Thomas De La Rue wins Camra prize for islands
A LOCAL pub has been recognised in a national consumer organisation’s Pub of the Year Awards.
The Thomas De La Rue in St Peter Port has won the Camra – the Campaign for Real Ale – prize for the Channel Islands.
The Liberation Group-owned establishment was presented with a certificate by Camra representatives, and will now be entered into the organisation’s wider national competition.
Previous winners of the award locally include the Golden Lion, the Red Lion and the Mermaid Tavern in Herm.
Camra’s Guernsey liaison Kevin Hunter said that three pubs had been in the frame for this year's award.
The committee felt that the De La Rue ‘fitted the bill’ when it came to what they were looking for.
‘It’s based on the pub’s improvement in recent years, it’s listed in Camra’s good beer guide for 2024 for its beers’ taste and clarity, as well as the pub’s general atmosphere,’ he said.
‘On top of that, the staff are pleasant and the food is popular, so the award recognises what [pub general manager] Mandy Roberts and her team have done over the last few years.’
He added that the local Camra branch had faced a difficult time in recent years following Covid, with there now being one Channel Islands branch for both Guernsey and Jersey instead of two separate ones.
However, he was hopeful that better times for the branch and organisation as a whole lay ahead.
‘There was a bit of a hiatus during the pandemic and the Guernsey branch was dissolved and time was spent on sorting out our regional arrangement, but I’m glad we’ve been able to
present the award this year.’
