CAMRA’s Good Beer Guide – the UK’s best-selling beer and pub guide – is celebrating its 52nd edition with not one but two versions featuring two of the UK’s favourite locals: Coronation Street’s Rovers Return Inn, and Emmerdale’s Woolpack.
The 2025 edition, which surveys 4,500 of the best pubs across the UK, is the definitive beer drinker’s guide for those seeking the best pints in the nation’s pubs and can be ordered now.
The Rovers Return and Woolpack represent the familiarity and community spirit of pubs across the UK. This edition pays tribute to the communities that are beamed into homes, providing entertainment and companionship to those that may not have a pub of their own.
Research commissioned by CAMRA found people who have a local rate themselves as significantly happier because of it, and have more close friends, and the pubs on television reflect this feeling. Some of Coronation Street’s and Emmerdale’s most touching and memorable moments have taken place in their respective pubs.
The foreword of the 2025 guide will be written by BAFTA winning Iain MacLeod, ITV’s executive producer for continuing drama. MacLeod has been Coronation Street’s series producer for the last five years taking the reins in December 2018. He kept the show on air during the Covid pandemic and throughout his tenure the drama has won multiple awards and accolades, celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2020.
The representation of pubs on television is vital in a time when the trade is under significant pressure. CAMRA’s pub closure statistics for 2023 show that 194 were lost forever due to conversion or demolition, including venues like the Crooked House in Himley, and a shocking 1,293 pubs closed their doors to their communities.
CAMRA national chairman Nik Antona said: “Working with ITV to celebrate the Rovers Return Inn and the Woolpack is a great honour for CAMRA. The pubs and the soaps themselves reflect many of CAMRA’s values, including the importance of community and the preservation of UK culture and traditions.
“The last few years have been an incredibly difficult time for the industry, and we need more support than ever before to keep our nation’s pubs open and thriving. I’d encourage everyone to use this year’s guide to visit the very best pubs across the UK and support them for generations to come.”
This year’s guide, which is sponsored by Midland Snacks Traditional Pork Scratchings and endorsed by Cask Marque, is set to be published on 26 September and is available to order now from https://shop1.camra.org.uk/product/the-good-beer-guide-2025/
