February 2025. Sheffield.
“This Conference instructs the National Executive to reduce the number of pubs in the Good Beer Guide from the 2027 edition onwards, to ensure only quality pubs are featured.”
Well, it’ll be worth going to Torquay next month for the big CAMRA shindig to hear that motion debated.
There’s been a good natured debate on Discourse about the need to slim the GBG down and weed out the “poor quality” pubs. Which are these poor quality fillers ? Obviously, no-one on Discourse will ever name them, just as no-one will ever name the poor beers.
I must be very lucky, or else so pig ignorant about beer I score too high (about NBSS 3.3 on average, where CAMRA defines 3 as “good”).
I am certainly ignorant about beer, but an enjoyable pint is an enjoyable pint, even if you don’t know your sorachi from your sours.
“Yes, yes, but you can’t judge beer quality from a visit to the Sheffield Tap, a world renowned ale house“.
No, you can’t. But you’d be surprised how little use I make of my new city’s top pubs, preferring pub crawls in unsung towns like Mansfield, Brigg and Stafford.
My 3.3 NBSS average is driven as much by pints of Doom Bar in Dereham as Blue Bee in Kelham.
It’s my posts on undrinkable slop tipped into plant pots that folk are inevitably drawn to, of course, but there really aren’t many of those, and taking a pint back is one of the joys of life.
In truth, the Cameron’s in Sheffield’s Head of Steam was a slight disappointment after the highs of the station bar,
but still a cool, fruity, NBSS 3.
Head of Steam is one of our most consistent pub chains, and if the biggest fault is their inability to serve Strongarm as a banker then I’ll live with that.
retiredmartin 
Of course, one person’s poor quality pub is another person’s classic down-to-earth local. I’d say a reduction in numbers would simply lead to the same broad mix of pubs, but fewer of them.
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That’s an excellent point.
A few years ago all the new GBG entries seemed to be pokey shop conversions, particularly in Lancashire. More recently there’s a variety of new entries, including the sort that wouldn’t have graced the Guide previously.
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You made a good point on Twitter that pubs putting on a local beer will tend to have an advantage, and I’d agree with that, though the local breweries like Millstone can be good choices.
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I’ve always felt there’s a case to be made to trim the numbers allocations some branches have acquired over the years, it’s ridiculous Norwich have so many, alot of which serve bang average beer imo and are just taking up spaces in the guide.
Last time a motion like that was proposed it got put into remission, which seems to be the polite way to forget about it.
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I’d have thought the same about Norwich, but in fairness I’ve been impressed with nearly all entries recently. Which Norwich pubs had disappointing beer ?
On the main point 30 pubs in the GBG is ridiculous.
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Wasn’t there a proposal to cut the number of pubs immediately post-Covid as a temporary measure, but once it became clear that the cuts wouldn’t be applied evenly across the board all hell broke loose?
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I think you’re right but I blot that period out of my mind!
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Oh no, you’ve prompted me to dive back into Discourse after an absence of several years…
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With a risk that you’ll be booking two nights in Torquay next month ?
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If Peter comes to Torquay I’ll buy him a pint of sour in that craft bar.
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And I’ll have a look if there’s a well known beer from Rock in the Members Bar for him !
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You mean you didn’t read every word before?!
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I have always thought the opposite, in that more pubs ought to have at least a mention even if maybe not a full entry. As an active member of my CAMRA branch, and in the middle of forwarding GBG submissions, I can honestly say we could fill a few more slots. Reducing entries will make the guide even more repetitive, year on year, than it already is and make people less likely to buy it. That’s my opinion anyway, for what it’s worth.
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Your opinion is worth a lot as an active CAMRA member and someone who visits pubs.
I agree with you that many branches have more pubs worthy of a place in the GBG, e.g. Walkley Beer and the S6 Beer House to name two locally in Sheffield.
I think 4,500 makes a reasonable size book, given the objective of having pubs around the country, but I wouldn’t want to see the size reduced.
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There is a problem that the “quality” of pubs clearly varies considerably between different areas, but there’s no remotely objective way of recognising that in allocations. Some of the entries give the impression that branches are scratching around to fill their quota.
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Oh dear.
All hope is lost.
The quantifying of the unquantifiable is being demanded.
Yet again.
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Attempting to quantify “poor” when they’re not even able to say what “good” is.
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