It’s the time of year where we dish out awards to our pubs and club of the year and suddenly, after perhaps a quieter first few months, are out almost every week for one reason or another. Whether campaigning, on a social, scoring or otherwise our Wolverhampton branch members have been very busy and will continue to be throughout May. Let’s first take a look at a couple of award presentations to begin with.
South Staffordshire Pub of the Year 2025 – The Swan Hotel, Brewood
Picking up the Wolverhampton CAMRA South Staffordshire Pub of the Year accolade for the third year in a row (at least the second time the pub has done this) is the Swan Hotel in Brewood’s Scott and Ian Goode. The Swan is a beautiful pub, a favourite of our former secretary the late John Nightingale and, especially in recent years, a favourite of branch CAMRA members. The Swan Hotel was originally a house, likely of 15th century origin and retains some stunning ancient features and woodwork internally.
The branch called in at the Swan Hotel on 26 April as the first port of call on their biannual South Staffordshire minibus trip. This allows branch members to get to some more difficult to reach pubs, generally those with poor public transport links. Following some time at the Swan, members called at the Bridge Inn, the Brewood Royal British Legion, the Lion Hotel and the Three Stirrups all in Brewood, before calling in at the Oakley Arms, the Pendrell Arms, the Royal Oak at Bishops Wood, the Coach and Horses and Hartley Arms at Wheaton Aston and The Harrows in Coven before returning to Wolverhampton.
Club of the Year 2025 Runner-Up – Penn Bowling Club
On 3 May, several branch members attended the beer and cider festival at Penn Bowling Club, where Gavin Craddock was presented with the Runner Up Club of the Year 2025 award by branch chairman, Mark Hewitt.
Many beers and ciders were sampled by branch members before some went on to Café Metro’s Springfest beer and cider festival over in Bilston, where for the second time in the day some live music was enjoyed. A couple of members also managed to make it over to The Claregate, who were trialling a selection of ales in advance of their beer festival celebrating 10 years of saving the pub, scheduled for this June.
Coming Up
This Saturday 10 May, our branch meeting will be held at Keg & Comfort micropub in Oxley, where Louise and John Clive will be presented with the Pub of the Year 2025 award, the second time in their history that they have won (previously in 2023 and runner-up to Hail to the Ale micropub last year).
On the weekend of the 16 May – 17 May is the Bilbrook Beer Festival, over at Bilbrook Village Hall. This is a non-CAMRA event arranged by Andy Evans, formerly of the Olde Vic Alehouse, also in Bilbrook.
The following weekend, on Saturday 24 March, is probably one of our favourite events of the year; the Mild In May trail. This year, it begins at Holden’s Codsall Station pub at 12 noon, before moving on to The Firs Club, where the Wolverhampton Club of the Year 2025 award will be presented to Anna Reynolds and team at approximately 3pm. The trail will move on from there, with members attempting to visit as many pubs serving mild ale as possible – though it’s important to remember that May is mild month – therefore if you’re looking for some good mild, that increasingly rare (endangered) style, get out and see which pubs are serving it. Or use some of the great apps about now to find out where it is!
If you want a little bit of this action, consider joining CAMRA! Membership rates are manageable for most people and, as a member, you will be able to join us campaigning, on socials or not at all. The great thing here is you can do as much or as little as you like in the knowledge that you are supporting the organisation in ensuring that good pubs, ale and cider are around in the future. Cheers!
