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Riviera Centre, Torquay
11-13 April 2025
One of the most prestigious beer competitions in the world.
Units 3-5, Heathfield Industrial Estate, Heathfield Street, Elland, HX5 9AE
Westgate Brewery, Westgate Street, Bury St Edmunds, IP33 1QT
Dating from 1824, it spent its first 18 months as the Bedford Arms. The winner of awards ranging from Boozers in Bloom to the Griffin Award for Fuller's Pub of the Year, this is also one of London's Real Heritage Pubs. The ceilings are packed with suspended bric-a-brac: you name it and it’s probably up there somewhere. There is also a framed collection of 1500 butterflies and many prints and photographs of the great wartime leader (after whom this pub is NOT named). Note the commemorative plaques to customers who are now spirits and the waterfall in the conservatory complete with fish. There is even a signpost in the middle in case you get lost!
The Thai food is recommended and this deservedly popular pub, with its range of Fuller's ales, can get extremely busy. At Christmas the pub sports a spectacular annual display which in the latest year was 100 Christmas trees covered in twenty-two thousand five hundred lights, and taking almost three weeks to set up. A fitting tribute to the legendary Gerry O'Brien, the licensee who retired in July 2017 and whose thirtieth anniversary at the pub in July 2015 was celebrated with a street party complete with a magnificent Fuller's dray-horse team (see photos). Current manager James Keogh celebrated 35 years of working for Fuller's in 2022.
Branch Pub of the Year third-place runner-up in 2018.
Two star - A pub interior of very special national historic interest
Listed status: Not listed
Built in the Victorian era but given a complete internal refit between the wars, with most of the 1930s work surviving. Most of the bar counter has panels with triple mouldings round it, though the smaller, right-hand counter is much plainer. The walls are extensively panelled and there are a couple of pretty tiled fireplaces. There are also two sets of snob-screens mounted on the counter, but it's possible that they were a post 1930s restoration. The windows are very attractive with their canted bays and charming stained glass details.
A popular Fuller’s pub, which is often very busy as much of its clientele is attracted by the excellent Thai food. It was built in the Victorian era but given a complete internal refit between the wars. There would have been separate rooms, of course, at that time but all the partitions have gone leaving a U-shaped drinking area. But most of the rest of the c.1930 work survives. The windows are very attractive with their canted bays and charming stained glass details. Then there is the bar counter, most of which has panels with triple mouldings round it, though the smaller, right-hand counter is much plainer. This makes it clear that the bars must have been separated by a partition and, if you look closely, you can see in the window-sill a small piece of patching where the old screen stood. The walls are extensively panelled and there are a couple of pretty tiled fireplaces.
There are also two sets of snob-screens mounted on the counter: what age they are is a moot point. When the present licensee came in the mid-1980s they formed a continuous run but it’s hard to believe such an intrusive feature would have been put in during the 1930s when people favoured unencumbered counters. It’s likely they were a later restoration.
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