Pub of the Year (POTY) – Micro & Traditional – Cider Pub of the Year (CPOTY)
Each year Thanet CAMRA and 200 other branches take part in the national competition to find CAMRA’s Pub of the Year. In our competition pubs are nominated by the branch members and then judged by volunteers against the national criteria (see below). Judging takes place between September and the end of January with each nominated pub visited and scored by each and every judge. In early February we announce our winners in the two categories we use for the competition, Traditional POTY (2019’s winner was Montefiore Arms in Ramsgate) and Micro POTY (2019’s winner was Bake & Alehouse in Westgate). But only one can go forward to represent Thanet in the next round which is East Kent – last year the Bake & Alehouse took that accolade. The winning pub from East Kent will then go head to head against the best pub in West Kent aiming to be the Kent Regional winner where it will be go forward to compete against the best other 15 pubs in the UK who have made it through their regional round. This final 16 will be thinned to the final 4 and the winner will be revealed in February 2020.
We use the best ranked pubs in our Traditional POTY and Micro POTY competition to fill our allocation of spaces in CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide which is published every September. Unfortunately we currently have only 11 spaces available to fill which means some of our best pubs missing out on their well deserved place in this pub bible. We have ongoing talks with our colleagues in Kent’s other branches to see if they are prepared to look again at their allowances to see if they would let us utilise these for those pubs who just miss out – the talks are complicated and remind us of trying to negotiate the B-word but we will keep plugging away.
PUB OF THE YEAR – TRADITIONAL & MICRO
CLICK HERE for the details behind the judging criteria for Pub of the Year
CLICK HERE for the scoring form for Pub of the Year
CIDER PUB OF THE YEAR
CLICK HERE for the details behind the judging criteria for Cider Pub of the Year
CLICK HERE for the scoring form for Cider Pub of the Year
NOMINATION PROCESS 2020
Pub of the Year & Cider Pub of the Year 2020
We invited our branch members to nominate their favourite pubs for inclusion in Thanet CAMRA’s Pub of the Year (POTY) 2019 and Cider Pub of the Year 2019 (CPOTY) competitions. We had a great response which ultimately resulted in the Bake & Alehouse, Westgate-on-Sea being judged our champion micro pub and overall POTY winner whilst the Hair of the Dog, Minster-in-Thanet took the crown for CPOTY.
We are now beginning the process for the 2020 competitions and are once again going to split the POTY competition into two categories – Traditional Pub of the Year and Micro Pub of the Year, recognising the large quantity of micros on our isle.
The first stage of the process is to ask our branch members to nominate their favourite traditional, micro or cider pub. There are two ways to nominate:- • Click here to enter your nomination via Typeform filling in all the details including your membership number, etc • Email you nomination to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
remember to include your membership number So let’s get nominating. Our Terms and Conditions:
1. To nominate a pub for POTY or CPOTY you must be a member of the Thanet CAMRA Branch, when nominating online you must include your membership number, found on your Membership card, which also states which branch you belong to.
2. Only one nomination per member per category will be allowed. Nominations can be made as above. If you are emailing a nomination it must contain your name, membership number and nominations. Closing date for nominations is 11.59pm Saturday 31st August 2019, for short listing at a Branch Meeting (if applicable) on 2nd September 2019. Information provided for nominations will be destroyed once short listing is complete.
3. Members are invited to nominate their favourite traditional pub, favourite micro pub and/or favourite Cider Pub – you do not have to nominate for all three categories. These nominations will identify the pubs which we will take forward to judging.
4. If you would like to be involved in the judging of the short list please supply your contact details via the same methods as nominations and attend our next Branch Meeting (or contact me direct), please note that licensees and those with a financial interest in a pub are not permitted to judge.
5. We will have a Traditional Pub of the Year and a Micro-Pub of the Year and the highest scoring of these will be Branch Pub of the Year and go forward to the East Kent Pub of the Year competition.
6. Our Cider Pub of the Year will go forward to the East Kent Cider Pub of the Year competition.
7. Our Good Beer Guide entries will be selected from those nominees eligible and scoring highest in our Pub of the Year judging.
8. As competition co-ordinator, I would like to make it clear that whilst I compile the results, I do not get involved in the judging process. We have a set of criteria to judge against, which includes that our judges should remain ‘silent’ in the role that they are undertaking. Judges who discuss their judging role outside of the committee will have their scores discounted.
9. Intimidation of any member of Thanet CAMRA regarding this – or any other matter – will not be tolerated. Action will be taken against ANYBODY who initiates any form of intimidation, including via social media and messaging services. Any comments or queries regarding the competition should be raised at a branch meeting.
