Best pub designs receive awards today

29th June 2009, 12:29pm

CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has today announced the winners of the Pub Design Awards 2008, in association with English Heritage and the Victorian Society.

In the awards this year four pubs were singled out by the judges.

In the 'Refurbished' category, the Princess Louise, High Holborn, London was a joint winner with the Castle Inn, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire.

Meanwhile, the White Horse, Overton on Dee, Wrexham, was 'Highly Commended' in the category for its outstanding work.

In the 'New Build' category, Zero Degrees, Reading, Berkshire, was the overall winner.

CAMRA's Pub Design Awards began in 1983, and over the years has remained dedicated to championing pubs showing vision, imagination and a level of restraint in their design.

Dr Steven Parissien, an architectural historian, author, and one of the competition judges, said: "Amidst the gloom and doom of Recessional Britain, this past year has, reassuringly, seen a number of first-rate pub schemes, all of which illustrate how pubs can, and should, be treated."

Refurbished category

Joint winners
Princess Louise, High Holborn, London (WC1V 7BW)
Castle Inn, Bradford on Avon, Wilts (BA15 1SJ)

In regard to the Princess Louise, the judges said: This renowned Sam Smith's pub has undergone a comprehensive redesign which has seen the reintroduction of the original, multi-bar layout, complete with bar doors and snob screens. This has made what was already an interesting and worthy pub even more of a pub goers' icon.

After a six-month closure, this celebrated landmark has reopened in a guise which reflects both its incarnation of over a century ago and the modern customer's wish to drink and chat in a cosy, quiet and private environment. This is one instance in which gilding the lily can actually improve the subject.'

Praising the other winner, the Castle Inn, the judges said: Here owners Flatcappers have retained this handsome Georgian pub's historic features while gearing the interior to its inevitably upmarket and food-oriented clientele. The Castle shows that you don't have to shed pub identity in order to maximise the opportunities to eat. Even the iron railings outside the pub have won a civic award, a success which demonstrates the great attention to detail at this hilltop site.

New Build category

Winner
Zero Degrees, Reading (RG1 2LR)

Hailing the innovative build of Zero Degrees, the judges said: Zero Degrees is a strikingly modern, glass-fronted design which, like its three sisters elsewhere in the UK (Blackheath, Bristol and Cardiff), makes an architectural virtue of its in-house brewing equipment. Throughout the building, the industrial aesthetic, as prominently defined by the brightly-polished brewing plant, predominates but does not overwhelm. This design shows that a pub can be successfully reinterpreted in a modern manner that does not resonate to the jingle of horse-brasses or the creak of fakery.

Unfortunately due to the discretion of the judges, no awards were presented this year in the English Heritage Conservation Award, Conversion to Pub Use, or CAMRA's Joe Goodwin Award categories.

The judges agreed that the lack of strong entries in this year's competition was a worrying reflection of the 'narrow, short-term outlook' so often adopted at a time of economic downturn.

However, Julian Hough, CAMRA Pubs Director, remained upbeat about the future of British pubs, and maintained there will be plenty of innovation and flair in the pub industry for years to come.

He said: "It's wonderful to see people invest in pubs and believe wholeheartedly in their future. These winners are successful community pubs, and we must do everything we can in order to support them. CAMRA is delighted to reward these pubs for their achievements, both aesthetically and commercially, and we hope other pub owners can take inspiration from these buildings."

Related Articles:

• 28 Jul 2009 - CAMRA launches petition to save historic pub
• 23 Jul 2009 - CAMRA declares National Pub Design Awards open

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