Scunthorpe CAMRA Pub Of The Season Awards.

Mine hosts at this attractive village pub are Paul & Carol Brown. Paul is an experienced licensee of 15 years standing, having been at the helm in a number of local pubs and clubs including the Wheatsheaf at Hibaldstow, the Horse & Cart at Scawby Brook (where he briefly brewed beer for the pub on the premises), and Brigg Servicemens' Club. Paul & Carol took over the reins at the Sun & Anchor 2 1/2 years ago. The pub is owned by Premstock Inns, a subsidiary of the Enterprise pubco, which also own the Crown in Messingham. Paul has traced the history of the pub back to 1216, when the pub was named after a sun and anchor crest on King John's shield.

The pub has a large, well-appointed lounge with a separate public bar with pool and darts, and is well represented on the sports front with pool and football teams in local leagues. Live sporting events, particularly football and rugby, are also popular with customers when shown on the pub's large TV screen. Unusually in this day and age the Sun & Anchor relies totally on its wet sales. They do utilise the barbecue in the garden however, and encourage customers to bring their own food to cook during the summer months if the sun happens to shine.

Paul offers handpulled Courage Best Bitter and a rotating guest beer, with the guest coming from an extensive monthly list produced by Enterprise. Recent guests have included Batemans Virgo Ale, Milestone Black Pearl and Cottage Southern Bitter, with Cottage E-Type due shortly. We congratulate Paul and Carol on winning this prestigious award, which will be presented on Saturday 1 November at 12 noon.

This Pub of the season award goes to The Blue Bell in Scunthorpe town centre, a popular Wetherspoon pub which has revitalised the town centre. Manager at the Blue Bell is Jan Coaker who has been at the helm for six years, after managing other Wetherspoon outlets in Chichester and London.

Regular cask beers at the Blue Bell are Marston's Pedigree, Greene King Abbot and Greene King IPA, supplemented with three or four guest beers. A good selection of draught and bottled ciders is also offered.

In addition to this fine choice of real ale and cider, the Blue Bell hosts two beer festivals a year in Spring and Autumn. These normally run for over two weeks, and have featured beers from international brewers as well as a great selection of UK real ales. A new development is the mini-beer festival, featuring two UK brewers' beers over a week-long period. The first of these, featuring ten beers each from Saltaire and Ossett breweries, runs from 30 June - 5 July. Wine festivals are also staged twice a year, usually after the main beer festivals.

The Blue Bell is open-plan in design, having been a conversion from two shop units. It has a raised dining/drinking area at one side, and a beer garden at the rear. Food is available from an extensive menu between 9 am to 10 pm every day. We congratulate Jan and her staff at the Blue Bell on winning this award.

Our Spring P.O.T.S. award goes to an attractive pub owned by Marstons Brewery, The White Hart, which is situated alongside the River Ancholme in the centre of Brigg.The Licencees are Andrew and Brydie Carrington, who have been at the helm for the last seven years.

The pub is of open-plan design, with discrete areas for dining and drinking, with a pool table at one end. An attractive outdoor riverside terrace is also featured, which is popular during the spring and summer months, weather permitted.

Their regular real ales are Banks Bitter and Jennings Cumberland Ale, supplemented by a rotating guest beer, which was Adnams Broadside at the time of writing. The pub has also been nominated for the 2009 CAMRA Good Beer Guide.

Good value meals are available at lunchtime on Saturday and Sunday, and in the evening, Monday - Friday.

Our selected pub for the Winter season is The Royal Oak in the picturesque village of Snitterby. Nestling beside a bubbling stream, beneath a weeping ash, this traditional free house is a perfect choice fo a winter pint. It is owned and run by David and Angela Murray, whochanced upon it, went in for a beer and fell in love with the building and its location. They bought it two weeks later.

The renovated interior is light and airy but very traditional with a stunning oak bar, eighteenth century wooden floors and two fire places which give that unique atmosphere that only real fires can. David and Angela are passionate about locally sourced, good quality, simple food and are looking forward to the completion of thier kitchen so that they can start to serve food.

Three real ales are pulled through a 1948 beer engine in the main bar with a further bank of three giving up to six real ales depending on the season. Being a true free house, breweries change, but currently Wold Top's beers, particularly Wold Gold, are proving very popular. Plans for 2008 include bed and breakfast provisions, a village shop and the renovation of the stream side gardens, creating a focus for village life.

Paul & Lauretta Williams.

This village free house is run by Gordon Crowe and Karen Burdett, who previously ran a real ale pub in Harrogate. Under thier stewardship the River Don has forged a strong reputation for both the quality of its real ale and its value-for-money hot food.

