Last year’s Heritage Award winner, the Drewe Arms
Nominations for CAMRA’s Pub Saving Awards are now open
CAMRA’s Pub Saving Awards celebrates the tireless campaigners who have come together to fight for their local pub, saving it from demolition or conversion to another use.
The additional Heritage Award promotes and preserves historic interiors, recognising the achievements of a group who have revitalised a heritage pub.
The awards aim to publicise pub-saving campaigns and encourage others to save their local.
Paul Ainsworth, Coordinator for CAMRA’s Pub Saving Awards said: “Following the two-year anniversary of the shocking fire and unlawful demolition of the Crooked House in Himley, South Staffordshire, the Pub Saving Awards and Heritage Award are more poignant than ever.
“From conversions and demolitions, to simply trying to survive the barrage of increased business rates and Employer National Insurance contributions plus rising costs and spiralling energy bills, it has never been harder for pubs across the UK.
“All the selfless campaigners, who fight for the sake of their communities to save their much-loved locals, deserve to be put into the spotlight. Once a pub closes its doors, it is incredibly hard to prise them open again. The amazing stories and hard work these volunteers describe is a constant source of inspiration - saving your local can be done and I hope that people across the UK are similarly moved to safeguard our precious pubs.
“I can only hope that one day in the future we can add a rebuilt Crooked House to this list of pub saving campaigns.”
Nominations for both awards close on the 12 November 2025. The nomination form for both the Pub Saving Awards and the Heritage Award can be found on the CAMRA website here.
Ends
Notes to editors:
The Pub Saving Awards and Heritage Award can be made to any group which has carried out campaigning activity to save a pub from closure over the last 12 months. To nominate a campaign, visit: camra.org.uk/awards/pub-saving before 12 November.
CAMRA has resources and guides to support anybody looking to save their local here: camra.org.uk/save-your-local-pub
Last year’s winners were:
Old Horn Inn – Old Horn Community Pub Society
The Old Horn Inn, a pub over 200 years old, closed suddenly in 2022 with planning application submitted to convert it into housing. As a vital community hub for the people of Spennithorne and Harmby, plus surrounding areas of North Yorkshire, villagers banded together to form the Old Horn Community Group to protect the pub from this fate.
An epic campaign began to bring the Old Horn into community ownership, raising £180,000 from over 140 investors in under two months. On 16th June 2023 the community became the proud owners of the Old Horn.
What followed was a mammoth renovation effort, enlisting a team of volunteers, ranging from teenagers to pensioners. The pub reopened to the public 21 May 2024, putting the heart back into the village, providing a community hub to combat social exclusion.
Drewe Arms Community Pub – Drewsteignton Community Society
CAMRA’s very first Heritage Award winner, the Drewe Arms Community Pub in Drewsteignton, Devon is situated in front of the parish church in a picturesque Dartmoor village square, the 17th century inn has remained unchanged for 100 years. When the Grade II* listed pub closed in 2022, it was feared that the Drewe Arms would be lost forever.
The Drewsteignton Community Society formed, and village locals came together to launch a fundraising campaign to re-open the pub under community ownership.
One of Devon’s oldest pubs, the Drewe Arms Community Pub has an interior of outstanding national historic importance, being one of the few pubs left in the UK without a conventional bar, instead local beers are served straight from the cask, from stillage to hatch.
