York’s Pub of the Year has been crowned – and celebrated with a beer giveaway.
York CAMRA voted to give this year’s honour to The Blue Bell on Fossgate, one of the smallest, and most loved, pubs in the city.
Landlord John Pybus promptly dedicated the award to his regulars, calling them “the most wonderful group of people assembled in a British pub”.
Video 1: John Pybus on what the award means
Chairman of York Camra Chris Tregellis presented the award in front of an assembly gathered on the pavement outside the pub on Thursday night.
He said: “John took a brilliant pub, and he respected the tradition of the pub, and he took it onto another level.”
John told YorkMix they were really chuffed to be Pub of the Year.
He said: “Here at the Blue Bell, we’re very lucky, because we’re a small space. We don’t have any space to waste.
“And by waste I mean waste with TVs, waste with jukeboxes, waste with quiz machines and waste with pool tables.
“Everything’s much more compact. And as a result, it’s proper pub craft. And for me, every pub should just be doing three things. This is the entirety of my staff training, and it’s the ABCs of pub work – atmosphere, beer and conversation.
“If you get those three things going, well, you really don’t need to waste your space on anything else.”
He said the Blue Bell was lucky to be in the centre of York, with its nine million visitors a year.
“It’s a real shame, but we’ve lost a third of the country’s pubs in my career of 20 years, and so it’s not looking good for pubs around the country.
Video 2: John’s acceptance speech
“There’s a lot of factors going into that – toxic capitalism and pub owning companies, inflated beer prices with the beer tie.
“There are organisations like Campaign For Pubs that are really on this and trying to change the law, change things in Westminster to make these pubs more viable.”
John’s acceptance speech focused on his regulars – and their dogs – and the diverse range of conversations held in the pub.
He said: “If you’ve never stood behind a bar and bantered with Ulster Gary, Nick Love Grandmaster Rich, Rob, Aussie Rach and rich Neil, then you have not lived.
“There’s not too many pubs where the bar staff are simultaneously listening to a rerun of a chess match, feeding a Canary Mastiff biscuits and watching an Ulsterman taking the snuff virginity of American tourists, but the Blue Bell isn’t like many other pubs.”
He also paid tribute to wife Katie for “dealing with this craziness”.
And at the end John said something he’d never said before: “As a thank you for all the blessings that you all bestow on me, Katie and the pub, until 10.30 tonight, all cask beer is completely on the house!”