The Branch has an agreed process for deciding its Pub of the Year each year which is set out below, while the current CAMRA criteria can be read here: Pub of the Year 2025 - detailed guidance.

Our longlist for our 2025 Pub of the Year is set out below and this will be reduced to a shortlist of three at our November Branch meeting: • The Bell & Bear, Emberton; • The Mitre, Buckingham; • The Nags Head, Great Linford; • The New Inn, Padbury; • The Queens Head, Chackmore; and • The Shoulder of Mutton, Little Horwood.

The Victoria Inn in New Bradwell was chosen as our 2024 Pub of the Year and the award was presented at a CAMRA social in April:

Sadly, the Victoria did not get further in the regional Pub of the Year contest, but members can visit the three pubs in our (current) region's contest and vote on them using this form: Regional Pub of the Year voting, 2024. All three pubs must be visited and the form returned to our Bucks County co-ordinator, Carl Griffin by 14 July at the very latest - his email address is here: ku.oc.oohay@28elixe_eidroeg.

Pub of the Year – MK & NB Branch process

Timescale

1.Produce a long list at the October meeting.

2.Reduce to a short list maximum of three pubs at the November meeting; no short-listed pubs should have an NBSS beer score average of less than 3.0.

3.Make final decision at March meeting.

4.Members should be emailed and invited to make recommendations for both the long list and the short list. However, although members can submit their views and scores for the short-listed pubs by email before the March meeting, email cannot be used for the final decisions at the March meeting.

Considerations:

5. We need to involve as many members as possible.

6. No requirement for visiting the pub very recently, but members will have been expected to have visited a pub before commenting on it.

7. We will organise socials at each of the short-listed pubs.

8. The same PotY should not be chosen in consecutive years.

9. CAMRA’s criteria will be used as the basis for decision making and members will be encouraged to score all short-listed pubs against the CAMRA criteria.

Final decision-making at the March meeting

10. The annual average scores – as used for GBG decision-making – will be used for the Beer Quality component of the CAMRA criteria. (A pub averaging a minimum of less than 3.0 cannot be POTY.)

11. Members’ scores for pubs (using the CAMRA criteria) should be submitted by a cut-off date 2-3 days before the meeting. These scores will be made known to the meeting.

12. Members who have been unable to score some or all of the short-listed pubs will, nonetheless, be invited to comment on the different elements of the CAMRA criteria for pubs they have visited or know about.

13. Members will seek to reach an objective decision on each pub against the CAMRA criteria, based on the scores from members and the views of those unable to score – essentially trying to reach a “feels fair” score for each pub relative to the others.

14. Our Pub of the Year will be the pub with the highest score using the CAMRA criteria.

Club of the Year and Cider Pub of the Year

15. The same guidelines will apply to any Club of the Year or Cider Pub of the Year decisions.