CAMRA’s nominations announcement of 6 August 2026. Saving a local pub can take far more than a petition. CAMRA’s August call for Pub Saving Award nominations put the people behind those campaigns at the centre of the story.
The organisation invited nominations for groups whose campaigning had helped protect a pub from closure, conversion or demolition. Its announcement gave a deadline of 12 November 2026 and said the award could recognise campaigning carried out over the preceding 12 months.
Recognition for the people behind the rescue
The award’s focus was the work needed to keep a pub available to its community. CAMRA described the competition as a way to bring successful campaigns to national attention and encourage other places to explore community ownership.
The August appeal followed the third anniversary of the Crooked House’s destruction in South Staffordshire. CAMRA used that anniversary to renew its argument for stronger protection of pubs and recognition of volunteers who fight to keep them open.
Those campaigning arguments were CAMRA’s position. The nominations announcement was not a declaration of a new winner.
The Hull example behind the appeal
CAMRA highlighted the previous Pub Saving Award winner, the Hull Community Pub Society, which rescued the New Clarence. It described the venue as Hull’s first community-owned pub and the first city-centre pub to win the award.
The pub’s own history gives that achievement an extra twist. Its building began as a Hull Co-operative Society grocery shop in 1918, later becoming co-operative meeting and teaching rooms. After becoming a pub in the 1980s, it closed in 2023 before the community stepped in.
The New Clarence describes its ownership today as a democratically run co-operative with more than 500 members. That history connects its recent rescue to a much older tradition of a building serving local people.
The August nominations call offered other campaigns a chance to have their efforts recognised. This report records that announcement and its stated deadline; nominations and eligibility should always be checked against CAMRA’s current guidance.
Read our earlier coverage of the New Clarence’s award.
Photograph of the New Clarence before its community rescue, 23 November 2021. Charles Street, Kingston upon Hull by Bernard Sharp, CC BY-SA 2.0. Original photograph unchanged.
