If there’s one thing we love in Yorkshire, it’s the pub. So if you ask a Yorkshireman where to go, chances are he’ll be able to tell you a decent place for a nice pint. And honouring our favourite establishments is the Great British Pub Awards – an award that aims to champion pubs and celebrate their efforts. This year’s awards in particular will recognise the efforts made by the pubs during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this year’s awards, there are various categories including Charity Champion, Community Mindfulness, Community Services, Feeding the Community, Front-Line Support, Keeping the Community Entertained, Pub Shop, Sheltering the Community, Staff Welfare and, of course, Pub Hero which is nominated by various brewers.
Coming out on top following the pandemic, seven Yorkshire pubs made the shortlist – even making it in the running for Pub Hero of the Year. Here’s the full list of pubs nominated from Yorkshire:
- The Commercial, Leeds
- The Buck, Driffield
- The Victoria Hotel, Allerton Bywater
- The White Lion, Hebden Bridge
- Victoria Hotel, Castleford
- Golden Lion, Richmond
- The Scotts Arms, Wetherby
The Victoria Hotel in Castleford went above and beyond during the pandemic, with their nomination reading “Michelle reconsidered the structure of her business both on paper and in practise and started delivering food to her customers as well as redesigning her pub in order to minimise the risk of Coronavirus to her customers. She delivered “250 meals a week to customers around the area and also delivered food parcels to the local council group who were self-isolating and without support.”
The Golden Lion, Richmond were ‘a godsend’ throughout the outbreak, too, with one customer, David Wiley, saying about the landlady: ‘She was a godsend. Nothing was too much trouble. She fetched, carried and delivered a variety of essentials for us, went to the post office to mail documents and parcels for us, got us flowers for our son’s grave, went to market stalls and shops.”
For Community Mindfulness, The Commercial, Leeds, received a nomination for its work with Andy’s Man Club, a men’s health charity. They encouraged to men speak up, head out for walks and much more to help with mental health over the difficult period.
The Buck, Driffield, was nominated for its efforts within the community. Rhian and Dan (from the pub) set up a group on 15th March and before lockdown, they delivered 7,000 leaflets with Rhian’s contact number. The pair had 150 volunteers supporting them. With the use of a website and Facebook group the pair and a team of volunteers “delivered 6,728 prescriptions to vulnerable people in Driffield, 120 emergency care packages for people who were running low on supplies, more than 600 shopping trips to Tesco and Lidl for people that weren’t able to afford food, 30 dog walks a week and raised a massive £6,600 for local community causes.”
To find out more about the awards and to cast your vote, visit here. Voting closes tomorrow at 23:59.
Read More: This South Yorkshire Pub Has Been Named The Best Pub Conversion In The UK
