Following CAMRA reopening nominations for the Pub Saving Award, What’s Brewing caught up with last year’s winner the Hull Community Pub Society (above) to see how the New Clarence and its supporters have been faring since the win.
After closing in 2023, a developer submitted planning applications to convert the New Clarence into a multiple-occupation house. The Hull Community Pub Society was formed, fighting off the applications and appeals, raising enough money to buy the pub in February 2025, and eventually reopening its doors on 6 September 2025.
The New Clarence is Hull’s first community-owned pub. The high land value in high streets and city centres makes pubs an enticing target for developers and, as a result, much harder for campaigners to save than their rural counterparts. The judges were impressed with the group’s achievement.
Society chair Simon Berry said: “Winning the Pub Saving Award last January meant a huge amount to everyone who’d put time, money and real commitment into getting the New Clarence back on its feet. It wasn’t just recognition for the committee – it felt like recognition for the whole community who refused to let their local disappear.
“A year on, we’ve genuinely got something to show for it – 600 owner-members, a pub that’s busier than we projected and we’re about to celebrate our first birthday since reopening with a party on 1 September. We’re now raising the final funds to turn the empty upstairs into a proper accessible function room for the city so, if anything, winning the award was the beginning of the story, not the end of it.”
The crowdfunder campaign has already raised more than £60,000 towards a £100,000 target, boosted by £25,000 of match-funding from the Community Shares Booster Fund.
The renovation appeal is open until 6 September: crowdfunder.co.uk/p/raise-the-roof-at-the-new-clarence
A year on from reopening its doors, the New Clarence is throwing a birthday party on Tuesday 1 September from 6:30pm to celebrate the milestone. It’s a chance to meet the volunteers and owners behind the thriving community-owned pub and hear what’s next for the building. Everyone is welcome, from members and regulars to anyone curious to see what a community-owned, award-winning pub looks like a year on from reopening.
CAMRA’s Pub Saving Award recognises people who have come together to save a pub that would have otherwise been demolished or converted to another use. It aims to secure publicity for pub-saving campaigns to encourage others to save their local.
Community groups can nominate for the Pub Saving Award here.
