In July we set off on a Grand Yorkshire Collaboration Brewing Tour. Grace and Duncan brewed at North Riding Brewery near Scarborough, Turning Point Brew Co. in Knaresborough, then back up the A64 to Brass Castle Brewery in Malton, then finally Duncan headed back to Shropshire, leaving Grace to brew at the Rat (Ossett) Brewery at the Rat and Ratchet in Huddersfield. We brewed a grand total of 19,000 pints of beer!

All four beers will go on the bar in cask on Friday, 22 August and will be on until Sunday, 24 August. A cask of each will also be on at the CAMRA Shrewsbury Beer Festival from 24th to 27th September.

So after a visit to the town near Leyburn where Grace’s parents briefly ran a pub when she was born, and a night in a stables just outside Richmond then a night in Whitby, early on the Monday morning we headed to Snainton, just outside Scarborough and…

North Riding Brewery

On arrival we were greeted by Adrian who runs the office at North Riding who took us through to brewer Stuart to get our brew day up and going. As with all of the collaboration beers we had been chatting ideas by Whatsapp and we settled on a 4.3% Pale using two pretty new American hops. Audacia – launched in 2023 brings flavours of a summery picnic and HBC 630 brings more berries and stone fruits.

The day also involved a discussion about Stuart’s Vinyl Record collection/addiction and a trip to Glaves the butchers in nearby Brompton for their huge roast meat rolls with gravy!

Next we headed down the A64 to Knaresborough, we stayed overlooking the Market Place and went to Six Poor Folk, where we had a few pints of Turning Point Wavelength, accompanied by a Whatsapp debate with Aron and Cameron at Turning Point about the use of sparklers, which leads us on to…

Turning Point Brew Co

It was great to catch up with Cameron and the gang at TP. With a fair amount of tech in the brewery it was less hands on than North Riding, we even managed a walk to the lido! For Velvet Goldmine we had agreed a 4.8% DDH Pale, we wanted to use New Zealand hops, but avoiding Nelson, as we had used it twice in our Castle Rock collaborations. The three hops we went for were Nectaron known for its intense tropical fruit and citrus flavours, particularly pineapple, passionfruit, peach, and grapefruit., Riwaka again givimg intense citrus and tropical fruit flavours, particularly grapefruit and passionfruit – the Riwaka that Turning Point got were from a single producer and had an amazing aroma. and Southern Cross bringing lemon and spice.

Next it was back up the A64 to the lovely market town of Malton…

Brass Castle Brewery

This whole adventure started when Brass Castle Brewery owner Phil Saltonstall came to see us after we won National Pub of the Year. Duncan and Phil sat having a beer and collaborations came up in conversation, Phil said yes to one with them.  This evolved into the idea that if we were travelling up to North Yorkshire we should make the most of it with a tour. This year Brass Castle have been doing a series of 5% IPAs all with the Morph name. We have had the Brithop, the Mango and the NEIPA. With Duncan’s love of Red Rye IPA it didn’t take long to agree on brewing Morph Red with brewer Sam using Rye and Wheat in the grist and Columbus, Centennial, Talus and El Dorado hops for a peppery balance and tropical zest to go with the Rye. We had a lovely lunch at the Purple Carrot vegetarian cafe with Phil and his wife Harriet, a marked contrast to the rolls from Glaves. As with all Brass Castle Beers, the beer will be Gluten Free (and Vegan).

On Thursday morning Duncan headed back to Shopshire, but he dropped Grace off in Huddersfield so that she could brew on Friday…

Rat Brewery

On Friday Grace did the hardest physical brew day of the four at the Rat Brewery in the basement of the Rat and Ratchet pub in Huddersfield. Rat are owned by Ossett and this is the second recipe Grace has done with Paul Spencer, the Ossett Head of Brew Pubs, after Wild Flower which we brewed at their Riverhead. CAMRAT is a 5% NEIPA. Large amounts of wheat and oats coupled with a high mash temperature to give lots of body. Late Citra hops and Talus dry hops with no bittering hops for a juicy hazy pale. Grace arrived back with quite a few aches and pains from a physical workout!

See you all on August Bank Holiday weekend, starting Friday, 22 August, when they will all be on the bar.

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The pub, which is the reigning CAMRA UK National Pub of the Year has been announced as the Shropshire Pub of the Year and Shropshire Cider Pub of the Year in the latest round of the Pub of the Year competition.

Then at the Midland Food, Drink and Hospitality Awards night this Monday, landlady Grace Goodlad collected the award for Midlands Best Traditional Pub.

Grace said: “I was stunned and surprised to hear us being announced as the winners of the award, as always it is a testament to the great team we have.”

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We have five milds lined up. Left Handed Giant Brewpub Dark Mild 3.4%, Settle Scaleber Mild 3.8%, Brass Castle Hazelnut Mild 4.2% and two products of collaborations between Turning Point and Five Points, Five Points 1995 Mild 3.3% and Turning Point 1895 Mild 5.5%

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NOTE: We remain the National CAMRA Pub of the Year until the beginning of January 2026. This is the beginning of the next annual round of awards.

