Local News | CAMRA North Herts https://northherts.camra.org.uk Pubs, Pints, People - North Hertfordshire Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:28 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/cropped-black-400x400-RGB-300ppi-32x32.png Local News | CAMRA North Herts https://northherts.camra.org.uk 32 32 Hitchin Beer & Cider Festival Advance Tickets Now Live https://northherts.camra.org.uk/hitchin-beer-cider-festival-advance-tickets-now-live/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/hitchin-beer-cider-festival-advance-tickets-now-live/#respond Sun, 05 Apr 2026 07:09:28 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1744 Advanced ticket sales for the 2026 Hitchin Beer and Festival, which is at Hitchin Rugby Club from 4th to 6th June are now available.

Go to HitchinBeerCiderFestival.org.uk for ticket sales and more information.

Tickets will also be available on the door (subject to availability).

Entry is FREE this year for card carrying CAMRA and Hitchin Rugby Club members

If you are interested in volunteering at the festival we are holding an open evening at the Rugby club on Friday 17th April from 8 – 10pm, or see the volunteering page on the main festival site (link above)

 

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/hitchin-beer-cider-festival-advance-tickets-now-live/feed/ 0 Pub of the Year 2026 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/pub-of-the-year-2026/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/pub-of-the-year-2026/#respond Sat, 14 Mar 2026 16:41:16 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1734 We are delighted to announce that The Orange Tree, Baldock is once again our Branch Pub of the Year, retaining the title from 2024, & 2025 where for both years it was also judged Hertfordshire pub of the year!

We don’t judge on range of beers, for which the Orange Tree is renowned, but our judges placed Rob Scahill and his team top for Quality, Condition of Beer, Promotion & Knowledge and Community Focus. Regulars know that very well!

Congratulations! Orange Tree Team! We’ll award the certificate during our AGM and Branch Meeting on April 24th.

We’d like to commend our other finalists, also some of the best places to enjoy your ale in North Herts: The Half Moon, Victoria (both in Hitchin), the Lordship Arms, Benington, The Red Lion Preston, and the Crown Buntingford.

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/pub-of-the-year-2026/feed/ 0 Save our Pubs – The Bell, Bennington https://northherts.camra.org.uk/save-our-pubs-the-bell-bennington/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/save-our-pubs-the-bell-bennington/#respond Sat, 20 Sep 2025 00:05:00 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1567 The Friends of the Bell pub in Benington are asking for our support to object to a planning application to convert the pub into a residence.

17th Century Grade II Listed Pub

A thriving and much enjoyed pub at the heart of the village, the Bell closed for COVID, has never reopened and the villagers are desperate to save it and reopen it as their local via the Friends of the Bell campaign.

Your support is kindly requested.

The campaigners are asking you to comment on the applications, and give your honest views on potentially losing an incredibly vital asset to the community, before the 9th October deadline.

In order to comment, please use these links to go to East Herts Council’s planning portal:

Full Application

Listed building application

If you would like to know more, please go to the campaign’s Facebook page or, to discuss the application in anyway please contact friendsofthebell@gmail.com or call/text Paul on 07584 308046

To further promote the campaign, there will be a ‘Pop-up Pub’ Halloween Party in the village hall on Saturday 25th October from 3 PM. Save the date and see the Facebook event, where more details will be added later.

Many thanks in advance if you can support this cause.

Dean Barrett

Chair, CAMRA North Hertfordshire

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/save-our-pubs-the-bell-bennington/feed/ 0 New beer from Buntingford Brewery wins at Cambridge Beer Festival! https://northherts.camra.org.uk/new-beer-from-buntingford-brewery-wins-at-cambridge-beer-festival/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/new-beer-from-buntingford-brewery-wins-at-cambridge-beer-festival/#respond Mon, 26 May 2025 21:38:52 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1427

Buntingford Brewery’s beer Tis Only a Scratch has scooped beer of the festival at this years Cambridge Beer Festival with Loch Lomond’s West Highland Way 2nd and Hook Norton’s Hooky Mild 3rd.

This Old Ale was brewed in collaboration with festival volunteers and is a deceptively drinkable beer for it’s abv. Congratulations to all the team on this award!

