Great British Pub Awards

The Morning Advertiser yesterday unveiled the nominations for the 2022 Great British Pub Awards.

I always take an interest, not because I’m a regular pub goer these days but because I was once on the judging panel.

In 2009 the tobacco company JTI supported an award for ‘Best Creative Outdoor Area’.

This was in the aftermath of the smoking ban and the idea, I suppose, was to acknowledge publicans who had gone that extra yard to create a pleasant outdoor space where customers could smoke.

That same year (2009) Forest launched the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign. It had three goals. To:

• highlight the impact of the smoking ban on pubs and clubs
• lobby the government to amend the law to allow separate, well-ventilated smoking rooms
• fight calls to extend the ban to beer gardens and pub doorways

In 2010 JTI suggested that the ‘Best Creative Outdoor Area’ award be supported jointly by JTI and the Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign.

I jumped at the opportunity and was invited to join the judging panel at the Morning Advertiser’s office in Surrey.

The awards took place at The Hilton, Park Lane, in September 2010. It was one of those “glittering” black tie events with a ‘star’ turn hosting the awards and in 2010 the Great British Pub Awards were presented by Lenny Henry.

The winner of the ‘Best Creative Outdoor Area’ was The White Horse in Brancaster Staithe, Norfolk.

Watching the presentation I wasn’t convinced that anyone understood that the award was related to smoking so when JTI renewed its support for the GBPA the following year I suggested we change the name of the category to ‘Best Smoking Area’.

JTI and the Morning Advertiser agreed and that’s what it was called from 2011 to 2013, the last year we were involved in the event.

The problem, which I wrote about at the time, was that we didn’t get a huge number of entries for the award because although there are lots of well-designed smoking areas, some of which have cost tens of thousands of pounds, few proprietors (it seems) want their establishment to be known as a ‘smokers’ pub’, even if smokers are welcome.

Nevertheless, after some discussion and debate, we selected five finalists and the winner of the ‘Best Smoking Area’ in 2011 was Ye Olde Whyte Lyon in Locksbottom, Kent, with the 2012 award going to The Royal Oak in Keighley, West Yorkshire.

I should mention that each year an MP was invited to sit at our table and present the award. In 2010 it was the late Brian Brinley (Northampton South, pictured above). In 2011 it was another Conservative MP, Simon Kirby (Brighton Kemptown).

Kirby had run a pub, restaurant and nightclub chain in Brighton before he became an MP so he was a particularly good choice.

He subsequently attended a Forest reception at the Conservative conference in Manchester in 2015 but (unrelated!) lost his seat in the 2017 General Election.

In 2012 - and I can’t believe I had forgotten this - the award for ‘Best Smoking Area’ was presented by the Labour MP for Chorley, Deputy Speaker from 2010 and now Speaker of the House of Commons … Lindsay Hoyle.

2013 was the fourth and final year that JTI and Forest's Save Our Pubs & Clubs campaign supported the Great British Pub Awards.

Interestingly, and I had forgotten this too, the Conservative MP and government minister who had agreed to present the ‘Best Smoking Area’ award that year ducked out at the last minute when he discovered the nature of the category.

I’m not making this up. As I wrote at the time:

We know this because his office asked if he could present another award instead.

That wasn’t possible so he baled out but the good news is that I was drafted in as a late replacement and for the first and last time in my life I got to go on stage to present an award, Oscars style, in front of 800 people at one of London’s top hotels.

Prior to the event I even had to attend a ‘Presenters’ Briefing’. That’s how well organised it was, unlike the Forest Summer Lunch & Awards last week when I forgot to unpack and unwrap the trophies in advance and had to do it while the presentations were taking place. Doh!

Anyway, this is how I described my experience in 2013. The award, I should add, went to the Cheers Cafe, Bar and Tavern in Fraserburgh in Scotland:

‘Best Smoking Area’ was the second of 17 awards to be presented. At the appropriate moment I had to leave our table and walk across the stage, shake hands with our host - comedian Greg Davies - read the citation and present the award to the owner Dennis Forsyth, his wife and two members of staff who had also made the long journey south.

The Great British Pub Awards announced yesterday feature 18 categories including Best City/Urban Pub, Best Country/Rural Pub and Best Pubs for Food/Families/Dogs/Entertainment etc.

Sadly there’s not a Best Pub for Smokers category so perhaps Forest should fill that gaping hole and present our own award - at the Forest Summer Lunch & Awards 2023.

Can you suggest any potential winners?

See also: Judging the Best Smoking Area award (June 2013). In brief:

The best smoking areas are effectively an extension of the pub. They encourage inclusion not exclusion because even non-smokers will want to join you but it's clearly designated as a smoking area so no-one can complain when you light up.