Diminishing numbers of beer scores year on year (especially in some rural pubs which receive very few scores indeed) mean we've sometimes struggled to identify enough venues to shortlist for awards using the Pub of the Season rules we introduced in 2023, with a knock-on effect on eligibility of branch members to vote for shortlisted venues.
To try to address this, we've decided to change our processes and rules, effective from 1st November 2025, and the main changes are as follows:
(1) We're changing award categories from 'Urban' and 'Rural' to 'Town' and 'Village' - with the ‘Town’ category comprising venues in Sutton in Ashfield, Kirkby in Ashfield, Mansfield (including Forest Town) and Mansfield Woodhouse. Everywhere else in the branch will be in the ‘Village’ category.
(2) We'll still use beer scores to identify pubs to shortlist, but we’ll also now accept Pub of the Season nominations from the public via the online form here. You can nominate a pub at any point in the qualifying period – but only one pub per quarter, not one in each category – and you must supply a reason for the nomination and valid contact details.
(3) Whilst voting is still only open to CAMRA members, we’ll no longer require members to have scored a beer in the pub they wish to vote for within the scoring period.
Please bear with us whilst all of the new processes and pages are put in place, and note that for this first quarter under our new rules, the nomination form will only be open from December.
We’ll review whether these changes have had the desired effect on an ongoing basis throughout the Winter 2025/26 to Autumn 2026 ‘seasons’ – so effectively throughout the first year of use.