The pub has an open-plan design which offers discrete areas for drinking and dining. It boasts a number of agricultural implements and antique photographs of country pursuits, to give it a distictly rural ambience.There is also a separate dining room to provide a restaurant-style eating experience.

Three guest real ales are available in summer, two in winter, generally from independent brewers. An annual beer festival is staged in summer, which includes live music from local and other bands, who play on a trailer in the large garden. If the weather is clement, drinks can be enjoyed in the orchard at the rear of the pub.

Mark Elsome.

Also winners in Spring 2006.

This self-styled 'Country pub in the town' has gone from strength to strength under the stewardship of Simon Hall and Belinda Fisher, who have been at the helm for 9 months. They have built on the existing success of the previous owner Mick Pogson. It is now part of the Connon Properties group run by Robert Abbot, a director of the Tom woods Organisation.

Later in the summer a " War of the Roses" beer festival is planned, complete with local pork pies and sausages.

Mark Elsome.

This riverside local is a free house owned and run by Dave "Dixie" Dean and wife Judy, who we congratulate on their award. This is the home of the DarkTribe microbrewery,which Dixie relocated to the pub from his home in Gunness in 2005.

Our winter pub of the season is awarded to the White Horse on Wrawby street in Brigg. This free house is run by Darryl Benson and his wife Nicola. the pub is truly family run as his brother Mark and mum Linda also work there. Darryl and Nicola will have been at the pub for 2 years when the award is made. Darryl is very keen on real ale and has run some pubs well known to CAMRA in the past. Currently Darryl has two real ales on offer, Old Mill Winter Warmer and John Smiths cask. His previous selections have included Adams Broadside, Batemans XB and XXXB, and Shepherd Neame Spitfire. As I write Darryl is also preparing to serve Young's Special followed by Burton Ale, not often seen in Brigg. In recognition of his maintaining and serving real ale in top condition he was awarded the "Cask Marque" in September.

The White Horse is also well known for it's food and in addition to running the pub Darryl also works in the kitchen with Mark his head chef brother. Sea bass, Salmon and Monkfish are amongst the fish dishes on offer with many others to suit most tastes, and the desserts are to die for (if you can fit them in! ). Food is served in a Non-smoking Lounge/restaurant area with a separate public bar, and is available 5.30 - 9pm on Monday, 12 noon - 9pm Tuesday to Saturday and 12 noon - 7.30pm on Sunday.

Karen Applin.

Our pub of the season for Autumn 2006 is the House Inn at East Ferry.This Trentside free house is run by Mick and Debbie Weatherhead, who have been at the helm for three years. They decided to revert to the original House Inn name after researching the pub's history - it had also been called the Emerald Arms and the Glengarry previously.

The pub is decorated in country inn style, and has a no-smoking lounge. Pool and bar billiards are available in the large bar area. There is also a large fenced-off beer garden, complete with children's play area, which overlooks the river.

Mick's regular cask ale is John Smith's, which is offered at £1.50 a pint, plus a changing guest ale. Recent guest ale have included Bath Barnstormer, Taylor's Landlord and Everard's Beacon and Equinox.

Home-cooked meals are available from 5-8.30pm Mon - Wed, 5-9pm Fri/Sat, and 12 noon - 6pm on Sunday, when the pub is open all day. A small shop is to be built onto the pub, and this should be open in February 2007.

Our pub of the season for Summer 2006 is the Nelthorpe Arms at South Ferriby. Now part of the Enterprise pub group, things have recently taken a turn for the better as regards real ale, under the stewardship of licensee Gavin Richards. Gavin is a first time licensee, and has been at the helm for 16 months. He has reintroduced guest beers with great success, with pride of place given over to the excellent beers from the newly-formed Naylor's brewery based near Keighley. I have tried Sparky's Monday Night Mild, Mother's Best and Dave's Waterloo Sunset on my visits, and can report that they are well-crafted, flavoursome beers, kept in excellent condition by Gavin.

The Nether is tucked away off the main road through the village, and is a well-appointed, friendly pub, comprising a bar and separate lounge,the latter usually set out for meals. Home-cooked food is served six days a week from Tuesday to Sunday. Four rooms are available to let,for which the local tourist board is currently assigning a grade. Gavin features live music every Saturday night, and stages an open mike night every other Thursday.

The Nelthorpe Arms is an excellent pub to eat or drink in, and is worth seeking out. We congratulate Gavin and staff on their Pub of the Season award.

Mark Elsome.