And The Castle, on Castle Street, Macclesfield was voted as 'Best Pub'.
So as well as celebrating their including in the 2025 Guide, Macclesfield CAMRA will present The Castle with a Mild Beer award on Saturday September 28 at the pub, from 2pm. Anyone is welcome to attend.
Publican Rebecca Prunty is behind the revival of The Castle Inn, which reopened in late 2021.
"We couldn't be more pleased to feature in the good beer guide for a third time in our three years of trading," she said.
"I'm very proud of my team, and chuffed to bits with all the love and support we receive.
"Mild magic month was a brilliant initiative from CAMRA to get folks in the pub and drinking brilliant brews, we were only too happy to get involved and as always felt so lucky to be so spoilt for choice with how many amazing breweries there are for us to choose from"
Elsewhere, RedWillow bar, of 32A Park Green has made the guide.
Toby Mckenzie, is owner and head brewer of RedWillow Brewery.
"We are delighted to see both our Macclesfield and Buxton bars included in the Good Beer Guide for another year," he said.
"Cask ale is how we started as a brewery and at the heart of all we do, be it at the bar in the way we cellar the beers, to recipe creation and production in the brewery with the aim of creating the perfect pint."
Down the road from RedWillow's Byrons Lane brewery, is another CAMRA-approved pub.
As in rural Macclesfield, Gurnett's only pub Ye Olde Kings Head has made the list.
And in Macclesfield town centre, Jack in the Box, located inside The Picturedrome, on Chestergate, has made the guide once more.
The Campaign for Real Ale's (CAMRA) Good Beer Guide is the UK's best-selling beer and pub guide.
Unique to this year, its 52nd edition will feature not one but two covers, starring two of the UK's favourite fictional locals: Coronation Street's Rovers Return Inn, and Emmerdale's Woolpack.
The Guide, which lists 4,500 of the best pubs across the UK, is the definitive beer drinker's guide for those seeking the best pints in the nations' pubs – and costs £14.99 online.
Despite the tough trading environment facing a lot of licensees, they continue to battle against the odds, and the 2025 Guide boasts over 900 pubs that are new to this edition.
Information in the Guide is collated by thousands of CAMRA volunteers who give up their time every year to select the best of the best across the UK. As well as covering 143 of the very best pubs across Merseyside and Cheshire, it includes 36 new pub entries across the counties.
With two of ITV's flagship soaps being referenced on the cover, the foreword of The Good Beer Guide 2025 has been written by multi award-winning TV executive producer Iain Macleod.
In his foreword, MacLeod writes: "...the story which threatened one of our pubs the most was also the one which most resonated with our times."
"In 2023, the Rovers Return closed its doors. A combination of the lingering legacy of the Covid lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis meant that landlady Jenny Bradley couldn't afford to keep it open. The characters – and the viewers – lamented the news like the loss of a loved one. If it were needed, it was a timely reminder of the central place the nation's pubs have in our lives and in our affections."
The amount of pubs continues to decline in the UK, but CAMRA shines a light on these businesses. In total, there were 38,175 pubs in the UK at the end of 2023, down from 41,015 a decade earlier. (Source)
Ash Corbett-Collins is the national chairman of CAMRA.
"The Rovers Return Inn and the Woolpack represent the UK's love of their local, and to have them featured on the covers for this year's Guide is very exciting," said Ash.
"CAMRA's mission is to ensure support from the Government as well as tangible legislation to protect pubs in this country. By next year's edition of the Guide, we want to be talking about the beer and pub trade growing with the support of communities and parliament alike."
This year's Guide is sponsored by Midland Snacks Traditional Pork Scratchings and endorsed by Cask Marque.
The Good Beer Guide 2025 has been released, today, 26 September 2024, and is available to purchase now from this link.
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