Ruabon Pub Crowned CAMRA Pub of the Year

Picture copyright of Eirian Evans.

A Ruabon pub has received one of the industry’s highest accolades after being crowned CAMRA’s Pub of the Year 2012.

The Bridge End Inn beat off stiff competition from pubs across the UK in the final including the Front Bar in Falmouth, the Engineer Arms in Henlow and the Swan With Two Necks in Pendleton.

The pub is run by the McGivern family Peter and Gill along with their son Matt who oversees the family microbrewery, McGivern Ales.

The family are credited with turning the pub’s fortunes around since they reopened it in 2009 serving a range of ales in a welcoming atmosphere.

It is the first Welsh pub to win the award and no music is played inside the premises and the TV is only switched on for international rugby matches.

Now serving 7 real ales and a selection of local ciders at any one time, the pub has stocked real ales from over 100 breweries since opening.

Peter McGivern, Bridge End Inn licensee, said: “We are a family business, and the pub has been a real labour of love. What we strived to do was create a pub not focused on food that we would enjoy visiting, putting the product first and offering a wide range of traditional beer styles. As a result we’ve built up a mixed trade of locals and beer lovers from all over Britain.”

“We are delighted with this national award, particularly as we were told when first taking on the pub that there was little demand for real ale in the area.

“Through a lot of passion and hard work for what we do, we’ve enjoyed great success in a short space of time, which couldn’t have been achieved without the support of family, close friends, staff and customers.”

Hailing the success of the pub, Julian Hough, CAMRA Pubs Director, said: “The pub is an unbelievable success story, and is a perfect case study of a local outlet playing a pivotal role at the heart of a small community.

“By investing time into providing a quality beer range full of choice, the pub in a short space of time has become revered across Britain by many beer lovers. I offer my personal congratulations to the Bridge End Inn for such rapid progression in taking CAMRA’s national pub title.”

A presentation will be made at the Bridge End Inn at 1pm Friday and Wrexham.com will be in attendance to speak to the worthy winners.

For more information about the pub visit http://www.mcgivernales.co.uk/index.html