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The Shrewsbury and West Shropshire Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), the organisation which fights for traditional beer, cider and pubs, today announced the winners of the 2025 Pubs and Clubs of the Year Competition for Shrewsbury and West Shropshire. The overall big winner is The Bailey Head.

The West Shropshire area has 240 pubs and clubs selling real ale. In the first stage of the Pub of the Year competition, Branch members visit pubs and score the beer quality. Members then vote on the overall experience in these pubs to produce a shortlist of pubs – three in Shrewsbury, three in West Shropshire market towns and four from rural West Shropshire.

Shortlisted pubs are visited anonymously by experienced surveyors who mark the pub on beer quality and knowledge, cleanliness, commitment to the community and CAMRA, and service and overall experience using a nationally agreed scheme. This year’s competition was again finely balanced, with all the finalists within only a few marks of each other. The Branch overall winner goes on to compete with pubs across the country to win CAMRA’s Pub of the Year for the whole of the UK.

A parallel process takes place to find the Branch Cider Pub of The Year, and the Bailey Head also came out top in that competition.

Competition co-ordinator Norrie Porter said “The Bailey Head, which was declared CAMRA’s Regional Cider Pub of The Year and overall National Pub of The Year for 2024, really is an exceptional pub, offering great quality to a well-formed local community but also attracting many visitors to the town”.

Owners Grace Goodlad and Duncan Borrowman said “It is amazing to have won the Shrewsbury & West Shropshire Pub of the Year and Cider Pub of the Year awards again. It is an incredibly tough competition with almost 250 venues in an area with many superb pubs. I am incredibly grateful to our wonderful team, fabulous regulars and the people of Oswestry for their fantastic support”

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Yesterday we were presented with the CAMRA National Pub of the Year Award!

We were presented with the award by Laura Emson, CAMRA’s National Executive member responsible for awards, together with National Chair Ash Corbett-Collins and Helen Morgan MP.

Midlands Today coverage

The One Show

Here are some photos from what was an amazing day!

All photos by Graham Mitchell

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The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has announced The Bailey Head, Oswestry as the winner of its Pub of the Year competition

The Bailey Head in Oswestry, Shropshire has been named the Campaign for Real Ale’s (CAMRA) overall Pub of the Year for the first time. The pub is a rags-to-riches success story after the owners turned what was once a closed local into a haven for the local community.

The Bailey Head had been failing under the ownership of a major pub company and was listed by CAMRA as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) to protect it from redevelopment. Nine years ago, it was bought by Duncan Borrowman and Grace Goodlad who poured their knowledge and passion into transforming the pub.

Their dedication means that the Bailey Head has won a staggering roster of awards from CAMRA, the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA), The Shropshire GOAT and TripAdvisor.

Community and inclusion are at the heart of the pub, and it acts as a hub for locals to come together for good causes through events like their charity pub quizzes and live music.

Landlord Duncan Borrowman said: “We have always had a policy of Everyone Welcome, any person should feel happy and comfortable coming in by themselves and enjoying a drink, either on their own or chatting to other customers. We thrive on being the heart of the community and a place where people gather to celebrate or commiserate.

“While all of the focus tends to be on us as a couple, this win was also down to our incredible team of welcoming and knowledgeable staff, and to our wonderful regulars who have become very much a community in their own right.”

Aside from providing a welcoming atmosphere, the Bailey Head also boasts an impressive array of cask beer and cider.

Landlady Grace Goodlad said: “We are thrilled, we hope we can live up to the award. In our wildest dreams we never thought we would win CAMRA Pub of the Year. From small beginnings nine years ago, we have taken everything one step at a time, through COVID, slowly improving to the point where we now have twelve handpulls serving six cask beers and six ciders and perries, plus sixteen other draught lines.

“When we bought the pub nine years ago it was failing and had been listed as an Asset of Community Value by the local CAMRA branch. That listing made it possible for us to save it from potentially becoming housing and turning it into the pub it is today.”

Shrewsbury and West Shropshire CAMRA Chairman David Ricketts said: “The story of the Bailey Head from humble beginnings proves that any pub can become the best in the UK with some hard graft. Huge congratulations to Duncan and Grace and their hardworking team at the pub. We are so proud that our local branch plays host to them, and I hope this win can bring plenty of new visitors to their doorstep.”

CAMRA Awards Director Laura Emson said: “There could not be a more deserving winner for the Pub of the Year than the Bailey Head. In a time when running a pub is a significant challenge, the commitment and enthusiasm Duncan and Grace show should be highly commended and seen as an example. January can be an especially tough time for our locals, so please get out and visit them and provide the support that is so desperately needed for pubs across the UK.”

All the pubs in the competition are selected by CAMRA volunteers and judged on their atmosphere, decor, welcome, service, value for money, customer mix and most importantly – quality of beer.

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