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Barnsley CAMRA Pub of the Year 2025 is the George & Dragon, Summer Lane, Barnsley. Runner up is the still completely wonderful Heaven & Ale, Barnsley, winner for the past three years.

Our champion must, therefore, be pretty brilliant itself and, by George, it is. What for many years had been a tired, keg-only pub was bought by Andrew Page and his sister Diane back in 2019. It was all ready to open in late March 2020 when a certain event intervened, and it wasn’t until July that the pub could finally open its doors. Covid continued to interrupt proceedings so the first couple of years were a bit tricky but the G&D settled down to become a great community pub with a loyal customer base. Andrew is proud of the fact that they’re open every day from Noon so local folk have an alternative to the town centre pubs also open at those times.

On the real ale front, you can always choose from four immaculately-kept Yorkshire beers, one of which will be a stout or porter. Beers generally come from Nailmaker, Stancill, Chin Chin (a brilliant South Kirkby brewery), Abbeydale, Small World and Chantry. Andrew reports that the cask beers are increasingly popular even though there’s also a pretty impressive keg line-up.

This small but cosy pub never stands still and big improvements to the outside drinking area are planned for the near future, including outdoor music to supplement the always popular indoor live music nights.

On 2 April, Barnsley CAMRA members thronged the pub to see our Chairman, Andrew Taylor, present his fellow Andrew with the award and a great evening was had, lubricated by a typically fine selection of well-kept local ales. The G&D now goes forward to the Yorkshire Pub of the Year contest where we wish it well.

Paul Ainsworth Barnsley CAMRA