 

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/new-beer-from-buntingford-brewery-wins-at-cambridge-beer-festival/feed/ 0 Hertfordshire Pub of the Year 2025 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/hertfordshire-pub-of-the-year-2025/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/hertfordshire-pub-of-the-year-2025/#respond Mon, 05 May 2025 11:20:29 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1415 Congratulations to our North Herts CAMRA Pub of the year, the Orange Tree in Baldock which has now also been crowned Hertfordshire Pub of the year 2025, making it two years in a row!!!

Rob and his team continue to do an amazing job providing consistently great real ale, running beer festivals, and supporting their local community.

Orange tree, Baldock

 

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/hertfordshire-pub-of-the-year-2025/feed/ 0 Petition launched! – Cask ale as intangible cultural heritage https://northherts.camra.org.uk/petition-launched-cask-ale-as-intangible-cultural-heritage/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/petition-launched-cask-ale-as-intangible-cultural-heritage/#respond Fri, 04 Apr 2025 21:22:40 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1321
keep cask alive petition

A petition has been started by the craft beer channel (YouTube) to ask the government to recognise the production and serving of cask ale as Intangible Cultural Heritage. For more details see:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/716686

This is part of a wider campaign to get UNESCO status. This campaign is backed by CAMRA.

See https://youtu.be/cY_krjt0K1U?feature=shared for more details on this amazing campaign and watch the full series they have produced to keep cask alive!

 

 

 

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/petition-launched-cask-ale-as-intangible-cultural-heritage/feed/ 0 Cider Pub of the Year https://northherts.camra.org.uk/cider-pub-of-the-year/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/cider-pub-of-the-year/#respond Thu, 27 Mar 2025 18:09:05 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1309 Congratulations! Garden City Brewery & Bar is our branch Cider Pub of the Year 2025.

Not only have Holly, Nick and the team had an ongoing entry in The Good Beer Guide since opening, with their own brews and constantly changing guest ales, but they’re recognised as a great place to enjoy real cider too. They’ve been our local cider champions before and here there are again!

Not tried real cider? Now’s an ideal time! Garden City Brewery

Commendation to the Half Moon in Hitchin, our runner-up. The Half Moon

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/cider-pub-of-the-year/feed/ 0 Pub of the year 2025 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/pub-of-the-year-2025/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/pub-of-the-year-2025/#respond Sun, 23 Mar 2025 18:03:06 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1302 We are delighted to announce that The Orange Tree, Baldock is once again our Branch Pub of the Year, retaining the title from 2024, when it was also Hertfordshire County Pub of the Year, and will go forward to the county competition again.

We don’t judge on range of beers, for which the Orange Tree is renowned, but our judges placed Rob Scahill and his team top for Quality, Condition of Beer, Promotion & Knowledge and Community Focus. Regulars know that very well!

Congratulations! Orange Tree Team! We’ll award the certificate during our AGM and Branch Meeting on April 25th.

We’d like to commend our other finalists, also some of the best places to enjoy your ale in North Herts: The Half Moon Hitchin, the Lordship Arms, Benington, The Red Lion Preston, and the Crown Buntingford.Branch pub of the year logo

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/pub-of-the-year-2025/feed/ 0 Save our White Horse – New Planning Application https://northherts.camra.org.uk/save-our-white-horse-new-planning-application/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/save-our-white-horse-new-planning-application/#respond Thu, 13 Feb 2025 23:29:28 +0000 https://northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=1261
CAMRA save our pubs

The owner of The White Horse, Kimpton has just submitted another planning application to North Herts Council – for “extension, modification and change of use”. Ref 25/00090/FP.

The campaign to save the White Horse and purchase it for use as a community pub has looked at these proposals and have issued a call to action, asking for supporters of their campaign to register their objections to this latest application.

For more information on the campaign, including their initial response to this application and how to register an objection please visit the Save Our White Horse campaign site.

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/save-our-white-horse-new-planning-application/feed/ 0 The Rose and Crown, Aston is open! https://northherts.camra.org.uk/the-rose-and-crown-aston-is-reopening/ https://northherts.camra.org.uk/the-rose-and-crown-aston-is-reopening/#respond Fri, 29 Nov 2024 19:22:21 +0000 https://staging.northherts.camra.org.uk/?p=671
The Rose & Crown in Aston reopened for business on 29 November, having been closed since December 2014. It has 3 hand pumps selling a range of top quality ales some from local breweries. Food is prominent in their new offerings.

Please show your support and visit!

Pub Address: 10 Benington Road, Aston, SG2 7DX

]]> https://northherts.camra.org.uk/the-rose-and-crown-aston-is-reopening/feed/ 0